Tymon Mellon: The year of 1921 was a good year for the growing population of Hong Kong Island; it would be the last year[i] until 1982 when there were no more water shortages[ii]. With the completion of the Tai Tam Tuk reservoir in 1917, doubling the total water capacity, the Colonial Government was confident there would be a sufficient water […]
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York Lo: Stanley Kuo (郭正達, 1923-2009): King of Threads, Textile Industrialist and Credit Card Pioneer Earlier on the website, we covered the aluminum pioneer Wah Chong founded by the Kuo family from Shanghai. Stanley Kuo Cheng-dai, the eldest son of Wah Chong founder K.Y. Kuo, had achieved success independent of Wah Chong as the co-founder of successful businesses in three […]
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York Lo: Min Ngai: Leading Maker of Singlets and Vests from the 1920s to the 1960s Left: Ad for Min Ngai in 1941 (A Century of Commerce, 1941); Center: Min Ngai’s booth at the 15th HK Product Expo in 1958 on the right, on the left was Amoy Canning’s booth; Right: Ad for Min Ngai Huat Kee in 1958 (WKYP, […]
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Stephen Davies/Hugh Farmer SD: The largest vessel I know for certain to have been built at the Ah King yard, in 1938/39, was the wonderful exploration junk Cheng Ho, 100ft long and with the most marvellous history. She was built for Ann Archbold, daughter of the founder of Standard Oil to amazingly extravagant specs (some of the interior shots are […]
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Ian Wolfe has sent a photo from an unknown source. Ian: It’s undated but the time taken should be before 1949. The Green Island plant with an interesting aerial ropeway can be seen here – Tower A is approximately at the present ELDEX building,[location shown below], while pylons B,C,D,E and F stretches the ropeway towards the coastline and ended up going […]
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York Lo: Sing Chow Electric Factory (星洲電器製造廠) Left: ad for Sing Chow Electric in 1934 (HK Chinese Factories Survey, 1934); Right: Sing Chow founder Chan Lee-sheung (A Century of Commerce, 1941) Founded in 1920, Sing Chow Electric Factory was one of the earliest and largest manufacturers of flashlights in Hong Kong and known for its “Dog’s Head” (狗頭牌) brand of […]
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A Bygone Industry in Hong Kong – Rickshaw Makers’ Stores By Fung Chi Ming The rickshaw is long out of date, but in days past it was a widely used form of urban transport. For public hire and for private use, it also created new employment. The first rickshaw in Hong Kong was of Japanese construction. But, as time went […]
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New information in red Dianne Scialla wrote in a comment, “I am doing a program on beading and I am trying to find out more about all the beautiful beaded handbags and sweaters that came out of Hong Kong in the 1950′s. Did the same families that you mentioned in your article [Carles Brasó Broggi – Shanghai Spinners: Pioneers of Hong […]
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York Lo: Lo Lam (盧林) – Building Contractor, Theater Owner and Movie Producer Lo Lam with actresses at his birthday party in 1963. Right to left: Yu Lai-chun (余麗珍), Lo Lam, Fung Wong Nui (鳳凰女), Lee Heung-kam (李香琴), Kam Ying-lin (金映蓮). (WKYP, 1963-8-3) In the 1960s and the early 1970s, a building contractor by the name of Lo Lam (fondly […]
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IDJ has sent an extract from a book by Martin Barnett published in 1984 about the history of tramways in Hong Kong. HF: Chevalier R Pescio was an Italian with an exotic name and an alluring proposal. Namely to build a tramway between Victoria and Aberdeen. He repeatedly tried to obtain government interest in this scheme between 1906 and 1910 […]
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