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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York Lo: Pao Hsing Cotton Mill(寶星紡織廠) 7 story Pao Hsing Mill – the largest cotton mill in Kwai Chung in 1961 (HKU Libraries) While Pao Hsing Cotton Mill might not have been one of the largest and best-known cotton mills in HK, it was a notable firm in the history of HK cotton spinners for several reasons – its unusual […]
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York Lo: Reiss Bradley (泰和洋行) – the Forgotten Hong Left: Article about the formation of Reiss Bradley in 1936 (HK Telegraph, 1936-6-30); Right: Reiss Brothers warehouse on Quay Street in Manchester, UK (Manchester Libraries) In an earlier Q+A on the website questions were raised about the origins of Reiss Bradley, which was the parent company of Far East Flying School […]
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York Lo: Kowloon Flour Mills (九龍麵粉廠) Aerial view of Kowloon Flour Mills. Kowloon Flour Mills (hereafter referred to as “KFM”) at 161 Hoi Bun Road in Kwun Tong is the only surviving flour mill in Hong Kong and received a lot of attention in 2011 when the then Secretary for Development Carrie Lam cited the mill as an example of […]
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HF with thanks to IDJ for the two adverts. The cable used in the Aerial Ropeway constructed to link Takoo Sugar Refinery and its Sanitarium was made by Bullivant & Co. which began as a UK company. William Munton Bullivant was an early innovator in the stranded wire cordage field, invented in the mid-19th century by German mining engineers in the […]
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HF: Jan Hendrik Marsman, was born in 1892 in the Netherlands and died in 1956, I think in the Philippines. He was known as Hank to his friends. He started his working life as an engineer and later developed extensive business interests in the Philippines. Marsman is of interest to us because he became involved, through his company Marsman Hong […]
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Preece, Cardew and Rider were the consulting engineers for a proposed extension of Hok Un power station, Hung Hom in the 1930s. “In 1934 a committee consisting of directors and senior staff was formed to deal with the extensions proposed. It met regularly for the next several years and made many important decisions based quite often on the advice of […]
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