“With its outstanding record of safety and continuity, the Peak Tramways Company has always been conscious of the requirement to keep the Tramway’s operational heart in top shape. Surprisingly, since the beginning, the haulage plant has seen only one complete change – in 1926 when the original boilers and steam engine were replaced with an electrically-powered system.” Many thanks to […]
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HF: This article is somewhat rough and ready and is drawn from different sources. If you can add to or correct information provided please contact the Group. Stephen Davies: A WW2 shipyard based in Yau Tong Bay, the Chung Wah Shipbuilding & Engineering Company – started as Hoi Wong Co. Ltd. in 1966 or Chung Wah Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd […]
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York Lo: Raoul Bigazzi (卞根基) – leading specialist in marbles, bronzes and mosaics in the Far East from the 1920s to the 1960s One of Bigazzi’s masterpieces in HK – the mosaic mural of the old HSBC building built in 1935 From the 1920s to 1960s, an Italian sculptor by the name of Raoul Bigazzi from Florence carved out a niche (pun […]
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Introduction Tymon Mellor: One hundred years ago this year, according to records, mining for Wolframite (or Wolfram as it used to be called), commenced at Needle Hill, possibly one of the oldest and most extensive industrial historical sites in Hong Kong. The mine workings now lie abandoned and overgrown on the hillsides above the Lower Shing Mun Reservoir. If you […]
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HF: Dr Kenneth Fang Hung (30th November 1938-28th August 2022) was a Hong Kong billionaire industrialist and philanthropist. He was known as the ”King of Textiles”. Fang was born on 20th November 1938 in Xiaohai Town, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province. He lived in Hong Kong from the 1950s onward. The Fang family with roots in Haimen, Wantong, Jiangsu, China has […]
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York Lo: Lee On Construction (利安建築) and Lee On Realty (利安地產) Lee On Construction ad of Lee Man Building and Lee Wah Building in Mongkok in 1961 (WKYP, 1961-9-5) While Stanley Ho (何鴻燊, 1921-) might be best known for his gambling interests in Macau, he is also a pioneer in the HK real estate industry who co-founded and later served […]
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Dodwell & Company (天祥洋行) was one of the leading British merchant firms, active in China and Japan during the 19th and 20th century. It was a direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co. “It was established in 1858 when W R Adamson and Company (silk dealers) set up in London, with its head office in Shanghai and branches in Hong Kong, […]
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Douglas Lapraik arrived in Hong Kong in 1842 in apparently somewhat straitened circumstances from Macau. Things changed for the colourful Mr Lapraik. In 1863, together with Thomas Sutherland and Jardine, Matheson & Co,. he co-founded the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company (Kowloon Docks) which at its peak was the largest shipyard in Asia. The following article has been extracted from […]
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Carles Brasó Broggi’s article China Engineers Ltd 1928 Shanghai – 1937 Hong Kong, concludes, “During the 1960s, China Engineers expanded in the Southeast Asian markets establishing one of the first spinning and dyeing industries in the Philippines as well as electrical installations for high rise buildings in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. The company also opened offices in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. They […]
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York Lo: The Lo brothers and Nam Sang Building Construction (南生營造) Lo Hoi-ming (left) and Lo Yuk-ming (right) as directors of HKBCA in the mid-1950s (HKBCA yearbook) In the 1950s and 1960s,Lo Hoi-ming (盧海明) and his younger brother Lo Yuk-ming (盧煜明) were key figures in the HK real estate and construction industry whose Nam Sang Building Construction Co developed many […]
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