York Lo: Bakilly – the forgotten maker of perfumes, hair cream, toothpaste and other personal care products HF: York added four images to his original article in March 2019. These are indicated by an asterisk in the captions. Founded in the 1910s, Bakilly (百家利) was a major local personal care product brand in Hong Kong for over half a century […]
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York Lo: From American tourist to HK garment industry pioneer – the story of June Carroll and Carroll Manufacturing Article in the Chinese press about June Carroll’s from American tourist to HK industrialist in 1963 with picture of her and her workers at her factory (WKYP, 1963-8-29) In the 1950s and 1960s, many American entrepreneurs played critical roles in the […]
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York Lo: The tale of two knitting factories with the same Chinese name (建成織造廠) Earlier on the website I wrote an article about two famous companies in the HK garment industry which shared the “Smart Shirts” name although one is the name of its famous product while the other is the firm’s name. As it turns out, two famous HK […]
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York Lo: Yick Kwan Gripe Water (益群肥仔水) Left: Yick Kwan Dispensary in Central in 1948 next to Chinese Optical and Sam Tai Distillery. Right: newspaper ad of Yick Kwan gripe water in Shenbao in Shanghai, 1948 Flipping through old pictures and old newspapers from Hong Kong in the 1940s through 1960s, one can often find the ads or street signs […]
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York Lo: From Shanghai to HK and West Africa: The Global Quests of 4 Hong Kong Enamelware Makers From the 1940s through the 1960s, Hong Kong had a vibrant enamelware industry, which like the cotton spinning industry was dominated by Shanghainese industrialists, who brought with them from Shanghai their technological know-how in addition to financial and human capital. When these […]
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York Lo: The Van Family from Cambodia and the Bonsun Group of companies (萬象) Bonsun Industrial Building in Tsuen Wan, next to Wong’s Factory Building Earlier on the website, I touched on the sale of the Wong’s Factory Building at 368-370 Sha Tsui Road in Tsuen Wan, which was developed by the Wong family of Sweetmart Garment (see article). Right […]
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York Lo: Y.H. Kwong(鄺榮輝, 1908-1992) – chairman of China Engineers from 1961 to 1975 Left: Y.H. Kwong (Brazilian immigration records); Right: Y.H. Kwong and his assistant Linda Chuang (莊永楚) posing in front of a stuffed tiger Earlier in the group, three articles have touched on China Engineers, the engineering giant which played a crucial role in the industrial and commercial […]
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York Lo: K. Jamson(占臣) – the global journey of a HK shoe and luggage company over the past nine decades Jamson store on the left on Johnston Road in Wanchai in 1955. Earlier in the group, we covered several famous localshoe companies from the 1950s and 1960s such as Po Shing, Sanda, Crane and Yau Sun. Founded in 1930, K. […]
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Hugh Farmer: When Hong Kong was established as a free trading port in 1841, there was no local currency available for daily circulation. Foreign currencies such as Indian rupees, Spanish and Mexican 8 Reales, Chinese cash coins and British currency were used instead. Coins specially issued for Hong Kong did not appear until 1863 when the first regal coins of Hong […]
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HF: The Hong Kong Mint was established by ordinance on 26th February 1864 and opened on 7th May 1866 under the direction of Thomas William Kinder with the purpose of producing Hong Kong silver dollars and half dollar coins. After two years having incurred a huge loss to the government it closed on 25th April 1868. The image of Kinder has […]
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