Recollections of a Visit To a Joss-stick Mill in Tsuen Wan By Dan Waters The manufacturing of Joss Sticks in Hong Kong is believed to go back at least four centuries. It has also been suggested that the primary industry in incense trees gave Hong Kong its name — namely Heung Kong, meaning ‘fragrant harbour’. But there are few incense trees […]
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HF: According to a 2013 Enviromental Protection Department report all three landfill sites in Hong Kong will be full by 2019. The creation of waste and its disposal have obviously been happening since people first settled in the area now known as Hong Kong though with a considerable increase in recent times. A huge subject then that I approach with […]
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Swire’s story begins with a young man setting off to seek his fortune as a result of family bankruptcy. While this is not a classic rags-to-riches tale, resilience in the face of adversity was a characteristic that was to stand the firm he founded in good stead on more than one occasion over the following 200 years. The founder of […]
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York Lo: Lam Yuen Fong (林源豐) – King of Watches Left: Daytime (top) and nighttime (bottom) of the Lam Yuen Fong Optima sign at the Sincere Insurance building in 1958 on the border of Wanchai and Admiralty. Lam Yuen Fong was the sole agent of Optima in HK. Right: Rolex ad in HK from the 1960s listing its select group […]
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Hugh Farmer: Thanks to IDJ for sending in these wonderful adverts. Information about any of the companies or their products would be very useful. I think in particular it would be good to know the exact locations of their factory(ies) in Hong Kong. Click on the poster to enlarge it. Angel Brand Firecrackers Manufactured by Kwong Man Lung Firecracker FactoryKwong […]
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HF: Tam Kon Shan Road runs for a couple of kilometres along the north coast of Tsing Yi island. The western kilometre is home to about twenty shipyards – the largest number of this industry, I believe, remaining in Hong Kong. Repairing and maintenance not shipbuilding. On 13th December 2014 I visited Kwong Tat Loong Shipyard (Brothers) Ltd. and took […]
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HF: THe Audit Commission’s Report 41, published in October 2003 includes chapter 8 titled, The acquisition and clearance of shipyard sites. This appears to have been undertaken on behalf of the Lands Department and Civil Engineering Departments. The report is dated 18th October 2003. The report begins with a summary which states: The Government may acquire land for public purposes […]
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York Lo: Watch Case Pioneer: Ernest C. Wong (王澤流) and Danemann Watch Case Factory (德明錶壳廠) Left: Ernest C. Wong (HK Album, 1967); Right: Ernest Wong receiving the chairman of the Swiss Watch Manufacturers Association in front of the Danemann factory in 1958 (WKYP, 1958-12-23) Founded in 1952, Danemann Watch Case Factory was one of the first and largest manufacturers of […]
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York Lo: The Ngai brothers of Yuen Hing Weaving & Dyeing Works (元興織染廠) and the CMA Left: Yuen Hing label with factory building; Right: Ngai Shiu-hung (HK Factory Survey) Founded in 1927, Yuen Hing Weaving & Dyeing Works was one of the oldest and largest weaving & dyeing mills in Hong Kong and its proprietor – the Ngan brothers played […]
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Hugh Farmer was recently on holiday in Burma (in 2013) and visited the town of Pathein (Bassein) where he visited the Shwe Sar Umbrella Workshop which produces exquisite hand-made parasols. He mentioned this to group member Malcolm Morris, who lived in Hong Kong in the 1970s. Malcolm remembers his mother using a parasol which he thinks she bought in the […]
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