“C” says: The Chinese name of the company has always been 淘化大同, not 淘化大隆. Nowadays it is often abbreviated as 淘大. Hugh Farmer: The origins of this well known Hong Kong company are somewhat confusing, at least for someone unable to read Chinese, in that they involve a variety of English translations and merges between these companies. I have tried to […]
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HF: The Hongkong Milling Company had a brief existence during the early part of the 20th century. Things ended tragically when its prime founder Alfred Herbert Rennie committed suicide by throwing himself off the company launch taking him to the Mill. The company, a major industrial enterprise at that time, is almost forgotten. I wonder also how many people remember […]
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HF: The GuGuSoy factory and restaurant is located in Ho Sheung Heung village, just west of Long Valley which itself is west of Sheung Shui. It opened in 2005. By sheer concidence I was walking in that area on the 9th September 2014, when I came across both the restaurant and an SCMP article about it published on that day. […]
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Paul Onslow: With the destruction and loss of most of the Dairy Farm archives and virtually all photographic material (read further on for more details) much of what is known about the history of Dairy Farm was documented by the great Hong Kong historian Nigel Cameron in his 1986 book ‘The Milky Way – The History of Dairy Farm’. Nigel carried […]
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Hugh Farmer writes. Many thanks to IDJ for supplying both the image and text. One of the first manufacturing industries in colonial Hong Kong was preserved ginger, as well as various fruits, grown mainly in Guangzhou. And one of the first such companies was Man Loong Ginger Factory. The description of the company below, written in about 1908, mentions that […]
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York Lo: K.C. Leong (梁溎春)– F&B Industrialist and his Family and Ventures Leong Kwai-chun (hereafter referred to as “K.C. Leong”) might not be a household name but he was a notable figure in the history of the food and beverage manufacturing industries in HK as he was responsible for bringing “Green Spot” orangeade, “Meadow Gold” and “Champion” condensed milk to […]
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York Lo: The Chan/Tyson Family and Gande, Price & Co The Chan/Tyson family is one of the most prominent Eurasian families in Hong Kong. Family patriarch Chan Kai-ming made his fortune serving as the secretary of the Hong Kong Opium Farm and he acquired the control of Gande Price, which remained one of the leading distributors of liquor in Hong […]
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Mike T: Regarding the Wo Fat Hing Distillery I’m guessing the type of wine specifically made there was 玉冰燒酒 (Juk Bing Siu Zau) or 肉醪燒 (Juk Lou Siu), as they mention pork being placed in the wine as part of the process. Wikipedia says that it’s, “…a Cantonese rice liquor with over 100 years of history, made with steamed rice. After distillation, […]
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York Lo: Tabaqueria Filipina, Hwa Ching Tobacco and Colin Mackenzie & Co Tabaqueria Filipina and Colin Mackenzie & Co are two historic firms in Hong Kong with long histories (founded in 1888 and 1915 respectively) in the tobacco and pharmaceutical business and were both controlled by theZung (Chen) family from Ningbo after the War. The family was also known for […]
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Rose, Downs and Thompson of Hull, UK was a manufacturer of plant for processing edible oils for making animal feeds and was also involved in supplying dredgers and excavators. This company biography suggests that in the first decade of the 20th century the company opened branches in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. 1777 Company established. 1871 Christiana Rose, of Rose and Downs, […]
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