Rose, Downs and Thompson – Engineers, Hull and London, branch offices opened in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 1910s

Rose, Downs And Thompson Offices And Showrooms 1917 Courtesy Virtual Shanghai

Rose, Downs and Thompson of Hull, UK was a manufacturer of plant for processing edible oils for making animal feeds and  was also involved in supplying dredgers and excavators. This company biography suggests that in the first decade of the 20th century the company opened branches in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. 1777 Company established. 1871 Christiana Rose, of Rose and Downs, […]

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Goodyear (嘉年): The Rise and Fall of a Real Estate Giant

Goodyear Real Estate Giant Detail Image 2 York Lo

York Lo: Goodyear(嘉年): The Rise and Fall of a Real Estate Giant Pang Kwok-chan’s lecture for the HKU Department of Extramural Studies (precursor of SPACE) in 1966 about the 5 stages of post-War development of the HK real estate industry with the only picture of him available in the public domain (香港工商日報, 1966-10-26)  Goodyear was a major Hong Kong real […]

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Proposed Peak Tramway extension to Queen’s Road – interviews with Colony’s leading residents

Sir Thomas Southorn And Lady Southorn With A Group, Hong Kong, Photograph 1935

IDJ has sent the following newspaper article in. This adds further information to a couple of articles planning  to lengthen the Peak Tram down to Queen’s Road in Hong Kong. HF: I have retyped the article to aid clarity and searches. The images of the interviewees were not in the original article. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped version […]

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Red Capitalist: the life and ventures of K.C. Wong (王寬誠,1907-1986)

Red Capitalist K.C.Wong Detail Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: Red Capitalist: the life and ventures of K.C. Wong (王寬誠,1907-1986) Left: Portrait of K.C. Wong from the 1950s; Right: K.C. Wong meeting with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s When it comes to Hongkong’s “Red Capitalists”, Henry Fok (whose biographical entry I wrote for the Dictionary of HK Biography) is probably the first name that came […]

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Bakilly – the forgotten maker of perfumes, hair cream, toothpaste and other personal care products

Bakilly Image 1 Detail York Lo

York Lo:  Bakilly – the forgotten maker of perfumes, hair cream, toothpaste and other personal care products HF: York added four images to his original article in March 2019. These are indicated by an asterisk in the captions. Founded in the 1910s, Bakilly (百家利) was a major local personal care product brand in Hong Kong for over half a century […]

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William MacGregor Smith (Wahee, Smith & Co.) c1831- c1907

York Lo has sent the following information about William MacGregor Smith. He was the Smith in Wahee, Smith & Co which in turn became The China Sugar Refinery. Smith is buried in HK cemetery – the tombstone states he was 76 (and was erected in 1907) and was from Scotland. On page 50 of Carl Smith’s book Chinese Christians there is […]

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Makers of Preserved Fruits – Wong Wing Kee, Lee Wah Mui, Hing Ah, Lee Sin Kee, Heung Fat Wai Kee, Yam Hop Hing and Koon Wah

Makers Of Preserved Fruits Detail Image 5 York Lo

York Lo: Makers of Preserved Fruits – Wong Wing Kee, Lee Wah Mui, Hing Ah, Lee Sin Kee, Yam Hop Hing and Koon Wah I wrote an article earlier on the website about the “Five Treasures” of the HK sauce industry. Another traditional Chinese food product industry which is closely associated with sauce is preserved fruit (eg. Dried plums) as […]

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The Kam Family of Hocan and Jardines

The Kam Family Detail Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: The Kam Family of Hocan and Jardines For the past century, the Kam family has been important players in the import export industry in Hong Kong, starting with Kam Cheung-yan and his brother Kam Cheung-fai who were compradors for the major foreign owned trading houses such as Gerin Drevard and Jardines, and later as proprietors of their own […]

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