HF: I have slightly adapted the wording in the following script. Before British rule most locals used to rely on water from streams and wells nearby. With drastic increase in population especially in the City of Victoria a stable water supply became a pressing problem in the colony. But the colonial government was reluctant to claim responsibility for water supply. […]
» Read more
HF: Martyn Cornell, an enthusiastic writer about, and consumer of beer, wrote an excellent history of brewing in Hong Kong which appeared in the article, Roll out the barrel, SCMP 25th August 2013. Martyn tells me this was a short extract from his much longer Brewery History Society article, A Short History of Beer in Hong Kong, which was published […]
» Read more
Cecilia Young: My brothers and I are trying to gather information about my father’s company Yuen Hing Hong & Co. Ltd which he and my mother, Annie Lam Young, established in Hong Kong in the late 1940s. York Lo has sent information about Annie Lam Young from her biography in the HK Album 1967 which has been adapted for inclusion here: She […]
» Read more
York Lo: Notable Players in the HK Wig Industry in the 1960s and 70s In the 1960s, the US wig market exploded and grew from less than US$10 million a year in 1960 to US$1 bllion within a decade, with over 40% of American women owning more than one wig and importing over 1 million wigs from Asia on a […]
» Read more
James Chan: There seem to have been several Hong Kong companies with very similar names. More information needed on all three… HF: Information needed indeed. If you can provide any information about or of images of these companies please send it in. a) There was a South China Dyeing and Weaving Works Ltd which appears to have been incorporated on […]
» Read more
York Lo: Leader of the Battery Pack: Hing Wah and Five Rams Batteries Left: Five Rams batteries ad in 1955 (Source: IDJ); Right: Hing Wah’s HK plant in the 1950s (Source: HK Memory) Founded in Canton and expanded to Hong Kong in 1938, Hing Wah Battery Factory (興華電池廠) was one of the oldest and largest players in the batteries industry in […]
» Read more
York Lo: The Kings of Industries – the family behind Wearbest Garment in HK and Wha Mei Tobacco in old Shanghai As profiled in many other articles in this group, Shanghainese industrialists played a crucial role in the post-WWII industrialization in HK in fields ranging from textile, plastic, enamelware, construction and many others. In the field of garments, Sieh-Ting King […]
» Read more
Tymon Mellor: Galena ore, the main source of lead was first discovered at Lin Ma Hang in around 1914. As described in Part 1, a number of attempts were made to commercially exploit the lead ore, but they all failed. That was until Mr Morrison Brown Yung took an interest in the site and introduced modern mining methods to extract […]
» Read more
HF: While on holiday at Christmas in Hong Kong, I visited the Maritime Museum. I came across information about Saint Class Rescue Tugs which I had never heard of before. Here’s one built in Hong Kong: HMS St. Sampson was a saint class tug launched in 1919. The ship was ordered during World War 1 and was built by Hong […]
» Read more
York Lo: The Needle, the Bible and “Our People”: Chiuchow Christians and the Swatow Lace Industry in Hong Kong Swatow lace merchants on the board of HK Chiuchow Christian Association in 1936 – back row: Yadsun Cheng (Chin Chian & Sons; first from left), Ng Chung-wing (吳寵榮,Kowloon Lace; third from right); Henry Lin (HK & Shanghai Lace; second from […]
» Read more