Don Holmgren left the following query on 14th December 2017. ”What was the final disposition of the two Hall-Scott Motor coaches – the Taipo Belle and the Canton Belle, did they possibly survive the ravages of World War Two?” Martin Baumann left the following comment on the 6th March 2025. ”Tai Po Belle was found damaged by British forces in […]
» Read more
Elizabeth Ride has sent the Naval section of a British Army Aid Group (BAAG) Waichow Intelligence Summary (WIS 27) dated 4th April 1943. This covers shipping movements in and out of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation in World War Two during late February to mid-March 1943. There are a number of Naval Section Intelligence Summaries covering these months which tend […]
» Read more
HF: As demonstrated below Hang Tai & Fungs Company Ltd were the Hong Kong agents for several well known products. I don’t know when the company operated from and to. However, the very similarly named, Hung Tai & Fung (Tobacco) Company Ltd, was formed on 20th November 1952 and dissolved on 30th December 1994. Further information about either company would […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: At the turn of the 19th century, railways and steam ships were changing the world and demanding new infrastructure to support them. With the construction of the Kowloon-Canton Railway – British Section in full swing, attention turned to the location of the terminus station in Kowloon. There were many competing requirements for the location; resulting in the site […]
» Read more
York Lo: Pacific Enamelware Factory (太平洋搪瓷廠) Pacific Enamelware Factory was one of the leading enamelware manufacturers in Hong Kong in the 1950s-60s before its closure in 1970. Pacific Enamelware Factory next to vegetable fields in Tsuen Wan in 1957 (Source: HKU Libraries) The firm was a partnership between Chua Kian-bun (蔡建文, 1898-1983), a prominent Fukienese businessman with business interests across […]
» Read more
HF: “The light is situated at Lam Tong Mei, a small rocky peninsula at the extreme southern tip of Tung Lung Island. It was constructed by the Japanese during their occupation of Hong Kong, from 1941 to 1945. It was originally used as a gun emplacement to protect the south-eastern approaches to Victoria Harbour. It is built of concrete and […]
» Read more
IDJ has sent the following newspaper article which was published in the Hong Kong Sunday Herald in a 1930s long series entitled Hong Kong Personalities. Hong Kong Personalities LT.COL. M.H. Logan This is the sixty-fourth of the exclusive series of sketches of leading Colony residents by Mr. A.S. Konya, the talented Hungarian artist. Our Personality this week is Lieut.-Colonel Malcolm […]
» Read more
During WW2 CLP’s Hok Un Power Station was damaged both by Japanese and allied bombing. In December 1941 it was taken over by the Japanese at the start of their occupation. Elizabeth Ride has sent these British Army Aid Group (BAAG) reports about China Light and Power during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, WW2. Thanks to John Smith and Mark Regan […]
» Read more
Hong Kong Water Supply – The East River Scheme Tymon Mellor: Following the failure of the 1963 summer rains, it was clear that Hong Kong needed additional sources of drinking water. With no natural major rivers, the obvious choice was to extract water from the East River, some 60km north of Hong Kong (now known as the Dongjiang River) and […]
» Read more
York Lo: George M. Lau – Father of the Hong Kong wig Industry Left: Advertisement of Regina Hair Products from the early 1970s; Right: 1953 ad of George M. Lau & Bros. (Source: IDJ) In 1970, the Hong Kong wig industry included 478 factories which employed 5 percent of the city’s total workforce (39000 workers) and its export value of […]
» Read more