History of Mapping Hong Kong Part 6 – 1901 The Tate Map
Tymon Mellor: Tucked away behind rows of red and white Victorian houses, at the end of the crosshatched street of Exhibition Road, lies The Royal Geographical Society. Whilst Lowther Lodge has been the home of the RGS since 1912, visitors are ushered into their new extension, the Foyle Reading Room. Galvanised steel frames and large glass walls strike a modern […]
» Read moreBailey’s Shipyard – 1908 Account
IDJ: While many people in HK will recall Taikoo Dockyard and Hong Kong & Whampoa Dockyard or the Hong Kong United Dockyards as they were later known, few will be aware of Bailey’s Shipyard or the Cosmopoliton Dockyards which were quite substantial operations. The following account of W.S. Bailey & Co., often called Bailey’s Shipyard, is from Twentieth Century Impressions […]
» Read moreHo Hung Yee – umbrella maker and repairer for 70 years, Peel Street, Central
HF: The SCMP of 26th July 2015 carried a report about the death of Ho Hung Yee who ran an umbrella stand on at the top end of Peel Street for decades. The article begins…”A fixture of the Central street scene dubbed the “Umbrella Man” for the decades he spent helping Hongkongers stay dry has died at the age of […]
» Read moreSik Yuen Co Ltd (錫元膠廠) – Maker of Dunlop Rubber Shoes in HK
York Lo: Sik Yuen Co Ltd (錫元膠廠) – Maker of Dunlop Rubber Shoes in HK Left: Sik Yuen Co ad in 1962 promoting its Dunlop shoes (WahKiuYat Po 1962-6-5); Right: the two principals of Sik Yuen – S.N. Chau (centre) and D.Y. Pong (right) with Fung Hon-chu at a HK Cotton Merchants Association function in 1961. (WKYP, 1961-6-22) Earlier in […]
» Read moreMa On Shan Iron Mine – further information
HF: Further information about Hong Kong’s largest mine. ”The Ma On Shan Iron Mine is a mine in the hills of Ma On Shan, Shatin District, Hong Kong, that was operated from 1906 to 1976. The nearby Ma On Shan Village accommodated the miners and their families. The Ma On Shan Mine was opened in 1906 as an open cast […]
» Read moreTriangle Motors (合眾汽車) – from Shanghai to HK and from Opel to Isuzu
York Lo: Triangle Motors (合眾汽車) – from Shanghai to HK and from Opel to Isuzu Leon Zigal and the first Opel in Hong Kong (Eagles and Dragons) Founded in Shanghai in 1931 by Leon Zigal (1900-1962) and relocated to HK in the late 1940s, Triangle Motors has been an important player in the distribution of automobiles and trucks in HK and […]
» Read moreAp Lei Chau Power Station
IDJ has kindly provided this brief history of Hong Kong Electric’s Ap Lei Chau Power Station, together with all of the images shown here which he has collected over the years. IDJ says the book A Mountain of Light, The Story of the Hongkong Electric Company by Austin Coates, says very little about the Ap Lei Chau Power Station apart […]
» Read moreDuddell Street Gas lamps – last working gas street lamps in Hong Kong
“The exact year in which the flight of grantite steps at the southern end of Duddell Street in Central was constructed is not known, but a series of maps of Hong Kong from the period indicate that they came into existence between 1875 and 1889. According to the records of the Hong Kong and China Gas Co., the four gas […]
» Read moreJohn MacNeile Price, Surveyor General of Hong Kong, the Tai Tam reservoirs
James Chan: While walking around the Tai Tam reservoirs on 11th January 2018 I came across a sign on the Tai Tam Waterworks Heritage Trail, see below, which began: “Before the 1860s, Hong Kong relied on primitive sources such as wells and streams for its water supply. Although the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir, the first rainwater facility, was enlarged in […]
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