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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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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Stephen Davies: In the early 1850s in Sai Wan there was a boiler shop run by James Logan and William Swan, and a foundry run by William Dunphy at 58 Praya. Nearby at 63 Praya Harper & Co sold shipbuilding equipment (basically the bits and pieces of patent slips). In 1855 either someone bought out Logan, Swan and Dunphy, or maybe […]
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York Lo: C.T. Chiu (招曙東) and Hong Kong Iron & Steel Works (香港鋼鐵廠) Left: Ad for HK Iron &Steel Works in 1950 (HKBCA yearbook, 1950); Right: ad for steel windows by HK Iron & Steel Works in 1954 (WKYP, 1954-7-5) Hong Kong Iron & Steel Works was one of the leading producers of iron and steel bars and steel windows […]
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HF: Delfino Noronha (1824-1900) ran a printing press in Hong Kong from 1844, Noronha and Co., a quasi-government printer, which later on became the actual Hong Kong Government Printer. He was also involved in the first regular ferry between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon though this was apparently little more than a weekend pleasure launch to his “country house” in Yau […]
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York Lo: Lee Wui-tao (李會桃): Textbook and Tabloid Publisher and Movie Producer In the 1950s to 1970s, Lee Wui-tao was a major figure in the entertainment, education and publishing industries as the owner of the Tao Yuen organization, which included a leading textbook publisher (HK Cultural Service), a leading movie studio (Tao Yuen, ran by his wife and known for […]
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York Lo: Ng Lian-chin (黃連振, 1922-2015) and Life Records (麗風唱片) Left: logo of Life Records; Right: Ng Lian-chin with young Teresa Teng Southeast Asia, particularly the Chinese diaspora in the region,has always been an important market for many HK products including music records. In the 1960s and 1970s, a Malaysian Chinese entrepreneur by the name of Ng Lian-chin was a […]
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York Lo: Wo Shing Company (和聲唱片): Leading Record Label from the 1930s to 1960s Left: Robert Kotewall in 1941 (Harrison Forman Collection); Right: Wo Shing’s posthumousalbum for Siu Ming Sing after the War (review33) From the 1930s to the 1960s, Wo Shing Co Ltd was a leading local record label in Hong Kong and the firm was also responsible for […]
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York Lo: Wong Man-keung (王文強, 1903-1976) and W.S. Sherly & Co (些厘洋行) While Wong Man-keung and his W.S. Sherly & Co might be very low profile, the products which they acted as sole agent for in HK such as the malted drink Horlicks, Pepsodent toothpaste, Longines watches and Kleenex tissues are the opposite and his family is also connected to […]
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