Tymon Mellor: For eight years, Morrison Brown Yung developed the Galena mine at Lin Ma Hang. He excavated the access tunnels and located the main ore body, but with the fall in lead prices as a result of the Great Depression, the mine was un-economic to work. Following his death in 1933, the mine was eventually taken over in 1937 […]
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Galena ore, the main source of lead was first discovered at Lin Ma Hang in around 1914. As described in Part 1, a number of attempts were made to commercially exploit the lead ore, but they all failed. That was until Mr Morrison Brown Yung took an interest in the site and introduced modern mining methods to extract the lead […]
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Tymon Mellor: The mine at Lin Ma Hang was the most advanced mining operation in the colonial era of Hong Kong before the Pacific War. However, like many mining ventures, this one had a slow and difficult start. This article explores the discovery and early years of the mine’s development along with the workings that are still visible today in […]
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West Brother Island is located between Tuen Mun and Lantau Island. It is 4km away from the northern coast of Lantau Island. The island, along with East Brother Island and Reef Island, are known as The Brothers. The West Brother Island Graphite Mine operated from 1952 to 1971 with most of its production exported to the United Kingdom and the […]
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Tai Shek-ha is now known as the area in Belcher Bay at the northwest of Hong Kong Island. The quarry was identified in the Hong Kong Gazette in 1841. The area was also marked as “Tysheaha” on the “Map of Hong Kong” charted by Captain Sir Edward Belcher in the same year. Lo Pan Temple in the area, which enshrines […]
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A Kung Ngam, or “Kung-Lam’ is located on the south side of the eastern entrance of Vctoria Harbour. In the 19th century, Hakkan masons from Changle county in Guandong started quarrying. The Hakkan brought the gods from their hometown with them, and developed the only “Temple of Emperor of Jade” in Hong Kong. A Kung village still exists. All the […]
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“Born and raised in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, at the heart of eastern China’s silk-producing Yangtze River Delta region, Zhao began his more than 40-year career as a ronghua creator as a 19 year old at a state-owned factory. The art of making ronghua – literally “velvet flower” – dates back to the Tang dynasty (618-907) and refers to the creation of not […]
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The following article was funded by the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust and can be found on its website. Unfortunately I have been unable find the date it was published. The article begins: Hong Kong is a small place with a land area of about 1,100 square kiolmeters and a total combined sea and land surface area of about 2,700 square […]
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Tymon Mellor: Development of a modern mine at Castle Peak to extract Wolframite or Tungsten ore was awaited with much anticipation by the Colonial Government, but following a number of failed ventures and after much illicit mining, nothing came to pass. Mining Lot No. 12 was returned to Government and the area absorbed into the Ha Tsuen/Castle Peak Firing Range. […]
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Tymon Mellor: Directly after the Pacific War, like many other places, Hong Kong was struggling to recuperate. There was limited capital available and the Government had few resources. Mining was seen by many as a low cost investment, creating employment, generating hard currency and providing revenue to the Government. Unfortunately, this vision was not shared by the Government’s Interim Mining […]
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