‘Maverick’ has kindly sent this film of the Wo Hop Shek Spur Line. It has moments of great charm and nostalgia for those old enough to remember single line branches – children running at the station along side the train as it pulls in, the safety system of passing a token (what was the particular system with a large loop […]
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York Lo: From Curios and Jewelry to Soy Milk and Cinemas – the 150 year old saga of the Shiu Lock Hing family Several articles on the website have covered Chinese family businesses in Hong Kong which have existed for not only a century but close to or over 150 years – these include Kwong Fat Yuen Hong in the […]
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IDJ has sent this SCMP article about 99 year old Mak Sing-ying. Mr Mak has for 81 years been making pans, cans, boxes and buckets out of tin from his workshop in Sai Kung. The article was published on 9th November 2014 See: SCMP article Sai Kung’s ‘tin man’ 9th November 2014 This article was first posted on 18th December 2019.
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York Lo: Murjani – the Ups and Downs of a HK Garment Dynasty The history of the HK garment industry would not be complete without the profile of the Murjanis. Starting with a single shop in 1930, Bhagwandas Kewalram Murjani (B.K. Murjani) started one of the first and largest HK garment exporters to the US market in the 1950s. The family […]
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IDJ has sent the following article about F. Blackhead & Company written about 1908: In the early days, before the establishment of Hongkong as a British Colony, Whampoa was the farthest point to which the Chinese permitted foreign ships to proceed up the West River. Many difficulties were experienced at this port by vessels in obtaining stores, and it was […]
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York Lo:The Wong Brothers of Yuen Kee Hong – from Preserved Ginger to Metals and Frozen Meats In the article about aluminum industry pioneers Wah Chong and Ting Tai, we have mentioned about Yuen Fung Metal Works, one of the four firms which partnered up with Wah Chong and Ting Tai to form the sales consortium known as Aluminium Manufactures […]
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York Lo: Five Stars (五星牌) and Three Rings (三元牌) – Aluminum Pioneers Wah Chong (華錩) and Ting Tai (鼎大) Production of aluminum (or aluminium based on the British spelling) sheets and products in Hong Kong began in 1949 with two firms – Wah Chong, the maker of the “Five Stars” brand of aluminum ware which opened its branch factory in […]
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IDJ: In Hong Kong until around the mid 1990s, curious observers and old men with nothing better to do were a familiar sight gathered at gaps in construction sites fences where amongst the usual activities they could observe a practise possibly unique to Hong Kong. Husband and wife teams constructing large diameter, hand dug piles, known as caissons were common […]
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York Lo: Au Shue-Hung (區樹洪, 1902-1991) – Real Estate Pioneer and Philanthropist Left: Au Shue-hung (center) and his wife with Governor Sir David Wilson (right) in 1988 at the dedication ceremony of the Au Shue Hung Centre for Film and Television; Right: Everest Building – the blue billboard on the right contained evangelical messages put up by the Au family. […]
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York Lo: Advertising & Publicity Bureau (湯臣廣告公司) APB’s booth at the British Industries Fair in 1939 in Birmingham, UK. APB was the first overseas ad agency to have exhibited at the show, which was the most popular attraction in the UK from the 1920s to the 1950s (Malaya Tribune, 1939-3-28) As mentioned earlier in the article about the HK neon […]
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