York Lo: Lau Chi-yuen (柳子元) of Wilman Rubber (惠民橡膠廠) and South Ocean Rubber Works (南洋橡膠化工廠) Left: Lau Chi-yuen in the early 1950s (KSEN, 1953); Right: Production of rubber shoes at the WIlman Rubber plant in 1955(KSEN, 1955-12-26) Earlier on the website, we covered several players in the once prosperous rubber shoe industry in HK from the 1930s through the 1960s […]
» Read more
York Lo: The Rise and Disappearance of Kin Son Electronic (建生電子) Left: So Kin-keung (front) Right: article about Kin Son’s earnings in 1991 (WKYP, 1991-10-4) In 1995, the business world in Hong Kong was shocked by the unraveling of the publicly listed Kin Son Electronic (Holdings) Ltd, starting with the disappearance of its chairman So Kin-keung (蘇健強) in Shenzhen in […]
» Read more
HF: The Hong Kong Maritime Museum website currently has an online exhibition representing a small portion of the photographic glass plates from its Hong Kong & Whampoa Dockyard collection. All images below are courtesy of the Museum. The Museum website says, with slight adaptation,”The consolidation of the Hongkong Whampoa Dockyard (HWD) with the Taikoo Dockyard in 1973 represented the most significant […]
» Read more
York Lo: Easey Garment Factory (依時製衣廠) The founders of Easey Garments (Left to right): S.P. Tong (WKYP, 1972-12-10), Wu Yiu-kwan, Chan Lee-pak, Ursula Tong For the past half a century, Easey Garment has been one of the largest jean manufacturers in Hong Kong although the firm has been relatively low key despite having been a public company and owning prime […]
» Read more
York Lo: Kwong Luen Tai Garment (廣聯泰) Left: Kwong Luen Tai Garment founder Lee Cheung; right: contract signing ceremony between the Enping local government and Kwong Luen Tai for the establishment of the JV between the two in the early 1980s Kwong Luen Tai Garment Factory was one of the largest garment manufacturers in Hong Kong and was briefly mentioned […]
» Read more
For latest updates please see items highlighted in blue. HF: We have been sent information about a couple of employees of the Asiatic Petroleum Company in China and one in the UK. We have also received requests for information about two more employees. I thought it might be more useful if I gathered this information in one article, not least […]
» Read more
York Lo: The Ho brothers and Jan Sin Mee and Standard/Shui Hing From the 1960s to 1980s, the Ho brothers – William Ho Sau-pang (何壽彭), Shau-Hong Ho (何壽康,1923-1996) and Stanley Ho Sau-nan (何壽南) were major players in the HK garment industry as William and Shau-hong were the founders of the Jan Sin Mee Group, one of the largest garment manufacturers […]
» Read more
IDJ has sent this photo and accompanying short article about the demise of Dragon Kilns in Hong Kong. The technique as shown in the image looks more like hand-to-hand warfare than the manufacturing of bowls and cups. Was the white bucket used to extinguish the fires if things got a little out of control…? Such kilns were certainly found at […]
» Read more
Jennifer Field Lang: Aerial Ropeway circa 1911 at the gap on Mount Parker looking down the valley towards the Taikoo Sugar Refinery and Aldrich Bay (Source: Historic Photographs of China, G. Warren Swire Collection, University of Bristol, Image # 20390). In 1891, a 2.3-kilometer long aerial ropeway was constructed from a location near the Taikoo Sugar Refinery (approximately located at […]
» Read more
HF: Yates and Thom, (formerly W and J Yates), 9 Canal Ironworks, Blackburn, UK, were makers of engines for mills, collieries and waterworks. And the original engine for the Peak Tram which was opened for public service on 28 May 1888. Construction had begun іn September 1885. Initially a static steam engine was used to power the haulage cable “built […]
» Read more