Tymon Mellor: On the 28th March, 1886, the first of many blasts was initiated at the Mui Wo silver mine. The owner, Mr Ho A Mei (see Part One of this article linked below) wanted to extract the galena ore to aid in the mineral processing of the richer ore from a Mainland mine of his. The mineral processing facility […]
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HF: Barbier, Benard and Turenne (BBT) was a French company founded in 1862. It specialized in the manufacture of lights, optical devices and lighting systems. And complete lighthouses including the one on Hong Kong’s Waglan Island. The lighthouse incorporated Fresnel lenses. The Swedish Company AGA was later involved as was its UK subsidiary Pharos Marine. I didn’t know the name […]
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HF: The Tien Chu (H.K.) Company Ltd. was founded by Wu Yunchu (1891-1953). Wu was a chemist and industrialist and known as the “Father of Monosodium Glutamate”. He was involved in the chemical and condiment industries in China especially I believe in Shanghai in the 1930s. York Lo says Wu Yunchu actually went by the name of “P. N. Woo” (probably due […]
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York Lo: Wah Mei Electric – Leading Distributor of Electronics from the 1920s to 1960s and related firms Left: Wah Mei ad in 1927 (8th Far East Games brochure); Right: the old Wah Mei store in between Sunlight Hing Kee and Kin Ming Radio on Des Voeux Road Central Wah Mei Electric was one of the oldest and largest distributor […]
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York Lo: Cost Plus Bazaar (美廉市場) and Mark V (美發) Left: Chinese advertisement for Cost Plus Bazaar at the Ocean Terminal in 1964 featuring some of the Japanese furniture. The store opened daily from 10 to 10 (WKYP, 1964-7-19) American retailers, big and small, have been the key driving force of industrial development in HK and China for the past […]
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York Lo: Lee Man Rubber Manufactory (利民橡膠製品廠) Top: Wong Kwai and brief profile of Lee Man Rubber (KSEN, 1954-12-23); Bottom: two examples of rubber shoes made by Lee Man in the 1950s (WKYP, 1958) Another major rubber shoe manufacturer in HK in the 1940s through 1960s was Lee Man Rubber Manufactory, whose “Fly Gun” brand of rubber shoes was popular […]
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HF: The SS Alaska was a 4,012 ton, 8 speed, side-wheel steamship launched on 27th November 27th 1867 for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. She saw service between New York and Aspinwall, now known as Colón, Panama, and was later used on the San Francisco to Panama City and San Francisco to Hong Kong routes until 1879. During the night of Tuesday 22 September […]
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York Lo: Ng Yue-kwong (吳裕光, 1902-1977) and Ng Yee Hing Weaving & Dyeing Factory (吳義興織印染製衣廠) Ng Yue-kwong (南洋商报, 4 March 1964, Page 14) Earlier in the group, several leading weaving mills from the 1940s-60s were covered such as the Ngai brothers’ Yuen Hing, Shum Choy-wah’sKow Yue and Chong Hu-kwong’s Tai Loong. Ng Yee Hing Weaving & Dyeing Factory was another […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Three) – Voh Kee, Chang Sung and Dah Cheng Voh Kee, Chang Sung and Dah Cheng were three Shanghainese builders which set up shop in Hong Kong between 1945 and 1949 and remained active in the local construction scene during the 1950s. All three firms have since faded away from the HK construction […]
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