York Lo: The Tam Brothers behind Wai Yee Co, King’s Shirts and Yau Sun Shoes From the 1920s to 1970s, the families of two brothers – Tam Lap-chiu and Tam Lap-kee – were active in both the manufacturing and retail of garments and shoes. Old timers might recall their retail outlets on Des Voeux Road Central in Sheung Wan. Tam […]
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IDJ: During 1948 and 1949 there was immense turmoil in China as the Nationalist and Communist factions battled for control of the country. Events were moving towards a climax. As a result, the Chinese airlines CNAC (China National Aviation Corporation), CAT (Civil Air Transport) both with Sino-American interests and flight crews, and Central Air Transport (nationalist government owned) all based […]
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York Lo: Lynhall Land Investment (聯合置業) – Real Estate Powerhouse from the late 1950s and early 1960s Lynhall Land ad from 1958 featuring 7 of its properties that were available for sale that year (left to right): Majestic, Kingland, Hankow, Maylun, Phoenix, Lido and Mido(華僑日報, 1958-01-03) From 1945 to 1960, the population of Hong Kong jumped sixfold from 500,000 to […]
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IDJ has sent an extract from a book by Martin Barnett published in 1984 about the history of tramways in Hong Kong. HF: Chevalier R Pescio was an Italian with an exotic name and an alluring proposal. Namely to build a tramway between Victoria and Aberdeen. He repeatedly tried to obtain government interest in this scheme between 1906 and 1910 […]
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James Chan: 1978 “Hongkong United Dockyards Ltd. (HUD) have formed a new subsidiary company — Ship Repairers & Shipbuilders (HK) Ltd. The company will act as agents for a number of major overseas ship repairing companies and will liaise with local shipowners requiring docking and repair work overseas. The new company has already obtained the agency for Lisnave in Portugal, […]
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York Lo: Jebshun Shipping (捷順船務) Left: Lam Choon-cheong (A Collection of epitaphs of Chinese elites in HK); Middle: advertising calendar of Jebshun from the 1950s (eBay Singapore); Right: Victoria Drummond, the first woman marine engineer in Britain, who worked for Jebshun from 1959 to 1962. In the article about the Kowloon Flour Mills, it was mentioned that Andrew Lam Kam-kwan […]
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HF: Harry Kin Hong Long divided his life between New Zealand and Hong Kong. In the latter he worked for two companies, Kung Lee Steam Ship Co. and HK and Yaumati Ferry Co. Harry’ s daughter, Judy Chan, has kindly sent a considerable amount of biographical detail about him. In this article I have extracted that which relates directly to […]
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York Lo: Sunbeam Manufacturing (日昇製造廠): from torchlights to kitchenware Left: old Sunbeam factory; Right: Sunbeam Centre today Founded in 1929 (this is based on the company’s own description although several external sources cite 1931 as the inception date), Sunbeam is one of the oldest industrial enterprises in Hong Kong and one of the few that continues to thrive to this […]
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Tymon Mellor: The first water supply and distribution network for Kowloon commenced operations on the 24th December 1895. The source of the water was from a series of wells, providing a daily capacity of 232,000 gallons and supporting a population of 13,200. By 1898, the demand for water was out-stripping supply; a new water source was required along with additional […]
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HF: IDJ has kindly sent the following newspaper article which, I think, was published in the Hong Kong Daily Press on 1st June 1939. Thanks to SCT for proofreading this retyped version of the original version of the newspaper article. HONGKONG PERSONALITY INTRODUCED – CAPT. R.W.THOMAS ”CAPPY THOMAS” – such is the nickname his many friends on the Kowloon piers […]
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