Hugh Farmer: On a visit to the HK Museum of History on 6th Feb 2014 I noticed this enticing snippet from the Information Services Department 1960s. “Most home utensils such as baskets and strainers were woven from rattan rather than bamboo as in the past. Demand was high for bamboo-made fishing and farming tools, such as fish traps, cages for […]
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Hugh Farmer: These two extracts provide a clear indication of the range of manufacturing and products produced by Chinese in Hong Kong at two periods. It would be of interest to hear a little about some of these goods. “While the expatriate investors set up all the major industrial enterprises , the Chinese community also went beyond handicraft industries and […]
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Hugh Farmer: The article The Hongkong Cotton-Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing Company Ltd 1898-1914 contained a number of terms with which I and possibly others are unfamiliar. I thought it might be useful to explain what these words or phrases mean and to briefly mention the aim of any process involved rather than detailed construction of any machine mentioned. The latter […]
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IDJ : Quarries supplying construction materials for the proposed Ping Shan Airport are thought to be at the location above, the nearest mapped quarries to the site. They were connected to the airport site by a temporary narrow gauge railway. Site drawings for this project have not been found so far. The RAF’s Airfield Construction Branch paper mentions the clearing […]
» Read moreThe Industrial History of HK Group has been featured in HK’s mainstream media twice over the past week. First, Annemarie Evans interviewed Hugh Farmer for RTHK’s Hong Kong Heritage programme. You can visit by RTHK website page for the interview here and or go directly to listen to the interview here. Then on January 15th the SCMP featured an interview with Hugh […]
» Read moreLawrence Tsui suggests that the place name Yau Ma Tei originated through the industry there of making marine ropes – literally, ‘Place for the Oily Flex [Flax?] Ropes’. Hugh Farmer adds: Gwulo had a forum about the origin of the name Yau Ma Tei in 2006 to which several people contributed quoting a variety of sources. I have included the […]
» Read moreHugh Farmer was interviewed by Annemarie Evans on her RTHK programme Hong Kong Heritage, first broadcast on Saturday 12 Jan. He spoke about how he became interested in Industrial History in the UK and Hong Kong and why he set up The Industrial History of Hong Kong Group. He then highlighted a few subjects of interest including incense water mills and […]
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They don’t get more difficult than this one! And in two parts. Click on the Christmas tree. Can you identify the locations and their industries from this 1950s map. And suggest why the rest of the colony was omitted from such delightful detail? Tai O Salt? Ma On Shan Iron Mine? Tsuen Wan ship breaking? Junk Bay steel? Click on […]
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Many thanks to Lawrence Tsui for sending his father’s, Paul Tsui’s unpublished Memoirs – My Life and My Encounters see http://www.galaxylink.com.hk/~john/paul/paul.html Paul Tsui Ka Cheung was born in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong on Nov 5 1916. He had a very full life, including some dramatic times during WW2. He started work in Hong Kong as a Cadet Officer Class 2, on […]
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Hugh Farmer writes, The SCMP of 10 Dec 2013, has an article “Museum plans an old school revival” which mentions a plan by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries and the Hong Kong Toys Council to set up a permanent museum dedicated to toys produced here. Sounds like an excellent idea given the importance of the toy industry in Hong Kong […]
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