York Lo: Wall of Fame: profiles of players in the HK wallpaper industry – Koo Sun Kee, Coda, Oriental, Sunray and Waly Earlier on the website, several articles were written about paint manufacturers. Another big business which emerged out of the need to cover the walls in the post-War housing boom in HK is wallpaper, which began to gain popularity […]
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York Lo: Bernard Van Zuiden (萬瑞庭, 1899-1979) – Dutch Trader and Philanthropist in Hong Kong Bernard van Zuiden (right) welcoming his visiting elder sister at a cocktail reception in HK in 1959 (WKYP, 1959-12-10) Life and Career of Bernard Van Zuiden Born in Enschede in eastern Netherlands, Van Zuiden studied textile and commerce in his hometown in the 1910s. He […]
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HF: This article was updated on 14th August 2019 with information and cigarette packet images sent by Dheeraj Khiytani, see below. Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company was founded in 1904. At least in Hong Kong. This undated postcard, sent by IDJ, would appear to show its Hong Kong factory shortly after. I am presuming the white building on the right is not […]
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York Lo: Brothers: Knitwear Pioneer Yap Chuin-siu and Financier Simon Yip In the 1960s to 1980s, Yap Chuin-siu and his brother Simon Yip were prominent figures in the HK business scene as the earlier was the founder of Rose Knitting, a leading listed knitwear manufacturer and the latter a high-profile financier with large investments in the Dominican Republic who was […]
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York Lo: Ng Wah (伍華, 1874-1950) – Leading Contractor, Developer of Pedder Building and Philanthropist Left: Ng Wah (HKBCA); Center: Pedder Building in Central; Right: Article about the induction of Ng Wah as head of Po Leung Kuk in 1934 (HK Daily Press, 1934-4-11) Ng Wah and his Projects A native of Toishan in Guangdong province but born in Hong […]
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Dheeraj Khiytani was recently in touch. He writes: I’m a native of Hong Kong, born and bred with an interest in tobacciana. Specifically I have been collecting early US or English cigarette packs for a number of years. A dealer of mine recently offered me a pristine catalogue of coloured lithographs of cigar products manufactured by the Orient Tobacco Company, Hong Kong. […]
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York Lo: Kwok Yat-wai (郭一葦, 1915-1990): Jeweler, Developer and Philanthropist Left: Kwok Yat-wai from the profiles of the directors of the Tung Wah Group of Hospital (KSDN, 1971-4-1); Right: Ad for Kwok’s Diamond Mansion in Wanchai in 1964 (KSDN, 1964-11-8) Like Cheng Yu-tung of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery and the New World Group (see article on Hip Hing Construction) and […]
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York Lo: From Tea to Real Estate and Soy Milk and back to Tea – the six-generation saga of the family of Kwan Fan-fat Group picture of the Kwan family at the wedding of Kwan Fan-fat’s youngest son Kwan Kam-pui at the Kam Ling restaurant in Kennedy Town in 1949 (WKYP, 1949-7-10) Earlier on our website, we covered real estate […]
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Amelia Allsop, Manager – Collections and Research at the Hong Kong Heritage Project, has sent A Century of Light – CLP Centenary Souvenir Book linked below covering the period 1901-2001. Amelia was kindly responding to an enquiry as to whether the Project has any information about Tai O Power Company which had been known as Tai O Union Electric Company. […]
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HF: The following article about William Jardine was written by Alain Le Pichon and first published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but retains copyright over this material from 2012. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article. Jardine, […]
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