HF: This interview with the 84 year old creator of Holga cameras, TM Lee, was conducted by Manami Okazaki in Mr Lee’s office in Hong Kong in February 2014. The interview has been slightly adapted. He talks about Holga’s history, including why the camera never sold in China, and the company’s efforts to stay afloat amid the slow demise of […]
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York Lo: Hit Maker: Yam Wu-fa (任護花) and his Novels, Newspapers and Movies Yam Wu-fa (second from right) with his family in 1959 (WKYP, 1959-8-21) When it comes to a novelist whose works were adopted into movies who was also a newspaper publisher in the Chinese world, the first name that comes to most people’s mind is probably Louis Cha, […]
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Tymon Mellor has sent a long and detailed account of the Fanling – Sha Tau Kok branch railway which operated from 1911 to 1928. HF adds: The report, written by RJ Phillips, and published in 1986 (?), obviously required a tremendous amount of research and perseverance and contains a large amount of information plus several, sometimes rather blurry, images including […]
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York Lo: Kwong Chan Timber Merchants (廣棧木行) Left: Kwong Chan founder Wong Shui-leung; Right: Ad for Kwong Chan Timber Merchants in 1967 (Pun U District Association, 1967) Earlier in the group, we have covered several players in the timber business in HK such as Wong Tong Kee, Wing Tai Cheung and Ng Jim Kai. One of the leading players in […]
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York Lo: Standard, Tai Hing and Tung Shing: Distributors of Japanese Sewing Machines During the post war industrial boom in Hong Kong, sewing machines were a big business as garment factories and many housewives who made extra money acting as contractors bought them in large numbers. While the American sewing machine giant Singer was the 800-pound gorilla in the business, […]
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York Lo: From Textiles to Electronics: the Zau family of Zoong Sing, Microtron and EDL Earlier on the website, we covered many Shanghainese industrialists who have contributed significantly to the development of many different industries in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s ranging from textiles to plastics. This article covers the family of Zau Sing-tao, the founder of Zoong […]
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York Lo: True Gold Fears No Fire: 150 Years of Tse Lee Yuen (謝利源) Founded in Macau in 1867, Tse Lee Yuen (also known as Che Lei Un and Che Lee Yuen and now known as O’Che 1867) is one of the oldest jewelers in Macau which is still going strong under the management of the fourth generation. In the […]
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Phillip Edward Kenny added a comment to the article, Lok On Pai ‘desalting’ plant – site visit photographs, suggesting that the HK Urbex Group visit to Lok On Pai ‘desalting’ plant in July 2014 would be of interest. The Hong Kong Urbex (ie Urban Exploration) Group visit, photograph and write about “Hong Kong’s derelict abandoned sites.” They write: “Time and […]
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York Lo: From Metals Trading to Real Estate: the Lau Family of Pak Hing Loong (百興隆) The Lau family has been a major player in the metals trading business in Hong Kong for over seven decades through Pak Hing Loong Ltd which was formed in the 1940s and incorporated in 1957 and like many others augmented their fortunes as pioneers […]
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York Lo: Lai Yung Shang (雷允上) – the Centuries Old Maker of Lu Sheng Pills (六神丸) Earlier on the website we have covered several Western pharmaceutical manufacturers from Shanghai such as Sine and New Asiatic whose proprietors continued their businesses in HK after the Communists came to power in 1949 while their operations in the mainland became state-owned enterprises that […]
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