Tymon Mellor: We take for granted the Hong Kong rail transport system; barring the occasional but rare incident, it operates reliably and efficiently every day for 365 days a year. The system is so efficient that we forget about the enormous efforts required in the development of the lines, the complexities of the designs, the challenges of construction and […]
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HF: The “Two Girls” of Kwong Sang Hong Limited, founded in 1898 [?] by Mr. Fon Fook Tien, was the first cosmetics brand in Hong Kong. The brand started promoting its products using printed materials as early as the 1920s. Kwan Wai-nung, the renowned “Master of Calendar Posters”, was commissioned to draw calendar posters which were well received by the customers […]
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IDJ has sent the following newspaper article which was published in the Hong Kong Sunday Herald in a 1930s long series entitled Hong Kong Personalities. Hong Kong Personalities LT.COL. M.H. Logan This is the sixty-fourth of the exclusive series of sketches of leading Colony residents by Mr. A.S. Konya, the talented Hungarian artist. Our Personality this week is Lieut.-Colonel Malcolm […]
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York Lo: Wan Tat-ming (溫達明) and Ling Nam Weaving (嶺南布廠) Left: Wan Tat-ming(Kung Sheung Evening News 1956-12-24); Right: Ad for Ling Nam Weaving in 1948 (Tung Wah Monthly, 1948) Like Shum Choy-wah who was covered earlier in another article, Wan Tat-ming (1911-1988) was a major figure in the weaving mill business and community leader in the 1940s through 1960s who […]
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HF: In Hong Kong, qipao is more commonly known as Cheongsam, which carries a distinct Hong Kong flavour. With its well defined lines and myriad designs the cheongsam combines light and soft fabric with a tight fitting cut to show off the beauty of the female silhouette and highlight a woman’s graceful manner and elegant charm. It was in the […]
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Elizabeth Ride has kindly sent the sketch map and key from a February 1945 BAAG report shown below. Stephen Davies: This was also known at the Boat Pool. gwulo has a map shown in the its link below which shows the Camber as the small basin to the right, ie east, of the main basin. Hugh Farmer: Some mystery surrounds […]
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IDJ: The book Hong Kong Bank-The building of Norman Foster’s masterpiece by Stephanie Williams-1989 is the book to have for the whole process-concept to completion. HF: I cannot find an online version of this so for the time being we will have to make do with the following images IDJ has kindly sent.(1) The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) […]
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Tymon Mellor: In 1955 mineral prices were on the rise and there was a large influx of new population into Hong Kong, mineral extraction and mine development was a growth industry. Sensational mining stories and corruption were not uncommon. In April, 1955 an amateur geologist, Corporal William Bruce Harries, of the Royal Army Educational Corps discovered a deposit of Beryl […]
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York Lo: Eastern Arts Lantern (東藝宮燈) Eastern Arts booth at the 1971 HK Products Expo. Source: HK Memory In the 1950s and 60s, HK industrialists leveraged the flexibility of plastic as a material and developed a wide variety of products ranging from toys, flowers, Christmas trees, buckets, plates to shoes and sandals and exported them all over the world. One […]
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Rico Lee + HF: HK: (1) Vianini Lavori SpA is an Italian company with a history of involvement in large construction projects including several in Hong Kong. It is a subsidiary of Caltagirone and I think has operated since 1890, though I unsure which of these companies commenced operations in that year. HF: (2) The above photo shows the dolo-shaped […]
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