HF: Walking through the concrete canyons of Wong Chuk Hang, To Kwa Wan or Kwun Tong, it’s easy to imagine Hong Kong when it was still an industrial powerhouse. Textile mills churned out fabric that ended up in clothing stores halfway around the world; plastic factories made flowers, toys and lampshades that were stamped with that ubiquitous phrase of the […]
» Read more
James Chan: Dragages Hong Kong, is a very familiar company name on signs at major construction projects around Hong Kong. It’s parent company is Bouygues Construction The company was founded in Vietnam in 1902 as Société Française Industrielle D’Extreme-Orient. It undertook its first project, the dredging and maintenance of a 2,000 kilometre canal system in the Mekong Delta. In 1910 […]
» Read more
IDJ has kindly sent the following article extracted from the Hong Kong Sunday Herald of 31st July 1949. This adds a new aspect to the history of water supply in Hong Kong on the website which has been to date mainly articles about reservoirs, see below. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article. Modern Filter Beds Under Construction Modern […]
» Read more
York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Three) – Voh Kee, Chang Sung and Dah Cheng Voh Kee, Chang Sung and Dah Cheng were three Shanghainese builders which set up shop in Hong Kong between 1945 and 1949 and remained active in the local construction scene during the 1950s. All three firms have since faded away from the HK construction […]
» Read more
New information in red. Robin Selby has sent an account from 1891 of an aerial ropeway, or actually three, used to transport coal from pier head to coal store in Hong Kong. HF: Though not mentioned by name I am presuming the company concerned is the Taikoo Sugar Refinery which was established by Swire in 1881 and went into production in […]
» Read more
HF: Alfred Herbert Rennie, came to Hong Kong from Canada as the sales representative of the American Company, Portland Flouring Mills. He started the Hongkong Milling Company in what was then called Junk Bay. However, despite backing from several prominent local businessmen his company quickly became mired in multiple problems and Rennie committed suicide while travelling by boat to his […]
» Read more
York Lo: Bernard Van Zuiden (萬瑞庭, 1899-1979) – Dutch Trader and Philanthropist in Hong Kong Bernard van Zuiden (right) welcoming his visiting elder sister at a cocktail reception in HK in 1959 (WKYP, 1959-12-10) Life and Career of Bernard Van Zuiden Born in Enschede in eastern Netherlands, Van Zuiden studied textile and commerce in his hometown in the 1910s. He […]
» Read more
HF: This article has been extracted from Twentieth Century Impressions…All images are attached to the article. I cannot find any information about the “Imperia del Mundo” Manila cigars mentioned in the article or the “special brand known as El Oriente”. “It was in 1868 that Mr. Kruse, a shrewd man of business, laid the foundation of the extensive import trade […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
The history of explosive storage in Hong Kong is an interesting one. The earliest location appears to have been Magazine Island, originally named One Tree Island, which lies just to the West of Aberdeen Harbour. From 1887 to 1908 it was leased for an annual rent of $100, by the Nobel Explosives Company, who built a magazine, a road and […]
» Read more