HF: The China Sugar Refinery Company started life, I think, in 1874, as Wahee, Smith & Co (or possibly without a comma). Several partners of Wahee, Smith went bankrupt leading to the sale of the refinery to Jardine, Matheson & Company. Choa Chee-bee was compradore at both companies having come to Hong Kong in the early 1870s from Malacca. If […]
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York Lo: Dragon Seed (龍子行) Left: the original Dragon Seed store on the right at 37 Queen’s Road Central in the early 1950s, A Man Hing Cheong was on the left.Right: Dragon Seed Building in the early 2000s when it was occupied by Yue Hwa (Apple Daily) From its inception in the late 1940s to the 1990s, Dragon Seed Co […]
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HF: The Hongkong Milling Company had a brief existence during the early part of the 20th century. Things ended tragically when its prime founder Alfred Herbert Rennie committed suicide by throwing himself off the company launch taking him to the Mill. The company, a major industrial enterprise at that time, is almost forgotten. I wonder also how many people remember […]
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York Lo: Jam Fair Department Store (占飛百貨) Left: Jam Fair’s store in Central in 1968; Right: Jam Fair at Honour House in Yaumatei in 1989 From the 1940s to 1970s, Jam Fair was one of leading retailers in Hong Kong with branches in Central in the HK side and two stores on Nathan Road in the Kowloon side. Jam Fair […]
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Tymon Mellor: Introduction The mine workings on the south-west slopes of Ma On Shan mountain are now no more than mere scars in the hillside, but in the middle of the last century, the mine provided employment for up to 6,000 people and supplied high grade iron ore and other minerals to the Japanese steel industry. This article describes the […]
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York Lo: Southeast Ice Company (東南冰廠) Opening ceremony of Southeast Ice Company in 1969 (WKYP, 1969-11-25) The fishing industry has created demand for locally produced ice and in 1969, Southeast Ice Company opened on Tung Yuen Street in Yau Tong next to the fishing village of Lei Yue Mun to supply ice to local fishermen. Southeast Ice Co was incorporated […]
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James Chan: In 1863 Thomas Sutherland became the first chairman of the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock. He was 29. The following has been extracted from the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography. Both the author Robert Nield and HK University Press have given permission for extracts to be used in this article. Robert Nield: “Thomas Sutherland was the founder of one […]
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York Lo: Hop Yuen Construction (合源建築): A Century of Building in HK Left: Details of Hop Yuen with picture of founder TseIu-wah from the HKBCA directory in 1957 (HKBCA yearbook, 1957); right: Hop Yuen building on Ship Street While many construction companies covered earlier in the group have faded into history, Hop Yuen Construction is still going strong after over […]
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Thanks to IDJ for the excellent images and information. Hugh Farmer writes:- I had always imagined that the Green Island Cement Company was named after HK’s Green Island (Tsing Chau) opposite Kennedy Town. But no, the company initially started operations on the similarly named island, Ilha Verde, near Macau. The date of its establishment there is given by various sources […]
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York Lo: Comfoods (maker of Café Puro Instant Coffee) and Reliance (importer of Sunkist oranges) Earlier on the website, we covered several Filipino Chinese industrialists who have left their marks in the food and beverage industry in HK such as the Wong family of Cosmo Beverage and the Ma families of confectionary and biscuit giants M.Y. San, M.Y. San and […]
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