York Lo: Lai Yung Shang (雷允上) – the Centuries Old Maker of Lu Sheng Pills (六神丸) Earlier on the website we have covered several Western pharmaceutical manufacturers from Shanghai such as Sine and New Asiatic whose proprietors continued their businesses in HK after the Communists came to power in 1949 while their operations in the mainland became state-owned enterprises that […]
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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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HF and Elizabeth Ride (ER) New information in red. The article 1941 Report – Future Control and Development of the Port Of Hong Kong mentions the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company. The first Hong Kong mention I can find is about the Vacuum Oil Company from The Hongkong Government Gazette of 23rd May 1896. Then this from the Hongkong Government Gazette of […]
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IDJ has kindly sent the following newspaper article about the Hong Kong (or sometimes Hongkong) Rope Manufacturing Company planning a rope producing factory in Singapore. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article. That work is now going ahead with the establishment of a rope works in Singapore was disclosed by Mr G.E. Marden, MC, in his statement to shareholders […]
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York Lo: The King of Shoes: Tse Family of Kam Shing and Silver Eagle Arthur Tse with some of his shoes in the 1990s From the 1960s to the 1990s, the family of TseHei (謝熹) earned the reputation of “King of Shoes” through the publicly listed Kam Shing and Silver Eagle, which went public in 1973 and 1992 respectively and […]
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Tymon Mellor: Hong Kong was built from stone and bricks, all held together with a cement mortar. All these materials were locally made using the natural resources Hong Kong could provide. The New Territories are rich in clay, which over the years has been used for pottery and brick manufacturing. The use of air dried bricks for house building was common, and fired bricks have […]
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York Lo: Texwood (德士活) and “Apple Jeans”(蘋果牌牛仔褲) In March 2020, Texwood closed its flagship Apple Jeans store on Argyle Street inMongkok after 35 years, leaving only one store in HK in Diamond Hill although the jeans giant remains a major player in the mainland. Founded in 1959, Texwood was one of the major local brands of jeans in HK along […]
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York Lo: Canton Brothers Rubber Co (廣東兄弟樹膠) – China’s and HK’s First Manufacturer of Rubber Shoes Left: Canton Bros poster, likely from the 1930s; Right: Canton Brothers Rubber ad in HK in 1941 (A Century of Commerce) Founded in Canton in 1919, Canton Brothers Rubber Co was the first rubber shoe manufacturer in China and opened its factory in Hong […]
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3rd June 2021 An additional image and information sent in by Dheeraj Khiytani was added. See 1907. HF:Watson’s is possibly the oldest retailer still in existence in Hong Kong and unquestionably among a tiny few that have opererated continuously since the early days of the colony… By 1941 Watson’s was already the largest chemist, retailer of health and beauty products, […]
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York Lo: N. Lazarus (明晶洋行)– Leading Opticians of the Far East Left: N. Lazarus store in Central; Right: ad for N. Lazarus in HK in 1900 (China Mail, 1900-4-10) Eyeglasses is a big business in Hong Kong and one of the first opticians in record in the city was N. Lazarus, started in the late 19th century by oculist-optician of […]
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