Fung Chi Ming: Right after the British re-occupation of Hong Kong, an interim military administration was set up as a provisional authority until the civil administration took over on 1 May 1946. The Hong Kong Government Gazette dated 29 August 1946 announced that “public passenger tricycles”, as they were called, would have to register and be licensed. A schedule of […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent the following BAAG reports and sketches about Japanese plans to expand Kai Tak airport during their occupation of Hong Kong, World War Two. As you can see by the first report the Japanese were apparently ambitious. At one point around 10,000 workers were involved including POWs. Residential buildings were demolished, agricultural land cleared and a nearby […]
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Ralph Wood has kindly sent the following article. George Underhill Sands was Ralph’s Great-granduncle. Ralph has compiled a substantial amount of information about George Sands’ family as well as the man himself. This can be found on Ralph’s website which is linked below the article. This website has posted a couple of articles about George Underhill Sands which are also […]
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York Lo: Union (V-Tex) Shirts (伊人恤) – the Rise and Fall of an Iconic Hong Kong Brand Left: Close up view of the Union V-Tex booth at the 23rd HK Products Expo in 1966. Right: Governor David Trench (lower right with the hat and glasses) walking by the booths of Union V-Tex (left) and Pak Fah Yeow (right) at the same […]
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IDJ has sent the following newspaper article which mentions the early history of the company. Watsons still exists today in Hong Kong, around 181 years since it started out. HF: I have retyped this to increase legibility and searches. MESSRS A.S. WATSON & COMPANY CELEBRATE 100th anniversary A brief outline of the early history of the Company, which celebrated its […]
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Tymon Mellor: Looking at some old mapping of Tuen Mun I noted a ceramics factory in the area, see below: This looks quite a factory as the mapping indicates rails, so I suspect it is more likely to be a brick works that is mentioned in the early alignment studies (1905) for the KCRC: “There is one brick works in the […]
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Sham Wai Chi wrote his MPhil thesis for Lingnam University in 2007 on the History of the Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company covering the years 1923 up to the 1970s. HF: The original company was founded by Lau Tak Po in 1897 when he purchased 5 wooden boats and provided services from HK Island to Kowloon under the company name Yaumati […]
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Connie Fong: “People in Hong Kong may come across traditional Chinese steelyards, a type of balance, in wet markets and Chinese medicine pharmacies. Yet only a few of them know the proper way to use one, though it was the optimal tool for measuring weight in the olden days. HF: I have tried to leave a comment at the end […]
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By Fung Chi Ming The tricycle or ‘cycle rickshaw’, as some people now call it, combines the characteristics of bicycle and rickshaw. Tricycles could be found in Asia and around the world, but they differed significantly in design and appearance. In Malacca and Singapore, it was a carriage with a passenger seat on the left side of the rider. In […]
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Vaudine England has kindly sent a link to what she describes as a typically 1900-era directory of the European empires in the east. There is much in the directory of interest to us which has been linked in articles below. The author was D Warren Smith.(1) I thought I would divide these summaries into several parts. Fifth up – Trade […]
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