York Lo: Chan Chart-man (陳策文) – Developer and King of Pawnshops In March 2013, Oi Wah Pawnshop Credit Holdings became the first operator of pawnshops to go public in HK. Its founder Chan Chart-man had been involved in property development since the 1960s and although a relative newcomer in the centuries-old pawnshop industry, he and his family built the largest […]
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York Lo: Richard C.K. Chan (陳卓堅): timber baron, shipping tycoon and stamp collector Left: Richard C.K. Chan (standing) delivering a speech to the press as head of the Timber Guild in 1962. To his left were Wong Shui-leung of Kwong Chan Timber, Kan Chi-nam of Wing Tai Cheung and Leung Kam-tong of Hip Shing Timber (WKYP, 1962-12-18); right: cover of […]
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York Lo: Long To Cotton Yarn (浪淘花紗) Left: Long To founder Lam Man-yan; Right: Long To Building in Cheung Sha Wan (Primeoffice) Long To Cotton Yarn was a major manufacturer of cotton yarn in Hong Kong which derived its name from the word play of the Chinese saying based on Tang Dynasty poetry of “Waves washing the sand” (浪淘沙) and […]
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HF: Vol. 34 of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch published in 1994 contains a lengthy article about German speakers in Hong Kong and of the companies they were involved in. It was written by Carl Smith. I am familiar with only a small number of these companies and even fewer of those persons working for […]
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York Lo: Pun Sun-on (潘新安, 1923-2015) – Developer, Educator and Poet Left: Pun Sun-on in his later years; Center: Winway Building, which was controlled by Pun’s Sunny Enterprises; Right: cover of the collection of poems written by Pun Sun-on and his poetry group published in 2011 with their group picture. (yesasia) Earlier on the website, we covered the family of […]
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York Lo: Ha Lung Hong (合隆行) and the New Zealand Deer Velvet Trade Left to right: Bill Bong’s mother C.Y. Loh, fellow Shanghainese businessman C.L. Hsu, Leo Lee, Bill Bong, Tung Wah chairman Charles Lui, Mrs. Lui, Bill Bong’s wife Ling Yuk-chun(KSDN, 1973-9-25) Chinese medicine is one of the oldest industries in Hong Kongand in the 1960s,Ha Lung Hong Medicine […]
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York Lo: Yen Dack Land Investment (仁德置業) Article about Yen Dack Land in 1962 with sketch of Yen Dack Building (WKYP, 1962-9-19) Yen Dack Land Investment is one of the lesser known developers which has developed many buildings in Hong Kong with the character “Yen” in its names since the 1960s. Left: wedding picture of Chan Kwong-dew and Gwendolyn Ho […]
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York Lo: Luen Fook Hong (聯福行) Two views of Luen Fook Hong at David House on Des Voeux Road in Central. The color picture on the left was likely taken during the Christmas season in the 1950s while the black and white picture on the right was taken by Harrison Forman in 1941.(Gwulo) From the 1930s to the 1960s, Luen […]
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Philip Edward Kenny: These days it’s the location of an MTR station which gets tourists to nearby Disneyland on Lantau Island, but in 1983 it was the location used for a scene in the film Project A, when Sammo Hung leads the gangsters to his cache of hidden guns only to find that Jackie Chan has beaten him to it – […]
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York Lo: Eternal Enterprise (永業有限公司) – the precursor of Sun Hung Kai and its shareholders aside from the SHK trio Before the legendary Kwok Tak-seng (郭得勝, 1911-1990), Fung King-hey (馮景禧, 1922-1985) and Lee Shau-kee (李兆基, 1929-) formed Sun Hung Kai in 1963, the trio started their first real estate partnership in the form of Eternal Enterprise Co Ltd, which was […]
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