HF: The China Sugar Refinery Company started life, I think, in 1874, as Wahee, Smith & Co (or possibly without a comma). Several partners of Wahee, Smith went bankrupt leading to the sale of the refinery to Jardine, Matheson & Company. Choa Chee-bee was compradore at both companies having come to Hong Kong in the early 1870s from Malacca. If […]
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York Lo: Dragon Seed (龍子行) Left: the original Dragon Seed store on the right at 37 Queen’s Road Central in the early 1950s, A Man Hing Cheong was on the left.Right: Dragon Seed Building in the early 2000s when it was occupied by Yue Hwa (Apple Daily) From its inception in the late 1940s to the 1990s, Dragon Seed Co […]
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IDJ has kindly sent the following article THE HONG-WATERWORKS. The city of Victoria, a great commercial port and naval and military station of the British Empire, is situated on the south side of a magnificent harbour in that island, separated by a narrow strait from the mainland coast of China, and nearly opposite the entrance to the Canton River. The […]
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York Lo: Jam Fair Department Store (占飛百貨) Left: Jam Fair’s store in Central in 1968; Right: Jam Fair at Honour House in Yaumatei in 1989 From the 1940s to 1970s, Jam Fair was one of leading retailers in Hong Kong with branches in Central in the HK side and two stores on Nathan Road in the Kowloon side. Jam Fair […]
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Thomas Ngan has sent information about the sketches of Hong Kong by Kwong Kai Ming. These are of general interest though some, including those shown below, are of an industrial or commercial nature. The entire collection of sketches can be found on the Hong Kong Memory Project’s website, linked below. The site says, “This collection displays over 80 pieces of […]
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IDJ has sent the following article about the brief production in Hong Kong, in 1979, by Meccano, owners of Dinky Toys, of a new model car. HF: I have retyped the original article. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped version. Rover 3500 by Dinky ‘Dinky Toys’ and ‘Hong Kong’ don’t quite seem to go together, do they? After all, […]
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York Lo: Southeast Ice Company (東南冰廠) Opening ceremony of Southeast Ice Company in 1969 (WKYP, 1969-11-25) The fishing industry has created demand for locally produced ice and in 1969, Southeast Ice Company opened on Tung Yuen Street in Yau Tong next to the fishing village of Lei Yue Mun to supply ice to local fishermen. Southeast Ice Co was incorporated […]
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James Chan: In 1863 Thomas Sutherland became the first chairman of the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock. He was 29. The following has been extracted from the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography. Both the author Robert Nield and HK University Press have given permission for extracts to be used in this article. Robert Nield: “Thomas Sutherland was the founder of one […]
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York Lo: Hop Yuen Construction (合源建築): A Century of Building in HK Left: Details of Hop Yuen with picture of founder TseIu-wah from the HKBCA directory in 1957 (HKBCA yearbook, 1957); right: Hop Yuen building on Ship Street While many construction companies covered earlier in the group have faded into history, Hop Yuen Construction is still going strong after over […]
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IDJ has sent an article about Stone Cutters (or Breakers) and their working lives in Hong Kong… The article was originally published in 1952 by the Building Contractor’s Association which subsequently became the Hong Kong Construction Association which exists today. The images shown here have also been supplied by IDJ but are not in the 1952 article. They are all located […]
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