York Lo: Hong Kong Cement Manufacturing (香港水泥) Left: present day HK Cement plant at Ngau Kok Wan in Tsing Yi; Right: The original HK Cement plant in Tsing Leng Tsui in Tsing Yi looking in from Tsing Yi Bay Established in 1962 by the principals of Taiwanese cement industry leader Taiwan Cement Corporation (台灣水泥, TCC) and connected businessmen, Hong Kong […]
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York Lo: Triangle Motors (合眾汽車) – from Shanghai to HK and from Opel to Isuzu Leon Zigal and the first Opel in Hong Kong (Eagles and Dragons) Founded in Shanghai in 1931 by Leon Zigal (1900-1962) and relocated to HK in the late 1940s, Triangle Motors has been an important player in the distribution of automobiles and trucks in HK and […]
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“The exact year in which the flight of grantite steps at the southern end of Duddell Street in Central was constructed is not known, but a series of maps of Hong Kong from the period indicate that they came into existence between 1875 and 1889. According to the records of the Hong Kong and China Gas Co., the four gas […]
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York Lo: Wah Mei Electric – Leading Distributor of Electronics from the 1920s to 1960s and related firms Left: Wah Mei ad in 1927 (8th Far East Games brochure); Right: the old Wah Mei store in between Sunlight Hing Kee and Kin Ming Radio on Des Voeux Road Central Wah Mei Electric was one of the oldest and largest distributor […]
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The following article has been extracted from the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography. The publisher HK University Press, has given permission for it to be posted here. The following article about John Bell-Irving was written by Libby Halliday Palin and first published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has […]
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York Lo: Star Power: E. Penn Industrial Manufactory (興華實業) and “Butterfly” (胡蝶牌) Vacuum Flasks and Torch Cases Left: the wedding of Eugene Penn and Butterfly Wu in Shanghai in 1935. The maid of honor was Koo Lan-kung (顾兰君) and bridesmaid Yuan Mei-yun (袁美雲); flower girls were Wu Yun-yun and Lo Siu-tik, and ringbearer Lai Hang (黎铿, son of Lai Man-wai, […]
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York Lo: Yat Hing & Co (日興建築) – Contractors from the 1920s to 1960s Ad for Yat Hing & Co from HKBCA yearbook Founded in 1923, Yat Hing & Co was a leading contractor in HK from the 1920s to 1960s authorized to work for the Admiralty, Army & Royal Air Force and also engaged all types of civil engineering […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent BAAG reports included in the article World War Two – 1945 BAAG report on Dockyards in occupied Hong Kong. These included this extract regarding the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock company, also and commonly known as the Kowloon Dock. It illustrates the extensive damage caused to the docks by allied bombing towards the end of WW2. IDJ […]
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IDJ: The felling of the concrete chimneys at the decommissioned Tsing Yi Power Station On 15 November 1998 the five chimneys were demolished at the same time by controlled explosives weakening the structures so they fell safely to the ground in a prearranged pattern. These images were taken from a video of the event. See: The Demolition of Tsing Yi […]
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Earlier on the website, we profiled the major taxicab companies in HK from the 1920s to the 1960s. The late 1960s saw the dissolution of the large taxicab companies and the emergence of driver-owned taxis driven by regulatory changes and the proliferation of transportation vehicles such as minibuses and unlicensed cabs (also known as “white plate cars”) to meet the […]
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