Tymon Mellor: At 11.39pm on the 3rd August, 1972 Mr M. McMillan, a construction superintendent became the first member of the public to drive from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon through the new cross-harbour tunnel. The tunnel project was a first, not only for connecting Hong Kong to Kowloon, but also for using private capital to finance the project under a […]
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Peter H.T. Woo – Father of the Hong Kong Electronics Industry – by York Lo Several years ago, I was invited by the editors of the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography (HKU Press, 2011) to write biographical entries for the book. In total I wrote 37 entries which covered many of the important figures in HK business history. However, there […]
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IDJ: When Hong Kong was liberated after the surrender of the Japanese, one of the first groups to arrive was “Shield Force.” This mainly comprised 3,000 Royal Air Force personnel who had been diverted from their expected task of building Pacific island aerodromes to assist the Allied advance towards Japan. Not all RAF personnel in the war were involved in flying […]
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Stephen Davies: Credit must be given for the information below to a presentation given by Ma Koon You on Hong Kong dockyards at the HK Heritage Discovery Centre a couple of years back, and since supplemented by me. Capt George Underhill Sands (1824-1881) bought the old MacDonald Shipyard in Sai Wan (Western District, HK Island) after a complex history that […]
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IDJ has sent the following newspaper article about the Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company. HF: The Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company was founded in 1886 by Paul Chater. Its present name is The Wharf (Holdings) Limited. The company owns the Star Ferry amongst other holdings HF: I have retyped the article for the sake of clarity and to […]
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York Lo: For decades after the War, the plastic industry and two closely related industries – toy and artificial flower manufacturing had played an important role in the industrial growth of Hong Kong and thanks to the efforts of pioneering entrepreneurs and the hard work of an industrious labor force, Hong Kong had emerged from nothing to become a top player […]
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HF: This Michael Rogge film starts outside Crocodile Garments Ltd, underneath whose sign is shown in brackets, United Shirts Factory I am assuming the next couple of scenes are of Crocodile Garments employees and locations:- 0.11-0.30 what is the man cutting out with the electric saw? 0.40-0.55 material hanging out to dry? any idea of the location? 0.56-1.03 what is […]
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IDJ has sent the following newspaper article and images of the ships mentioned in it. HF I have retyped the article to aid clarity and searches. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article. Hongkong’s ship-building peak is rapidly drawing nearer as two ships for the Blue Funnel Line attain completion at Taikoo Dockyard. The frames of both vessels stand […]
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Graham Wood has kindly sent a copy of the souvenir brochure issued at the official opening of the Hok Un power station in 1921. HF: I have retyped the original PDF version of the brochure sent by Graham and as it is a fairly lengthy document this is the third in a series of articles. I will include all the […]
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Tymon Mellor has sent this photograph of the railway line and station at Fanling. This shows proper passenger carriages unlike the flat, open waggons shown in the image below. HF I had heard about this almost forgotten branch of the Kowloon Canton Railway but knew almost nothing about it. The line operated for exactly 16 years from 1 Apr 1912 […]
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