York Lo: Kwong Fat Yuen Hong (廣發源行) – the 150 year old King of Leather Leather trademarks registered by Kwong Fat Yuen Hong in the 1930s with the HK colonial government – “Lion” brand in 1936 on the left and”Unicorn” and “Tank” brands in 1937 on the right (HK Government Report) Founded in 1867, Kwong Fat Yuen Hong is one […]
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Q+A8 Indigo in Hong Kong From the China Mail 1st May 1876. The Postmaster General has issued the following notification…’The Italian Post Office has complained that, in the mail for the Continent…which left Hongkong on the 20th January, was a sample of Indigo, which became loose and damaged the whole mail…The public are therefore again earnestly begged not to attempt to send dye-stuffs […]
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HF: This timeline of the history of Needle Hill mine comes from the excellent book, Hong Kong Mining History, linked below. The authors have kindly given permission for this extract to be included on this website. Needle Hill Tungsten Mine is located in Shing Mun and was the biggest tungsten mine in Hong Kong. It had more than 2,000 workers […]
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York Lo: Chan Ching-pow (陳清雹) and Po Wah Land Investment (寶華置業) – Real Estate Developer from the 1960s Po Wah ad in 1964 advertising four of its properties in Kowloon – Po Kwong, Po On, Po Fung and Po Tai (WKYP, 1964-10-9) During the property boom in the early 1960s, one of the most active developers in Hong Kong was […]
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York Lo: Kiu Fung Investment (僑豐建業) and the Trio behind the Firm 1962 ad for Kiu Fung Investment covering 4 of its properties – Kiu Fung Mansion, Kiu Kin Mansion, Hing Wong Mansion and Hong Kiu Mansion When it comes to partnerships in the HK real estate industry, the first name which came to most people’s mind is probably Sun Hung […]
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This article is a combination of the research of Frank Watson, moddsey, David Bellis and Hugh Farmer. Newsletter 6 contained this Query and Answer # 3 Frank Watson has been reading about the Plague outbreak in 1894. There is mention of a “Glass Works Hospital” which had been hastily converted from a glass works factory. He thinks this may may have […]
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Hugh Farmer writes: From the Hong Kong Daily Press dated 9 January 1886. “In the farther corner of the new suburb in Belcher’s Bay called Kennedy Town stand the works of the Hongkong and Macao Glass Manufacturing Company Limited, whose big, round, squat chimney, technically called a “cone” can be seen struggling to make itself visible above the roves and […]
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Hugh Farmer with thanks to IDJ for the report and photos. The following report from 1964 outlines the development of Kwun Tong from 1953 highlighting land reclamation which took place between 1954 and 1957. A total of 140 acres (about 60 hectares) of new land was created along the shoreline. As the map shows much of this was designated for […]
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HF: This article might be read together with our article, BAAG Report KWIZ#3, Naval Reports, linked below, which mentions that the Manshu Maru, was the first auxiliary sailing vessel built and equipped in Hong Kong, and given its first trial run on 13th April 1943. I had never come across auxiliary sailing ships before, and I asked Stephen Kentwell, who recently left […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent part of BAAG Report KWIZ#3, dated 20th June 1943. If you haven’t come across the British Army Aid Group before I have linked a gwulo.com summary of its activities below. Elizabeth explains KWIZ was short for Kweillin Weekly Intelligence Summary, with a ‘Z’ substituted for an ‘S’. She has sent extracts from the Report, namely the […]
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