HF: Paul Fonoroff, well known Hong Kong film critic and historian, wrote, A Brief History of Hong Kong Cinema. I believe it was published in 1988, in Renditions, a literary magazine published by the Research Centre for Translation (RCT) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The copy of the article I link below comes from the CUHK library. Of particular interest […]
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Vaudine England has kindly sent a link to what she describes as a typically 1900-era directory of the European empires in the east. Of great interest to us is a rather neat summary of the industries and shipyards in Hong Kong at that time. The author was D Warren Smith.(1) I thought I would divide these summaries into several parts. […]
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York Lo: “The Poetic Industrialist”: Yan Man-leung (甄文亮1898-1983) of Camelpaint and United Weaving Factory (民衆布廠) Article about Yan Man-leung the “Poetic Industrialist” in 1955 (Ta Kung Pao, 1955-12-11) In the 1950s and 1960s, Yan Man-leung was a prominent industrialist in HK who earned the nickname of “Poetic Industrialist” for his love of composing Chinese poetry and his role as the founder […]
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HF: In February 1902 The Hongkong Tramway Electric Company Ltd was formed in England. Contracts were signed. Alfred Dickenson & Co were appointed consulting engineers and Dick, Kerr & Co Ltd were contracted to provide the tram equipment and track. The latter supplied the first tram cars between 1904 and 1905 as below: Make/Model Description Fleet size Year acquired Year retired […]
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Our recently posted article, Harpers – the Family, the Dealership and the first 50 years of Ford automobiles in Hong Kong, mentions, “In 1931, Wallace [Harper]went into the aviation business by accident…” I asked IDJ, our go-to contributor on matters relating to the history of aviation in Hong Kong. It took him a while, to search through his archives but eventually […]
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HF: Stephen Kentwell recently left a comment on our article, BAAG records of shipping in HK during 1944-45 – the Shin Kensei, ex Indo-China Steam Navigation Co. As Stephen thinks this refers to the ICSNC’s Hinsang I am posting his comment and an image of the ship in this new article. Stephen: I believe this [BAAG record] refers to Indo-China S.N. […]
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York Lo: Red Capitalist: the life and ventures of K.C. Wong (王寬誠,1907-1986) Left: Portrait of K.C. Wong from the 1950s; Right: K.C. Wong meeting with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s When it comes to Hongkong’s “Red Capitalists”, Henry Fok (whose biographical entry I wrote for the Dictionary of HK Biography) is probably the first name that came […]
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Vaudine England has kindly sent a link to what she describes as a typically 1900-era directory of the European empires in the east. Of great interest to us is a rather neat summary of the industry and shipyards in Hong Kong at that time. The author was D Warren Smith.(1) I thought I would divide these summaries into two parts. […]
» Read more
This article is the result of initial research into industrial development and related matters on Cheung Chau Island. If you can provide information on any of the subjects below, or add to the list, it would be good to hear from you. I can then gradually add to this framework to provide a fuller picture with an acknowledgment of your contribution. […]
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York LO: Lea Hin Co (立興公司) and “Butterfly” and “Tingkwon” Kerosene Lanterns Left: Lea Hin founder Woo Kai Lea (Nanyang Siang Po, 1977); Center: Butterfly kerosene lantern trademark; Right: early Chinesead of Lea Hin in Singapore promoting its Tingkwon Star brand lanterns in 1936 (南洋商报, 2 May 1936, Page 8) While the kerosene lanterns manufacturers covered earlier on the website […]
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