Rat bins – HK Electric/Gas connection and to a colloquial Cantonese “affectionate” term

Articles, General, Hong Kong Companies, Utilities

IDJ sent the English version  of what the piece calls Rat Boxes. Mak Ho Yin has kindly translated it. 「香港電燈公司和煤氣公司與老鼠箱關係密切，因為老鼠箱是掛在電燈柱上的。由於華人極為抗拒（滅鼠人員）進入私人住宅，政府於是鼓勵華人在殺死家中的老鼠後，將鼠屍放在就近的老鼠箱內，由衛生部門職員每日收集清理。老鼠箱掛在電燈柱一景，還衍生了一句香港獨有的俗語「電燈柱掛老鼠箱」，以形容夫妻二人中丈夫瘦削兼且二人身高矮懸殊。」 Ho Yin continues: This paragraph raised my curiosity on the topic of rat bins so apart from translating it I also did a quick check about its history. I have no memory of seeing them hanging at lamp-posts, and I […]

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Star Envelopes & Printing Co. (福星信封印刷)

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Star Envelopes & Printing Co. Image 3 York Lo

York Lo: Star Envelopes & Printing Co. (福星信封印刷) Left: Sat Wing-cheung (1959); Center: ad for Star Envelopes in 1971 (HK Pun U District Association); Right: Sat Wing-chung (1967)  Within the highly competitive HK printing industry dominated by natives of the Heshan (or Hok Shan) district in Guangdong province (see article on Lee Yat-ngok and Local Printing Press), the Sat family […]

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The Gutta Percha Company – link to Eastern Extension Telegraph Company and Hong Kong

Articles, Manufacturing, Non-Hong Kong Companies, Utilities

The Gutta Percha Company by Bill Burns The following paragraphs are extracted from Bill’s article, with his permission, which can be found on his large and absorbing website. The article can be read in full via the link below, along with an extract from the book “London by day and night:or, Men and things in the great metropolis” by David W. Bartlett, […]

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Lin’s (Kwong Ming) Enterprises (連氏光明) and Kwong Ming Knitting Factory

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Manufacturing, People
Lin's (Kwong Ming) Enterprises Detail Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: Lin’s (Kwong Ming) Enterprises (連氏光明) and Kwong Ming Knitting Factory  Picture and obituary of family patriarch Lin Yan-yee (WKYP, 1978-6-19); Right: Lin Siu-man (WKYP, 1982-9-1)  The Lin family came from Chaoyang in Chiuchow and has been a notable player in the knitwear, garment, handbag and shoe industry in HK for over half a century through their Lin’s (Kwong […]

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Preserved ginger – newspaper article 1947 – post WW2 industry difficulties

Articles, Fishing and Agriculture, Food and Beverages, Manufacturing

HF: Many thanks to IDJ for sending this newspaper article about the preserved ginger industry in Hong Kong in 1947. The article was published in the Hong Kong Sunday Herald of 7th June 1947. I’m not sure if ginger was HK’s oldest industry with both the manufacturing of salt from sea water and quarrying of rock being very old. However, […]

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The Chan Family of Sun Wui and the Entertainment Business in HK and Macau

Articles, Entertainment, General, Hong Kong Companies
The Chan Family Of Sun Wui Detail Image 6 York Lo

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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Aw Boon Haw 胡文虎 and Aw Boon Par 胡文豹, the brothers behind Tiger Balm’s huge Asian success

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Aw Boon Haw And Aw Boon Par Source Alchetron

HF: The following article about Aw Boon Haw and his brother Aw Boon Par was written by Stephanie Chung Po-yin and first published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but retains copyright over this material from 2012. […]

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First commercial airliner shot down by hostile air action – out of Kai Tak, 1938

Articles, Transport

Gregory Couch has kindly given permission for his article, The first commercial airliner ever shot down by hostile air action, to be posted on our website: CNAC DC-2 #32, the Kweilin, was machine-gunned and forced down by five Japanese pontoon biplanes on August 24, 1938, shortly after leaving Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport. Hugh Woods was at the controls, and […]

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Chan Cheung (陳章): Trader, Garment Manufacturer and Developer

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Chan Cheung, Chingman Detail B Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: Chan Cheung (陳章): Trader, Garment Manufacturer and Developer From the 1940s to 1970s, Chan Cheung, who also went by Chan Chingman (陳正文,1911-1989), was a prominent business figure in Hong Kong whose business interests range from his namesake Chingman & Sons, a leading importer of fabrics and furniture to La Falandy, the distributor of French wine of the same […]

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