Yolande van Daatselaar from Delft in the Netherlands has recently been in touch. She says she is the proud owner of a beautiful camphorwood chest, with pearl inlay, bought by her grandfather in Hong Kong during one of his trips as a sailor on the Holland Amerika Line some time between 1946 and 1960. She doesn’t know exactly when. Yolande wonders […]
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HF: The SCMP of 26th July 2015 carried a report about the death of Ho Hung Yee who ran an umbrella stand on at the top end of Peel Street for decades. The article begins…”A fixture of the Central street scene dubbed the “Umbrella Man” for the decades he spent helping Hongkongers stay dry has died at the age of […]
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The Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography has an article about José Pedro Braga b.3rd August 1871, Hong Kong; d.12th February 1944, Macau written by Gavin Ure. “José Pedro Braga’s father, Vicente Emilio Braga left Hong Kong to work in Japan shortly after José Pedro’s birth but never returned. José Pedro Braga was brought up in a household of his maternal grandfather, Delfino Noronha, the […]
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This article is the result of several people’s research into the life of Carl Ingenohl and in particular the Hong Kong company, Orient Tobacco Manufactory, which he owned. This company operated during the early part of the 20th century and at least until WW2. The information we have about Ingenohl’s and Orient Tobacco is sometimes confusing or contradictory. Correction, clarification […]
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HF: Tse Tsan Tai, 謝纘泰, 16th May 1872 – 4th April 1938), was one of the earliest Chinese revolutionaries of the late Qing Dynasty and co-founded the South China Morning Post. A man with a wide range of interests. Tse Tsan Tai was born in Sydney, Australia on 16th May 1872 the son of Tse Yat Chong, a native of Kaiping County Guandong […]
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HF: “Camel” Paints and Lacquers are manufactured by The National Lacquer & Paint Products Co. Ltd, founded by two Chinese returning from the US Zhen Bing Jun and Huang Wei Xian in 1932. The company used “Camel Paint” as its trademark and in the beginning manufactured only enamel paint, lacquer, paste paint and spray paint. Later in 1937, The National Lacquer […]
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HF: The first Query and Answers, Kwok Acheong + P&O connection, linked below, sought further information about his taking over the ‘shipwright and engineering department’ from the P&O Steamship Company in 1854 in Hong Kong and says I can find nothing about this particular subject: where was the Dept, what particularly did it do and what happened to it post Kwok Acheong? Can anyone provide some […]
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HF and IDJ: Up until 1926 steam power was used to drive the Peak Tram. In that year an electricity-powered haulage gear Ward Leonard system was installed incorporated within the double reversible funicular railway. Details of this system are provided below under the basic concept first link. I don’t fully understand this and wonder if anyone can provide an even simpler […]
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York Lo: Oceania Hawaii Holdings (夏香集團) Left: matchbox from the Oceania Restaurant & Nightclub; Right: Chinese performance at the Oceania Restaurant & Nightclub from a 1970s postcard. Earlier in the group, we have covered Ruby Restaurant, which was one of the first restaurant groups to go public in HK in late 1972. Around the same time Ruby went public, another […]
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York Lo: Kwoon Kwen Metal Ware (冠群金屬製品廠) Left: Kwoon Kwen ad in 1955 (HK Pun U District Association); Right: Kwoon Kwen founder Li Yan (HK Pun U District Association, 1959) Kwoon Kwen Metal Ware, a leading manufacturer of luggage locks and other metal products, was founded in 1948 (although as a firm it was not incorporated until 1965) by Li […]
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