York Lo: Bargain Electrical Co (平霸電業) and System One (新一系電器) Bargain Electrical Co and System One were two leading electronics retailers in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s respectively that have since faded into history. The former was best remembered for its low prices and catchy TV commercials while the latter was launched by the conglomerate First Pacific and […]
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Peter Howell has kindly sent the following introduction to and images of RAF Shatin Airfield: 1900 Air Observation Post Flight, 657 Squadron, arrived in Hong Kong at the end of April 1953. Within a few weeks, the personnel had re-assembled their four Auster Mk 6 and one Auster Mk 7 aircraft and started flying operations from the airstrip near Shatin […]
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HF: Holt’s Wharf and the Godown were set up in 1910 and jointly owned by the Swire Group and Blue Funnel Line. Together they formed a railway and freight hub in Tsim Sha Tsui. See the article, Holts’s Wharf and Godown, linked below. Here is Alfred Holt’s obituary posted on the excellent Grace’s Guides website and originally published by The Institution […]
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York Lo: The Moh Family and Hop Kee Pyrotechnics (合記烟花) Fireworks is a big business with significant demand locally and globally and Hop Kee has been a leading exporter of fireworks and producer of firework displays in HK since the 1950s under the leadership of three generations of the Moh family. Left: Mo Pooi-chew in the the early 1970s (SCJP, […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent these BAAG reports which cover early 1942 to late 1944 KWIZ #66, 15.9.1944. About 100 workmen. Owing to lack of raw materials production has stopped but there is still some old stock of cement in the works. KWIZ #72, 27.10.44. KWIZ #74 10.11.44 KWIZ #76 24.11.44 KWIZ #77 15.12.44 KWIZ #78 22.12.44 This 1949 aerial image […]
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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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HF: The Hongkong Milling Company had a brief existence during the early part of the 20th century. Things ended tragically when its prime founder Alfred Herbert Rennie committed suicide by throwing himself off the company launch taking him to the Mill. The company, a major industrial enterprise at that time, is almost forgotten. I wonder also how many people remember […]
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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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