Russell & Company ( 旗昌洋行) was the largest and most important American trading house in Qing dynasty China from 1842 to its closing in 1891. Samuel Russell founded Russell & Company in Canton, China, in 1824. Dealing mostly in silks, teas and opium, Russell & Company prospered, and by 1842, it had become the largest American trading house in China. Russell withdrew from the company in 1836 and returned to […]
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HF: Malcolm Morris and I took the bus to Shek O for lunch yesterday. Malcolm hadn’t been for many years and as we set off from Shau Kei Wan I mentioned the extraordinary Shek O bus terminus which he didn’t know about and which has both delighted and puzzled me since I first saw it in 1989. The former because […]
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A woman feeling unwell from smoke inhalation was sent to hospital after a blaze broke out in a Hong Kong industrial building on Thursday. Emergency crews were called to Kai Tak Factory Building on King Fuk Street in San Po Kong, where a second-floor unit had burst into flames at about 12.15pm. The cause of the fire has not yet […]
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HF: A visit on 6th Feb 2014 to the Hong Kong Museum of History led to the following information about The Hongkong Cotton-Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing Company Ltd 1898 -1914. This was the first major cotton spinning company in Hong Kong and was formed in 1898 by Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co Ltd. (see article below). A photograph of the works […]
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Jennifer Lang: I just returned from a visit to Shanghai and a look at the many wonderful Bund buildings from the 20th century. Here is more detail on the Asiatic building. It was designed by the architectural firm of Moorhead & Halse and built in 1916. The records I accessed show that it was originally called the McBain Building and […]
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Added information in red On 10th December 2012 the SCMP reported on the almost complete demolition of the Eastern Cotton Mills situated in Mok Cheong Street, Ma Tau Wai, Kowloon. The article reports on the comments of a representative of the Conservancy Association and the, now lost, possibility of “development-cum-conservation” at the site. York Lo: The Mill was set up […]
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Shiu Wing Steel Limited was briefly mentioned in Newsletter 8 as the only steel rolling mill currently in Hong Kong and located at Tap Shek Kok, Tuen Mun. Before relocating to its present position the company was in Junk Bay, present day Tseung Kwan O, from 1958 to 1991. IDJ provides interesting information about the Shiu Wing Steel Company’s time in Junk Bay. […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Five) – Ngo Kee and Sung Foo Kee/Lidell Ngo Kee and Sung Foo Kee (now Sun Fook Kong) are two other leading construction firms which trace their roots back to pre-war Shanghai. Owned and managed respectively by the Loo and the Sung families for over half a century, the two firms were […]
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Maureen Fan left a comment below Carles Brasó Broggi’s article Shanghai Spinners: Pioneers of Hong Kong’s Industrialisation. This reads in part: Thank you for your informative article. My grandfather Robert Fan Wenzhao (1893-1979) was the architect who designed the HK Spinners factory at Cheung Sha Wan, including the workers dormitories, a dining hall, a recreation area, basketball and volleyball courts and […]
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James Chan: Hughie D, Veteran Member of derelictplaces.co.uk has posted a piece about this company on its website. This was posted in July 2015. Hughie says: “This place is a bit of a strange one. This old silk mill is in the middle of Tsuen Wan…and must represent very valuable real estate. I remember passing this place a number of […]
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