James Chan: The Borneo Company Ltd had a very interesting history. In 1856 it apparently opened an office in Hong Kong and it would be interesting to know more about the company’s operations here. Rudi Butt’s fascinating Hong Kong’s First blog (linked below) contains this: This summary of the company comes from wikipedia: The Borneo Company Ltd formed in 1856, is […]
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York Lo: Lee Seng Heng (李成興魚露): King of Fish Sauce Left: Lee Seng Heng’s Kingfisher trademark featuring medals it won in the 1920s and 1930s. (IP Australia); Right: recent ad for Lee Seng Heng fish sauce (Yue Yick Food Industries) Earlier on the website, we covered many HK sauce makers which have a long history of over a century. Lee […]
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The ship Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by Cunard Line. In tandem with the Queen Mary both ships provided a weekly luxury service between Southampton in the U.K and New York via Cherbourg, France. Whilst being constructed in the mid-1930s by John Brown and Company at, Clydebank, Scotland, the build was known as Hull 552. Hull 552 was […]
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HF: Initial notes on Charles Herbert Arnhold. I have been unable to find an image of the gentleman, whose connection to Arnhold & Company Ltd, is the subject of this article, and would be grateful to any reader who can send me one. Further up Hong Kong’s Peak, an event of vast importance for the future of the firm took […]
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“Macau Aerial Transport (MAT) was the first commercial airline company to be established in Macau or Hong Kong. [Founded by Charles de Ricou he] found it wise to set up MAT as a British company but public opinion in Macau was generally against having yet another ‘foreign’ enterprise in their midst. The Government of Macau, however, sensing the obvious merits […]
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HF: Magazine Island (火藥洲; Fo Yeuk Chau), originally known as One Tree Island (一木島) is located off the southwest coast of Hong Kong Island, and off the northwestern tip of Ap Lei Chau. Administratively, it is part of Southern District. The former Magazine Building on Magazine Island is now a Grade Three Historic Building. It was built by the British Dynamite Company, which later […]
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York Lo: Yakult (益力多): 50 Years in Hong Kong Left: glass bottle of Yakult before 1971; Middle: the original Yakult HK plant at 161 Wai Yip Street in Kwun Tong (Yakult HK website); Right: plastic bottle of Yakult today In the late 1960s around the same time when Japanese instant noodle (see our article on Winner Food and Doll noodles) […]
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York Lo: King of Kings (皇上皇) – Ice Cream and Dried Sausages King of Kings (biggest blue sign) next to Chung Yuen Electrical (red sign under the blue Sony sign) on Des Voeux Road Central in the 1960s. Earlier on the website we have covered several prominent ice cream manufacturers from the past such as On Lok Yuen, Finland […]
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York Lo: Glory Metal Works (光榮五金製品廠) Glory Metal Works was one of the leading manufacturers of pressure lanterns and kerosene lamps alongside World-Light (covered in an earlier article), Lea Hin and Union Metal Works (to be covered later). The firm traced its origin to Kwong Hing Electroplating Co (廣興電鍍), which was founded by Lee Pun-yee (李彬義, 1888-1972), a native of […]
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Dodwell & Co. (天祥洋行) or Dodwell’s, was one of the leading British merchant firms, or hongs, active in Hong Kong, China and Japan during the 19th and 20th century. It was a direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co., Dent & Co., and Russell & Co. Swire oulived the latter two and remains a major commercial power in Hong Kong, China and […]
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