York Lo: Stanley Kuo (郭正達, 1923-2009): King of Threads, Textile Industrialist and Credit Card Pioneer Earlier on the website, we covered the aluminum pioneer Wah Chong founded by the Kuo family from Shanghai. Stanley Kuo Cheng-dai, the eldest son of Wah Chong founder K.Y. Kuo, had achieved success independent of Wah Chong as the co-founder of successful businesses in three […]
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Stephen Davies/Hugh Farmer SD: The largest vessel I know for certain to have been built at the Ah King yard, in 1938/39, was the wonderful exploration junk Cheng Ho, 100ft long and with the most marvellous history. She was built for Ann Archbold, daughter of the founder of Standard Oil to amazingly extravagant specs (some of the interior shots are […]
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Ian Wolfe has sent a photo from an unknown source. Ian: It’s undated but the time taken should be before 1949. The Green Island plant with an interesting aerial ropeway can be seen here – Tower A is approximately at the present ELDEX building,[location shown below], while pylons B,C,D,E and F stretches the ropeway towards the coastline and ended up going […]
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York Lo: Sing Chow Electric Factory (星洲電器製造廠) Left: ad for Sing Chow Electric in 1934 (HK Chinese Factories Survey, 1934); Right: Sing Chow founder Chan Lee-sheung (A Century of Commerce, 1941) Founded in 1920, Sing Chow Electric Factory was one of the earliest and largest manufacturers of flashlights in Hong Kong and known for its “Dog’s Head” (狗頭牌) brand of […]
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New information in red Dianne Scialla wrote in a comment, “I am doing a program on beading and I am trying to find out more about all the beautiful beaded handbags and sweaters that came out of Hong Kong in the 1950′s. Did the same families that you mentioned in your article [Carles Brasó Broggi – Shanghai Spinners: Pioneers of Hong […]
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York Lo: The Hui family and China Brothers Hat Manufacturing Co. (中華兄弟製帽廠) Ad for China Bros. Hat Mfg in 1941 (A Century of Commerce) From the 1920s to the 1950s, China Brothers Hat Manufacturing Co was one of the largest hat manufacturers in Hong Kong and China and was allegedly the first local firm to manufacture wool felt hats. The […]
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Brian Edgar’s blog, linked below, is about the experiences of his parents Thomas and Evelina Edgar in Hong Kong 1941-1945. The photograph shown on the Home page is of their wedding on the 29th June 1942. Thomas was a baker and worked in Hong Kong for the Lane Crawford, Garden and Ching Loong bakeries. Here we are concerned with the Lane Crawford […]
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York Lo: South China Leather Goods Manufacturing Co. (南華皮具製造公司) Left: South China Leather Goods ad in 1941 (A Century of Commerce); Right: South China Leather Goods’ sales office (SC signage with curvy Chinese characters on the left) on Pottinger Street Founded in 1920, South China Leather Goods Manufacturing Co. was one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of leather goods […]
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York Lo: Tai Hang Rubber Factory (大行樹膠廠) Left: ad for Tai Hang Rubber Factory in 1941; Centre: Tai Hang Rubber founder Yau Kim-fee (A Century of Commerce); Right: News article about strike at Tai Hang Rubber in 1941(HK Daily Press, 1941-9-15) From the 1930s to 1960s, Tai Hang Rubber was one of the big four manufacturers of rubber shoes in […]
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York Lo: Yung Tack Cheong Hardware Manufactory (翁德祥金屬製品廠) Ad for Yung Tack Cheong Hardware Manufactory in 1941 (A Century of Commerce) Kerosene lamps was a major industrial sector in Hong Kong and earlier in the group we have profiled some of its key players such as Union Metal Works, World-Light Manufactory, Lea Hin and Glory Metal Works. Yung Tack Cheong […]
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