York Lo: Lee On and Ying Kee – manufacturers of safes and steel furniture Local manufacturing of safes has existed since the early 1900s and within this specialized industry, Lee On and Ying Kee were two of the oldest and largest players (which also manufacture steel furniture in addition to safes) and both happen to be founded by Cantonese industrialists […]
» Read more
Ralph Wood has kindly sent the following article. George Underhill Sands was Ralph’s Great-granduncle. Ralph has compiled a substantial amount of information about George Sands’ family as well as the man himself. This can be found on Ralph’s website which is linked below the article. This website has posted a couple of articles about George Underhill Sands which are also […]
» Read more
York Lo: Kwong Fat Yuen Hong (廣發源行) – the 150 year old King of Leather Leather trademarks registered by Kwong Fat Yuen Hong in the 1930s with the HK colonial government – “Lion” brand in 1936 on the left and”Unicorn” and “Tank” brands in 1937 on the right (HK Government Report) Founded in 1867, Kwong Fat Yuen Hong is one […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
York Lo: Li Po-chun (李寶椿): his family, his buildings and businesses and a century of philanthropy Earlier on the website, we have covered several branches of the family of Li Sing, the richest man in Hong Kong in 1900 including his grandsons Lee Sai-wah and Li Shiu-chung and his nephew Li Po-kwai (see article on China Dispensary). However, the most […]
» Read more
HF: Barbier, Benard and Turenne (BBT) was a French company founded in 1862. It specialized in the manufacture of lights, optical devices and lighting systems. And complete lighthouses including the one on Hong Kong’s Waglan Island. The lighthouse incorporated Fresnel lenses. The Swedish Company AGA was later involved as was its UK subsidiary Pharos Marine. I didn’t know the name […]
» Read more
York Lo: Ching Chun-kau (程振球) – Real Estate, Amusement Park and Resort Pioneer Ching Chun-kau (left, HKBCA) and his most famous project – Kai Tak Amusement Park (right) In the 1950s through 1970s, Ching Chun-kau was a prominent figure in HK business circles as he was involved in a variety of businesses ranging from construction, property development, an amusement park, […]
» Read more
HF: The Tien Chu (H.K.) Company Ltd. was founded by Wu Yunchu (1891-1953). Wu was a chemist and industrialist and known as the “Father of Monosodium Glutamate”. He was involved in the chemical and condiment industries in China especially I believe in Shanghai in the 1930s. York Lo says Wu Yunchu actually went by the name of “P. N. Woo” (probably due […]
» Read more
‘A biography of Sir Paul Chater would be a history of Hong Kong’, the South China Morning Post obituary stated on 28 May 1926, Arriving as an impecunious but ambitious and extremely capable teenager, he was later to be described by the Sunday Times of London, ‘as one of the most powerful and…most beneficent figures in the Empire’. [This article […]
» Read more
York Lo: Wah Mei Electric – Leading Distributor of Electronics from the 1920s to 1960s and related firms Left: Wah Mei ad in 1927 (8th Far East Games brochure); Right: the old Wah Mei store in between Sunlight Hing Kee and Kin Ming Radio on Des Voeux Road Central Wah Mei Electric was one of the oldest and largest distributor […]
» Read more