IDJ: People in Hong Kong expect electricity to always be ‘there’ when they switch on their lights and appliances, but give little thought as to where it comes from or how and where it is produced. Additional information added on 20th June 2019 to IDJ’s original article is in red below. This covers technical data regarding both the A and […]
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Eleanor Wong has written A History of the Wong Family Textile Business, a detailed account of her family’s business history in Shanghai, then in Hong Kong and finally Indonesia. She was assisted in this project by her editor, Carey Vail. Part One: Life in Shanghai is a history of the Wong family’s interests in the textile industry in the city from 1911, […]
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Hugh Farmer: Land for Oriental Brewery’s plant was acquired in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, in the spring of 1907, when it was announced that the consortium behind it intended to spend “over a quarter of a million dollars on an up-to-date brewery”. The Brewery opened in 1908 with a capacity of 100,000 barrels a year, using brewing equipment imported from […]
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York Lo: Stores for the Elite – Mode Elite (慕愛) and Elite Styles (伊利) In the 1930s to 1960s, two stores in Central with “Elite” in its names – Mode Elite and Elite Styles – catered to high-end customers and imported the latest fashions from the US and Europe. Mode Elite (慕愛公司) – from Shanghai to Hong Kong Left: Mode […]
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IDJ: After the war the school was re-established catering for up to two-hundred pupils at a time. In 1952, the school was absorbed into the Wheelock Marden group of companies. One result of Typhoon Wanda in 1962 was that the school’s hangars housing its training facilities were destroyed, along with a number of its aircraft. Flying instruction then ceased to […]
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IDJ: Probably ‘the first’ formal engineering training school in Hong Kong was the Far East Flying Training School Ltd established as a private venture in November 1933 at Kai Tak Airport. Pupils from Hong Kong, China, Macao and many countries in Asia attended class-room courses on aeroplane structures, engine technology, as well as the use of hand-tools and workshop machine […]
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Hugh Farmer: I grew up with Dinky Toys as did many British boys in the 1950s and 60s and had a good collection of battered, tyre less cars. I had always assumed they were made in England and indeed the main factory was at Binns Road, Liverpool. It is perhaps difficult to believe now that when I was a child, “in […]
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Hugh Farmer: If you can add further information on these or other studios please add a comment or email me directly: indhhk at gmail dot com. I have included a couple of film studios in China where they have a Hong Kong connection. Thanks to IDJ for informing me about the illuminatedlantern.com website, linked below, from which I have added to our […]
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York Lo: Cheng Keng-chuen (鄭鏡泉) – Developer behind Alhambra Building (平安大厦) and Evergreen Villa (松柏新邨) Ads for two of Alhambra’s most prominent projects – Alhambra Building (left) and Yuet Wah Mansion (right, WKYP, 1964-12-16) In the late 1950s and early 1960s, one of most active property developers in Hong Kong was Cheng Keng-chuan, whose property companies were involved in landmark […]
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York Lo: The Fourth Horse: Ma Ping-san (馬平山) of M. Ping San Co., Tin Wah Gourmet Powder Factory and On Wah Perfume Co. Left: trademark registration for M. Ping San Co. in 1938 (HK Government Reports); Right: Ma Ping-san and wife at a charity concert by the Cantonese opera troupe Sin Fung Ming (仙鳳鳴) in 1961 (WKYP, 1961-2-17) Earlier on […]
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