York Lo: Kapok(紅棉)and Golden Gate (金門) – HK Bakery Chains from the 50s and 60s and the family behind them Left: Kapok Bakery in Wanchai in the 1960s with its lighting decorations promoting its Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes; Right: Golden Gate Bakery’s sign (blue and red) on Jordan Road circa 1968. Before the rise of the bakery chains such as Maxim’s, St […]
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HF: Impressively named Carl Franz Adolph Otto Ingenohl was the owner of C. Ingenohl which operated cigar manufacturing companies in both the Philippines and Hong Kong under the trade name La Perla del Oriente. In Hong Kong Ingenohl ran the Orient Tobacco Manufactury Company which had a factory in Yau Ma Tei. I cannot find a image of Mr Ingenohl. Did […]
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York Lo has sent the following information about William MacGregor Smith. He was the Smith in Wahee, Smith & Co which in turn became The China Sugar Refinery. Smith is buried in HK cemetery – the tombstone states he was 76 (and was erected in 1907) and was from Scotland. On page 50 of Carl Smith’s book Chinese Christians there is […]
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York Lo: Kwong Luen Tai Garment (廣聯泰) Left: Kwong Luen Tai Garment founder Lee Cheung; right: contract signing ceremony between the Enping local government and Kwong Luen Tai for the establishment of the JV between the two in the early 1980s Kwong Luen Tai Garment Factory was one of the largest garment manufacturers in Hong Kong and was briefly mentioned […]
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York Lo: Singnam Choy (蔡星南) – Founder of the HK Chinese Godown Association Left: Singnam Choy (right) with Lam Hau-tak (see Lam Yuen Fong article) and Chau Cham-kwong as heads of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in 1948 (WKYP, 1948- 6-19); Right: notice issued by The Ching Hua Co in 1947 to clarify that it had no relations with […]
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Our article, Ping Shan Enterprise Co Ltd, disused factory, Yuen Long, notes that the company was co-founded by Wai Nam Chan and Lam Chok Fai. Here are some brief biographical details about Wai Nam Chan. Thanks to York Lo for informing us of the link to the HKU citation from which the following extract has been taken: “Mr Wai Nam Chan […]
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York Lo: Hop Yuen Construction (合源建築): A Century of Building in HK Left: Details of Hop Yuen with picture of founder TseIu-wah from the HKBCA directory in 1957 (HKBCA yearbook, 1957); right: Hop Yuen building on Ship Street While many construction companies covered earlier in the group have faded into history, Hop Yuen Construction is still going strong after over […]
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James Chan: In 1863 Thomas Sutherland became the first chairman of the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock. He was 29. The following has been extracted from the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography. Both the author Robert Nield and HK University Press have given permission for extracts to be used in this article. Robert Nield: “Thomas Sutherland was the founder of one […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Five) – Ngo Kee and Sung Foo Kee/Lidell Ngo Kee and Sung Foo Kee (now Sun Fook Kong) are two other leading construction firms which trace their roots back to pre-war Shanghai. Owned and managed respectively by the Loo and the Sung families for over half a century, the two firms were […]
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Maureen Fan left a comment below Carles Brasó Broggi’s article Shanghai Spinners: Pioneers of Hong Kong’s Industrialisation. This reads in part: Thank you for your informative article. My grandfather Robert Fan Wenzhao (1893-1979) was the architect who designed the HK Spinners factory at Cheung Sha Wan, including the workers dormitories, a dining hall, a recreation area, basketball and volleyball courts and […]
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