York Lo: Sanda Shoes (山打皮鞋) and Manning Shirt (萬寧恤) c Neon sign of Sanda Shoe/Manning Shirt on 630-632 Nathan Road in Mongkok in the 1960s (next to Yips Shirt at 636 Nathan Road, see our Indhhk article) Sanda Shoes is one of the brands from the 1950s through 1970s which is permanently etched in the memories of most HK residents. […]
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Tymon Mellor: As a key trading port for Southern China, Hong Kong harbour has always been full of boats stocking up for the next long journey. One question has always puzzled me, where did they get their fresh water? A look at the original maps of Kowloon provides an answer. The first map of Kowloon and the New Territories was […]
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Tymon Mellor: Under a clear blue sky on the 3rd November, 1924 HMS Pegasus, an aircraft carrier, steamed into Victoria Harbour. On board were nine seaplanes fitted with state-of-the-art camera equipment for aerial photography, along with a band of enthusiastic pilots. Large scale aerial photography was in its infancy and this was one of the most ambitious applications of aerial […]
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York Lo: Moving Mountains: the Life and Mines of Ko Ming-fan (高銘勳,1906-2012), proprietor of Flat Hill Quarry (平山石礦) and HK Clays & Kaolin Co Ko Ming-fan visiting mainland China in the 1980s (Courtesy: Bonnie Sellars) The post war construction boom created significant demand for construction materials and unprecedented opportunities for the HK mining industry. One of the handful of tenacious […]
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HF: “Francis Richard Marsh was born on the 30th August, 1876, and was educated at St. George’s School, Harpenden. [He was the son of Richard Brewster Marsh and Alice Marsh] After receiving his practical training with the Coalbrookdale Co. he was employed for a short time as a draughtsman by Ferranti, Ltd. In 1899 he joined the staff of Preece […]
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Tymon Mellor: Farming in Hong Kong has always been a challenging vocation; small field sizes, labour intensive, often rugged terrain and unpredictable weather. In good times two crops of rice could be grown a year but with erratic rainfall and the expansion of the reservoir catchwaters system, the agricultural community were under pressure. They wanted infrastructure investment to support farming […]
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HF: Central Mid-level Escalator is the world’s longest outdoor covered escalator system, opened in 1993. It runs for over 800m and rises over 135m in elevation, from Queen’s Road Central up to Conduit Road. It was built to ease traffic congestion in the residential Mid-levels district, and comprises of 20 escalators and three inclined moving walkways. The system runs downhill […]
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York Lo: The Chan Family of Sun Wui and the Entertainment Business in HK and Macau Natives of Sun Wui in Guangdong province, the family of Chan Wai-ting has been involved in the entertainment business in Hong Kong and Macau for close to a century through the operations of at least five movie theaters, the Kai Tak Amusement Park covered […]
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HF: The apparently disused factory shown in the photos below is located on Ping Ha Road, Ping Shan and is immediately to the north of the Century Centre as shown on the map below. Its two or possibly three factory buildings are in one compound which I was unable to enter. Jennifer Wong has kindly translated the signs shown on […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent the Naval section of a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) Waichow Intelligence Summary (WIS No.11) dated 8th November 1942. This covers shipping movements in and out of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two during mid to late October 1942. These reports also describes time spent by vessels undergoing repairs and maintenance in a […]
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