This article is the result of several people’s research into the life of Carl Ingenohl and in particular the Hong Kong company, Orient Tobacco Manufactory, which he owned. This company operated during the early part of the 20th century and at least until WW2. The information we have about Ingenohl’s and Orient Tobacco is sometimes confusing or contradictory. Correction, clarification […]
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HF: Tse Tsan Tai, 謝纘泰, 16th May 1872 – 4th April 1938), was one of the earliest Chinese revolutionaries of the late Qing Dynasty and co-founded the South China Morning Post. A man with a wide range of interests. Tse Tsan Tai was born in Sydney, Australia on 16th May 1872 the son of Tse Yat Chong, a native of Kaiping County Guandong […]
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HF: “Camel” Paints and Lacquers are manufactured by The National Lacquer & Paint Products Co. Ltd, founded by two Chinese returning from the US Zhen Bing Jun and Huang Wei Xian in 1932. The company used “Camel Paint” as its trademark and in the beginning manufactured only enamel paint, lacquer, paste paint and spray paint. Later in 1937, The National Lacquer […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent this single report about the Rikukawa Sono Engineering Works which was part of a 1944 BAAG report on Commerce and Trade in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation, World War Two. KWIZ #76, 24.11.44.
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HF: The first Query and Answers, Kwok Acheong + P&O connection, linked below, sought further information about his taking over the ‘shipwright and engineering department’ from the P&O Steamship Company in 1854 in Hong Kong and says I can find nothing about this particular subject: where was the Dept, what particularly did it do and what happened to it post Kwok Acheong? Can anyone provide some […]
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HF: “It should come as no surprise that the waxworks of the Los Angeles ‘Palace of the Living Arts,’ famously described in Umberto Eco’s comic nightmare, Travels in Hyper-Reality were designed in Hong Kong, the work of Jack Chen, the Shanghainese trained sculptor who joined Hong Kong Chemical Industries in the mid-1950s. The company had built a reputation for designing ornamental wax […]
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HF: New information in red I am assuming, until corrected, that there was only one To Kwa Wan quarry. The quarry dates back to pre-colonial times. Patrick Hase, in his Indhhk article, Quarrying and transportation of stone in Hong Kong, 1841, says, “The most prestigious stone in Canton and the Pearl River Delta area for such quality buildings was Hong Kong granite, which […]
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Stephen Davies and Hugh Farmer have collaborated in researching the life of George U Sands (1824-1881). In particular his time as the captain of a steamship in China and his later involvement in three Hong Kong companies. Stephen’s contributions are indicated, all others are from HF. Any information about Mr Sands during his time in both China and Hong Kong and […]
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HF: From the company website “KWP Quarry Co. Ltd. is a joint venture operation between K. Wah Quarry Co. Ltd. and Pioneer Quarries (HK) Ltd. where K. Wah Quarry Co. Ltd. is the majority shareholder. The company is operating Anderson Road Quarry under HK Government Contract NO. GE/96/10 “The Rehabilitation of Anderson Road Quarry”. The Contract commenced in January 1997 […]
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HF: Fung Keong Rubber Manufactory Co. was founded in 1925 by a Nanyang Chinese Mr. Fung Keong to manufacture and sell rubber shoes and rubber products. I believe it was the oldest such factory in Hong Kong. This extract provides an insight into life as a female outworker with the company in the 1930s: Cheng Kwai Ying, female, spinster, age 22, outworker, […]
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