York Lo: Cho Shiu-chung (曹紹松, 1922-2011) – Real Estate Developer and Philanthropist Left: Cho Shiu-chung; Right: Staff of On Wah Construction congratulating Cho Shiu-chung on his MBE in 1971 (WKYP, 1971-1-8) Cho Shiu-chung was a prominent player in the construction and real estate business and an active community leader from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1973 to 1987, he […]
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York Lo: Chow Yau (周有, 1912-1983) – Vertical Integrator of the HK Death Care Industry With over 45,000 deaths per year, the death care industry is a huge business in Hong Kong. While many Chinese articles have covered Siu Ming, the king of funeral homes who monopolized the business in the 1960s and early 1970s, little has been written about […]
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York Lo: Edmond Ip (葉榮昌): Industrialist, Community Leader and Fugitive Left: Edmond Ip (HK Scouting Gazette, 1970); Right: article about the arrest of Edmond Ip in 1977 when he returned to Hong Kong from Taiwan (WKYP, 1977-5-22) In August 1971, shockwaves were sent across Hong Kong when Edmond Ip Wing-cheong, the 41 years old industrialist and community leader suddenly disappeared. […]
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York Lo: Wing Tai Cheung (榮泰祥木廠) – Timber Merchant and Saw Mill Ad for Wing Tai Cheung Co in 1958 (HKBCA yearbook) For most of the 20th century, Wing Tai Cheung operated by three generations of the Kan family was one of the leading timber merchants and saw mills in Hong Kong with branches across Hong Kong and Kowloon and […]
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Rico Lee: ‘Just encountered a rare short documentary about “French technology in the Far East” on ina.fr featuring an aluminum production plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, construction of Shek Pik Reservoir, and the Jatiluhur Dam in Indonesia. All the result of French involvement.’ The Shek Pik-related part was clipped and reposted by Save Lantau Alliance to rally support against development of Lantau […]
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HF: IDJ has sent three articles about replacing Kai Tak airport post World War Two. Various locations were discussed with the main option appearing to be the Ping Shan/Deep Bay area west of Yuen Long. Certainly construction work actually started at the Ping Shan site as the articles linked below demonstrate. However, and eventually, a plan to modify Kai Tak […]
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York Lo: Wong Tong Kee (黃棠記) – the Timber Merchant and the Mansion Left: Wong Tong Kee founder Wong Cheuk-hing (百年商業, 1941); Right: Ad for Wong Tong Kee in the 1950s (HKBCA Yearbook) In the first half of the 20th century, Wong Tong Kee was one of the major players in the lumber and construction business in Hong Kong and […]
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HF: The following article has been extracted from the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography. The article about George Ernest Marden and John Louis Marden was written by Robert Nield and first published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but […]
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HF: IDJ has sent in this report about the first private submarine built in Hong Kong. As he says this shows how versatile the students of the Far East Flying Training School (FEFTS) could be in their endeavours. As you will see Mr Yuen constructed another submarine. I am presuming this was also made in Hong Kong though this is […]
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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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