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 […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
HF and IDJ: Neil Pryde, the man, arrived in Hong Kong in 1963 to work as a sailmaker. In 1968 he represented Hong Kong at the Mexico City Olympic Games and in 1970 set up Neil Pryde the company. Neil Pryde Ltd was primarily a sailmaker, supplying sails mainly to yacht builders in Europe. With the emergence of moulded glassfibre […]
» Read more
HF: Extracted from Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong-kong, Shanghai and Other Treaty Ports of China, Wright A, Lloyd’s Greater Britain Publishing Company Ltd., 1908. A popular delicacy at home is the preserved ginger imported largely from China. The Hing Loong ginger factory in Canton is noted for producing some of tlie finest qualities, the export of which is controlled by Messrs. […]
» Read more
This article is a combination of the research of Frank Watson, moddsey, David Bellis and Hugh Farmer. Newsletter 6 contained this Query and Answer # 3 Frank Watson has been reading about the Plague outbreak in 1894. There is mention of a “Glass Works Hospital” which had been hastily converted from a glass works factory. He thinks this may may have […]
» Read more
Hugh Farmer writes: From the Hong Kong Daily Press dated 9 January 1886. “In the farther corner of the new suburb in Belcher’s Bay called Kennedy Town stand the works of the Hongkong and Macao Glass Manufacturing Company Limited, whose big, round, squat chimney, technically called a “cone” can be seen struggling to make itself visible above the roves and […]
» Read more
Hugh Farmer with thanks to Carles Brasó for the images of YC Chen and the drawing of the mill. The SCMP, 19th Apr 2014, published an article ” End of an Era as Cotton Mill Closes”. The Tai Hing Cotton Mill, the last of its kind here was located in Tuen Mun. Carles has added the following: According to the […]
» Read more