York Lo: May Sun Shoes Manufactory (美新鞋廠) Ad for May Sun Shoe in 1938(Source: 新型畫報 – 民國廿七年（1938）創刊特大號) May Sun Shoes Manufactory was founded in the 1930s by Yip Chi-shing (葉智成) with its factory located at 18B Aberdeen Street in Central. From the 1938 ad above, its phone number was the auspicious and easy to remember 28662 and its leather shoes […]
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York Lo: H P Wu’s full name was Hsin Ping Wu (吳新炳). Born in 1894 and native of Kiangyin in Kiangsu province, he went to Tsinghua and studied in the US as a Boxer Indemnity Scholar, receiving his BS in electrical engineering from Cornell in 1921 and training at General Electric in the US. From 1927 to 1937, he was […]
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York LO: Blood Protection Co (保血有限公司) and Fish brand mosquito incense Left: old package of Blood Protection Co’s Fish mosquito destroyer featuring the portrait of its founder H.L. Sum (right) and his brother/son. Right: Blood Protection Co’s ad from the early 1960s – the tagline reads what’s the point of having money when you cannot protect your blood. The warm […]
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HF: I have occasionally changed the original script of the following passage in order to aid clarity. ”Pokfulam Village, built over 200 years ago, is one of the oldest living villages in Hong Kong. The earliest written record is found in San On Gazetteer (1819 version). It is believed that the village was founded by some Hakka Chinese (the Chan, […]
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York Lo: HK Cutlery Manufacturers from the 1960s and 1970s – Chuang’s, Trinity, Foo Kwong, HK Tableware and Good Friend In the 1960s, the cutlery industry emerged in Hong Kong thanks to the UK government’s policy of Commonwealth preference which favored imports from HK over Japan. The industry grew very rapidly in the early 1960s, with total exports grew from […]
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York Lo: Promotors – the first manufacturer of television sets in Hong Kong Booth of the Promotors at the 29th HK Product Expo in 1971 featuring its TV sets. (HK Memory) 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of TVB and the launch of free wireless TV broadcasting in Hong Kong in 1967, which turned television from a limited media channel for a […]
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HF: Harry Kin Hong Long divided his life between New Zealand and Hong Kong. In the latter he worked for two companies, Kung Lee Steam Ship and HK and Yaumati Ferry. Julia Bradshaw has kindly given me permission to quote from her book Golden Prospects: Chinese on the West Coast of New Zealand. Julia is the Director of the Hokitika Museum, NZ. […]
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James Chan:This report is from The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia 7th April 1913. It adds information to our other articles about ginger in HK. “There has been a general increase in the export of preserved and candied ginger from China during the past few years, the United States particularly showing a growing demand for this sweetmeat. Exports during the past […]
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HF: Apparently tattooing has been practiced across the globe since at least Neolithic times, as evidenced by mummified preserved skin, ancient art, and the archaeological record. When I was young it was most commonly seen on and associated with sailors and those in the military and I suppose general ne’er do wells but now appears de rigueur for teenagers. For […]
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Tymon Mellor: In 1904, as the Hong Kong Island tram system was readying for operation, attention focused on the opposite side of the harbour on the development of a tram network for Kowloon. After many false starts, just when it seemed that work was about to start on a Kowloon tram network, the Government had a major change of approach […]
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