York Lo: “The Prince of Garments”: Wong Mee of Sweetmart and Carlo Wong’s Factory Building in Tsuen Wan; Right: HK garment pioneer Wong Mee In October 2017, the 23 story Wong’s Factory Building (王子工業大廈) at 368-370 Sha Tsui Road in Tsuen Wan was sold for HK$1.23 billion. (Building was valued by HSBC at $80-90 million in 2005 according to court […]
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HF: Alfred Herbert Rennie, came to Hong Kong from Canada as the sales representative of the American Company, Portland Flouring Mills. He started the Hongkong Milling Company in what was then called Junk Bay. However, despite backing from several prominent local businessmen his company quickly became mired in multiple problems and Rennie committed suicide while travelling by boat to his […]
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York Lo: Maui-Kong Ve-Pein (妙供味本廠) – Pioneer of the HK Gourmet Powder Industry Left: the pai portal of Maui-Kong Ve-Pein on Victoria Road in Mt. Davis today. Right: Maui Kong founder Chang Shun-yen in the early 1950s Near 406 Victoria Road in Mount Davis by the west coast of Hong Kong island is a Chinese pai portal obscured by trees […]
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Tymon Mellor: At the end of the nineteenth century, the great world powers were all trying to expand their spheres of influence within China. The approach of the British was to use Hong Kong as a marine trading hub, enhanced with the provision of a railway network thus extending the Colony’s commercial reach into the Chinese hinterland and connecting with […]
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HF: Japanese Occupation 1941-1945 Hong Kong surrendered to Japan on 25 December 1941, marking the start of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Postal services resumed in early 1942, with 20 or 21 Japanese definitives introduced for use in Hong Kong. As a response to hyperinflation during the occupation, three stamp issues were surcharged with a higher value. These were […]
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HF: The following notes are an attempt to order chronologically events in AH Rennie’s life mentioned on data cards from the Carl Smith collection held at the HK Public Records Office. I have attempted below to include all references to Rennie in these cards, as recorded by Carl Smith, and which are hand written or typed. However, they are sometimes […]
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York Lo: Lee Lim Ming (李琳明): King of Metal Pins and Badges Left: Ming Sang Industrial Building; right: a Lee Lim Ming pin for the Royal HK Regiment Founded in 1939 and incorporated in 1963, Lee Lim Ming Metal Works (李琳明金屬製造廠) has been making metal pins and badges for large companies (such as Maxim’s, KFC franchise operator Birdland, Cathay Pacific), government […]
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IDJ: The book Hong Kong Bank-The building of Norman Foster’s masterpiece by Stephanie Williams-1989 is the book to have for the whole process-concept to completion. HF: I cannot find an online version of this so for the time being we will have to make do with the following images IDJ has kindly sent.(1) The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) […]
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HF: The death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and the reign of King Edward V11 saw the release of a new series of definitives, commonly referred to as the ”bald man”’s definitives by local philatelists and stamp collectors. The first set (1903) of stamps featuring Edward V11 consisted of 15 stamps. A second set (1904) was printed on different paper, […]
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IDJ has supplied the following article from a volume of “Wonders of World Engineering” edited by Clarence Winchester published in a 1938 or 39 edition. This goes into considerable detail about water supply problems in Hong Kong at that time especially on Hong Kong island, the resultant surveys undertaken to find a suitable location for a large reservoir. The selection of the […]
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