York Lo: Hong Kong Jade Industry and some of its pioneers The trading and manufacturing of jade is one of the oldest businesses in HK but the industry did not form its group until June 1965 when the US government imposed an embargo on HK jadeite goods and in response, J.D. McGregor, then Deputy Director of Commerce and Industry suggested […]
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HF: Our article, Beer in Hong Kong – Part Three – The Oriental Brewery 1908-1912, includes “It was announced early in March 1913 that the [Imperial] brewery had been purchased:-by Mr Arratoon V Apcar of Messers Arratoon V Apcar and Co, Hongkong … on behalf of a syndicate of which Mr Apcar is a member…” I had not heard of this company before. HK […]
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York Lo: The Moh Family and Hop Kee Pyrotechnics (合記烟花) Fireworks is a big business with significant demand locally and globally and Hop Kee has been a leading exporter of fireworks and producer of firework displays in HK since the 1950s under the leadership of three generations of the Moh family. Left: Mo Pooi-chew in the the early 1970s (SCJP, […]
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York Lo: Jam Fair Department Store (占飛百貨) Left: Jam Fair’s store in Central in 1968; Right: Jam Fair at Honour House in Yaumatei in 1989 From the 1940s to 1970s, Jam Fair was one of leading retailers in Hong Kong with branches in Central in the HK side and two stores on Nathan Road in the Kowloon side. Jam Fair […]
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York Lo: Comfoods (maker of Café Puro Instant Coffee) and Reliance (importer of Sunkist oranges) Earlier on the website, we covered several Filipino Chinese industrialists who have left their marks in the food and beverage industry in HK such as the Wong family of Cosmo Beverage and the Ma families of confectionary and biscuit giants M.Y. San, M.Y. San and […]
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HF: Delfino Noronha (1824-1900) ran a printing press in Hong Kong from 1844, Noronha and Co., a quasi-government printer, which later on became the actual Hong Kong Government Printer. He was also involved in the first regular ferry between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon though this was apparently little more than a weekend pleasure launch to his “country house” in Yau […]
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York Lo: Ng Lian-chin (黃連振, 1922-2015) and Life Records (麗風唱片) Left: logo of Life Records; Right: Ng Lian-chin with young Teresa Teng Southeast Asia, particularly the Chinese diaspora in the region,has always been an important market for many HK products including music records. In the 1960s and 1970s, a Malaysian Chinese entrepreneur by the name of Ng Lian-chin was a […]
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York Lo: Kar Cheung Chong Bank (嘉彰莊銀行) Founded in 1911 and operated out of the Nam Pak Hong district, Kar Cheung Chong Bank was a Chinese banking firm in HK and affiliate of Tan Peng Choon Banking Co in Thailand and Swatow which played a key role in the trade and remittance between HK, Swatow and Thailand for decades before […]
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York Lo: From Transistor Radios to Bicycle Meters: the Yuen family and Kendy Enterprise (堅力實業) and Dayton Industrial (達騰工業) Left: Kendy portable radio from the 1960s; Right: Dayton group founders Jack and Daisy Yuen with their son Paul (Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, 2012-10) While the general public in HK might be familiar with Andrew Yuen Wai-man (阮偉文) from the […]
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York Lo: Fung Cheong Shun (豐昌順) – from Dyeing Factory to King of School Uniforms Left: Billboard for Fung Cheong Shun fabric using Caledon dye next to A Fong Studio in the 1930s; Right: Fung Cheong Shun ad in 1967 (HK Pun U District Association) Fung Cheong Shun, the oldest and largest maker of school uniforms in Hong Kong with […]
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