IDJ and Hugh Farmer have been trying to find out about a power company that is supposed to have existed in Tai O on Lantau Island. China Light and Power’s website says that in 1955 the company acquired the Tai O Power Company “which supplies power to Lantau Island”. IDJ says “I’ve not heard of the Tai O Power Company […]
» Read more
York Lo: Yick Kwan Gripe Water (益群肥仔水) Left: Yick Kwan Dispensary in Central in 1948 next to Chinese Optical and Sam Tai Distillery. Right: newspaper ad of Yick Kwan gripe water in Shenbao in Shanghai, 1948 Flipping through old pictures and old newspapers from Hong Kong in the 1940s through 1960s, one can often find the ads or street signs […]
» Read more
IDJ’s own photographs showing the high level workers building the Wanchai Convention Centre roof in 1997. Click the photo. = This article was first posted on 3 June 2014. Related Indhhk articles: The construction of the HSBC building in Hong Kong The construction of the HSBC building in Hong Kong – images The construction of the Tsing Ma Bridge, 1992-1997 The […]
» Read more
York Lo: Friends & U’Land (友聯磁磚潔具): Leading Distributor of Sanitary Ware Left: Ad of Friends & U’Land in the 1950s (HKBCA Yearbook); right: an old ad of Friends Company listing all the products it carried (U’land website) Earlier on the website, we covered three leading pioneers in the HK plumbing industry. Another important player in the industry was Friends & […]
» Read more
Hugh Farmer: Dairy Farm was incorporated in 1886 in Hong Kong by Scottish surgeon Sir Patrick Manson and five prominent Hong Kong businessmen, Sir Paul Chater, Mr Phineas Ryrie, Mr Granville Sharp, Mr WH Ray and Mr JB Coughtry. Manson worked in Hong Kong only from 1883 to 1889. Initially there were 80 cattle which had been imported from Scotland and total […]
» Read more
York Lo: Lee Yu Kee, Kitson and Tung On – Pioneers of the HK Plumbing Industry Plumbing is a specialized and lucrative segment of the HK construction industry and this article profiles three of the pioneering firms who were leaders in the plumbing business – Lee Yu Kee, Kitson and Tung On and the stories of the families behind them. […]
» Read more
York Lo: From Shanghai to HK and West Africa: The Global Quests of 4 Hong Kong Enamelware Makers From the 1940s through the 1960s, Hong Kong had a vibrant enamelware industry, which like the cotton spinning industry was dominated by Shanghainese industrialists, who brought with them from Shanghai their technological know-how in addition to financial and human capital. When these […]
» Read more
York Lo: The Lo brothers and Nam Sang Building Construction (南生營造) Lo Hoi-ming (left) and Lo Yuk-ming (right) as directors of HKBCA in the mid-1950s (HKBCA yearbook) In the 1950s and 1960s,Lo Hoi-ming (盧海明) and his younger brother Lo Yuk-ming (盧煜明) were key figures in the HK real estate and construction industry whose Nam Sang Building Construction Co developed many […]
» Read more
Hugh Farmer: 1984? Not G Orwell but PF Leeds who in that year published a detailed account of the history of public transport in HK. This includes an account of the the development of trams here. Tram P F Leeds (1984) pages 9-12 & 36-37 This includes : -further illumination of the twenty years before the company actually started operations. […]
» Read more
Hugh Farmer: Tymon Mellor has sent a “Report on the Commercial Development of the Port of Hongkong by John Duncan, M. Inst. C.E., Chartered Civil Engineer, Port Engineer, Hong Kong which was laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor on 19th December 1924.” Report on the Commercial Development of the Port of Hongkong 1924 Duncan […]
» Read more