James Chan: I was reading about the Public Steelyard system which was used at Luen Wo market, Fanling, NT, Hong Kong. What was this system? What was the origin of the term? When was it used? Was it used all over the NT or the whole of HK? This Q+A was first posted on 18th February 2014
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HF: Our recent article about Arnhold Aviation, a subsidiary of Hong Kong based Arnhold Holdings Ltd which is the corporate descendant of Arnhold, Karberg & Co., a company founded in 1857, says that Arnhold Aviation represented four aircraft manufacturers in China. Three of these I am at least familiar with but the fourth Blackburn I had never heard of. I thought […]
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IDJ has added to the information we have about Arnholds & Company with this extract about the company’s aviation subsidiary based in Shanghai but apparently active throughout China. In the spring of 1928 Arnhold & Co, Ltd. decided to start selling aircraft and hired WEF Jones to head the operation. The Arnhold Aviation Department was born on 1 April 1928. […]
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York Lo: Djiauw Pok-kie(饒博基 1910-1973): Indonesian Chinese Tycoon in HK Capital from overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia has played an important role in the economic and industrial development of Hong Kong with a lot of it coming from Indonesia. Examples range from the tea and sugar tycoon Kwik Djoen-eng who acquired large plots of land in North Point in the […]
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HF: The venerable firm of Arnholds, Karberg Company was founded in 1866 and I believe has had a continuous presence in Hong Kong since then, barring when it was liquidated during World War One. The company currently deals in building materials and engineering equipment distribution. Arnholds seems to have had close connections to the Asiatic Petroleum Co. Ltd about which we […]
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York Lo: Annam Pak Kwei Yeow (安南白桂油) Left: Pak Kwei Yeow’s booth at the 1960 HK Products Expo; Right: Pak Kwei Yeow ad In the late 1950s, early 1960s, a Chinese medicinal oil by the name of Annam Pak Kwei Yeow was a prominent feature at the annual HK Products Expo with its eye catchy pagoda booth and its proprietor by […]
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HF with thanks to Tymon Mellor: The two images below are titled: Mac beside cannon, from old Chinese fort (Kowloon Walled City), Hong Kong, c1910-1913 and, Cannon from old Chinese fort (Kowloon Walled City), Hong Kong, c1910-1913 See: City Of Darkness Revisited Ian Lambot’s new and expanded edition of the well-known book about Kowloon Walled City This article was first […]
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I would like to thank David Bellis for reminding me about the book: “City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City” Girard G. and Lambot I. Watermark ,1993 The following article draws heavily on this book which may still be available in bookshops and is certainly to be found in HK Public Libraries (915.25 GIR). The book contains an undated […]
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If you arrived in Hong Kong after 1994 you will not have seen the Kowloon Walled City. And even if you have lived here all your life or came to Hong Kong before the mid 1990s you may not have been inside this fascinating and densely populated area. It became an enclave after the New Territories was leased to Britain […]
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York Lo: Chow Mud-wai (周沕桅) – Maker of Steel Windows, Owner of Theaters and Philanthropist Left: Chow Mud-wai (Confucian Academy website); Right: Ad announcing the opening of Zenith Theatre in 1951 (Cinema Treasures) Aside from S.Y. Tang of Canton Metal Windows (profiled earlier) and Paul Lee Yao-I of China Steel Works (to be profiled later), another key figure in the post-War […]
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