York Lo: Hit Maker: Yam Wu-fa (任護花) and his Novels, Newspapers and Movies Yam Wu-fa (second from right) with his family in 1959 (WKYP, 1959-8-21) When it comes to a novelist whose works were adopted into movies who was also a newspaper publisher in the Chinese world, the first name that comes to most people’s mind is probably Louis Cha, […]
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York Lo: Standard, Tai Hing and Tung Shing: Distributors of Japanese Sewing Machines During the post war industrial boom in Hong Kong, sewing machines were a big business as garment factories and many housewives who made extra money acting as contractors bought them in large numbers. While the American sewing machine giant Singer was the 800-pound gorilla in the business, […]
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York Lo: From Textiles to Electronics: the Zau family of Zoong Sing, Microtron and EDL Earlier on the website, we covered many Shanghainese industrialists who have contributed significantly to the development of many different industries in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s ranging from textiles to plastics. This article covers the family of Zau Sing-tao, the founder of Zoong […]
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York Lo: True Gold Fears No Fire: 150 Years of Tse Lee Yuen (謝利源) Founded in Macau in 1867, Tse Lee Yuen (also known as Che Lei Un and Che Lee Yuen and now known as O’Che 1867) is one of the oldest jewelers in Macau which is still going strong under the management of the fourth generation. In the […]
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York Lo: Lai Yung Shang (雷允上) – the Centuries Old Maker of Lu Sheng Pills (六神丸) Earlier on the website we have covered several Western pharmaceutical manufacturers from Shanghai such as Sine and New Asiatic whose proprietors continued their businesses in HK after the Communists came to power in 1949 while their operations in the mainland became state-owned enterprises that […]
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Tymon Mellor: The former mine at, and which was to give its name to, Mui Wo or Silvermine Bay, was arguably one of the most important mines in Southern China at the end of the nineteenth century. It was developed using private money and was a showcase of modern technology. It was hoped this would be the start of a […]
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York Lo: Tabaqueria Filipina, Hwa Ching Tobacco and Colin Mackenzie & Co Tabaqueria Filipina and Colin Mackenzie & Co are two historic firms in Hong Kong with long histories (founded in 1888 and 1915 respectively) in the tobacco and pharmaceutical business and were both controlled by theZung (Chen) family from Ningbo after the War. The family was also known for […]
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York Lo: Wah Ying Cheong (華英昌): from Gold Mountain Firm to Real Estate Empire Incorporated in 1936 but founded earlier in the late 19th century, Wah Ying Cheong is one of the oldest Chinese companies in Hong Kong that had played an important role in the remittance of overseas Chinese as a Gold Mountain guild in its early years and […]
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York Lo: Evergreen Motion Picture (永茂電影企業) Left: poster for Evergreen’s “Action Speaks Louder than Words” in 1955 starring Sheung Kwun Kwan-wai and SzemaWah Lung; Right: Poster for Evergreen’s “Honor Thy Father and Mother” in 1953 starring Sheung Kwun Kwan-wai and Cheung Ying-tsoi Evergreen Motion Picture was one of the eight leading independent movie production companies in the 1950s which produced […]
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IDJ has kindly sent the following newspaper article about the Hong Kong (or sometimes Hongkong) Rope Manufacturing Company planning a rope producing factory in Singapore. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped article. That work is now going ahead with the establishment of a rope works in Singapore was disclosed by Mr G.E. Marden, MC, in his statement to shareholders […]
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