HF:The engineerng consultancy Binnie & Partners, though British, has had a close connection to Hong Kong through several large-scale engineering projects. From the late 1990s it has been part of the multi-national consultancy Black and Veatch which has its HK office in Ngau Tau Kok. Geoffrey Binnie is closely associated with the constuction of what was, on completion, known as […]
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York Lo: Lee Yat-Ngok, the Local Printing Press Company and the Development of the Hong Kong Printing Industry Passengers on the upper deck of westbound trams passing by Wanchai would recall that the first floor of 48-50 Johnston Road was the home to both the Hong Kong Printers Association (香港印刷業商會, hereafter referred to as “HKPA”) and the Hong Kong Hok Shan […]
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York Lo: Chi-Chung Yin (C. C. Yin, 尹致中, 1902-1988) – King of Needles Born into a poor family in the farming village of Laiyang (萊陽) in Shandong Province in 1902, C. C. Yin started working at the age of 13 in nearby Japanese occupied Tsingtao (which was occupied by the Japanese between 1914 and 1922) as an office boy at a […]
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By York Lo For almost half a century stretching from the 1920s to the 1960s, the most popular casual footwear brand in Asia was Fung Keong (馮強). First manufactured in Canton in 1920, and later in Hong Kong and Malaysia, Fung Keong rubber sole canvas shoes had massive appeal during those years of economic hardship due to its affordability and are permanently etched […]
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Dodwell & Company (天祥洋行) was one of the leading British merchant firms, active in China and Japan during the 19th and 20th century. It was a direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co. “It was established in 1858 when W R Adamson and Company (silk dealers) set up in London, with its head office in Shanghai and branches in Hong Kong, […]
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York Lo: In 2013, the Ford Motor Company released a 1924 letter which Sun Yat-sen sent to Henry Ford inviting him to open up a plant in south China – the bearer of the letter was a Chinese American merchant named Ng Jim Kai (a.k.a. Ng Tung Kai 吳東啟, 1859-1935). [1] A major financial backer of Sun Yat-sen for over […]
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York Lo: For decades after the War, the plastic industry and two closely related industries – toy and artificial flower manufacturing had played an important role in the industrial growth of Hong Kong and thanks to the efforts of pioneering entrepreneurs and the hard work of an industrious labor force, Hong Kong had emerged from nothing to become a top player […]
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HF: The article containing the report, The Causes and Effects of the Present Trade Depression in HK 1935 mentions The Eastern Extension Telegraph Company Ltd and its manager, a Mr Carter. Curious about the history of submarine communication cables linking Hong Kong and the rest of the world I discovered an absorbing website run by Bill Burns. This goes under […]
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HF: Peter Crush has sent this article extracted from the Far Eastern Review of October 1931. HF: I have retyped the original version to aid clarity and searches. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped version shown here. A new era of rapid telephone communication in China began on September 1, when long distance telephone service was established between the […]
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York Lo: K.C. Leong (梁溎春)– F&B Industrialist and his Family and Ventures Leong Kwai-chun (hereafter referred to as “K.C. Leong”) might not be a household name but he was a notable figure in the history of the food and beverage manufacturing industries in HK as he was responsible for bringing “Green Spot” orangeade, “Meadow Gold” and “Champion” condensed milk to […]
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