IDJ has kindly provided this brief history of Hong Kong Electric’s Ap Lei Chau Power Station, together with all of the images shown here which he has collected over the years. IDJ says the book A Mountain of Light, The Story of the Hongkong Electric Company by Austin Coates, says very little about the Ap Lei Chau POwer Station apart […]
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York Lo: The Fourth Horse: Ma Ping-san (馬平山) of M. Ping San Co., Tin Wah Gourmet Powder Factory and On Wah Perfume Co. Left: trademark registration for M. Ping San Co. in 1938 (HK Government Reports); Right: Ma Ping-san and wife at a charity concert by the Cantonese opera troupe Sin Fung Ming (仙鳳鳴) in 1961 (WKYP, 1961-2-17) Earlier on […]
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IDJ: Before HAECO came into existence, three companies offered aircraft maintenance services at Kai Tak. JAMCO and PAMAS merged to become HAECO (Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company) on 1 November 1950. CNAC disappeared from the scene in 1949 when the government in China changed hands and CNAC’s assets were then subjected to a long drawn out legal battle in the […]
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York Lo: The Hioe family and Yoeng Nam Hien & Co (榮南興) From the 1930s to 1960s, Yoeng Nam Hien & Co was one of the leading trading companies in Hong Kong specialized in trading between HK/China and Southeast Asia, specifically Indonesia where the firm’s owner the Hioe family had built an enormous fortune tracing back to the late 19th […]
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IDJ has sent these extracts from a 1908 book which describe the company and show photographs of its operations. The company was founded in 1862, The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (now known as Towngas) was Hong Kong’s first public utility and its original generating plant, the first in Asia, stood on the waterfront at West Point near Whitty Street. […]
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HF: Desalination (or “Desalting” as it appeared to be called at that time) was a source of water in Hong Kong between 1975 and 1981. A large desalination plant was commissioned at Lok On Pai, near Tuen Mun, in 1975, but was decommissioned in 1981 because its operation was more expensive than importing water from Dongjiang in China. A Water Supplies […]
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York Lo: Wan Hin & Co (德榮建築) a.k.a. Tak Wing Construction Left: ad for Wan Hin & Co in the 1950s (HKBCA yearbook), right: ad for Wan Hin’s development Evergreen Factory Building in Chai Wan (WKYP, 1964-12-15) For the 1940s to 1990s, Wan Hin & Co (or “Tak Wing Construction” in Chinese) was one of the leading building contractors in […]
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The Hong Kong Hide & Leather Traders’ Association Ltd website suggests there are around 60 Hong Kong companies currently involved in this industry. We have two articles concerning this trade both written by York Lo. * Tung Mow Hides & Leather Factory(同茂皮廠) – pioneer of the HK leather industry * Kwong Fat Yuen Hong (廣發源行) – the 150 year old King […]
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HF: This is an initial attempt to analyse the impact of World War One on industry in Hong Kong. HF: May 2019 I have not been able to research further on the topic since originally posting this article in September 2015 and would be grateful if someone could poke around a bit and send in more information/images on the subject. […]
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York Lo: Oriental Pacific Mills (東亞太平) – the Largest Wool Textile Producer in HK Left: Oriental Pacific Mills at Sheung Kwai Chung in 1966 (Land Use Survey, HKU Libraries); Right: logo of Oriental Pacific Mills Oriental Pacific Mills (refer to as “OP”) was the largest worsted and woolen spinning group in HK which was formed in 1959 as the result […]
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