Category: People

Douglas Lapraik – watchmaker, shipowner and co-founder of the Hongkong & Whampoa Dock Company

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, People, Shipyards + Shipping

Douglas Lapraik arrived in Hong Kong in 1842 in apparently somewhat straitened circumstances from Macau. Things changed for the colourful Mr Lapraik. In 1863, together with Thomas Sutherland and Jardine, Matheson & Co,. he co-founded the Hongkong and Whampoa Dock Company (Kowloon Docks) which at its peak was the largest shipyard in Asia. The following article has been extracted from […]

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The King of Shoes: Tse Family of Kam Shing and Silver Eagle

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Manufacturing, Non-Hong Kong Companies, People
Kam Shing Shoes Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: The King of Shoes: Tse Family of Kam Shing and Silver Eagle Arthur Tse with some of his shoes in the 1990s From the 1960s to the 1990s, the family of TseHei (謝熹) earned the reputation of “King of Shoes” through the publicly listed Kam Shing and Silver Eagle, which went public in 1973 and 1992 respectively and […]

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Texwood (德士活) and “Apple Jeans”(蘋果牌牛仔褲)

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Manufacturing, People, Retailers
Texwood Jeans Detail Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: Texwood (德士活) and “Apple Jeans”(蘋果牌牛仔褲) In March 2020, Texwood closed its flagship Apple Jeans store on Argyle Street inMongkok after 35 years, leaving only one store in HK in Diamond Hill although the jeans giant remains a major player in the mainland. Founded in 1959, Texwood was one of the major local brands of jeans in HK along […]

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Canton Brothers Rubber Co (廣東兄弟樹膠) – China’s and HK’s First Manufacturer of Rubber Shoes

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Manufacturing, Non-Hong Kong Companies, People
Canton Brothers Rubber Company Detail Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: Canton Brothers Rubber Co (廣東兄弟樹膠) – China’s and HK’s First Manufacturer of Rubber Shoes Left: Canton Bros poster, likely from the 1930s; Right: Canton Brothers Rubber ad in HK in 1941 (A Century of Commerce) Founded in Canton in 1919, Canton Brothers Rubber Co was the first rubber shoe manufacturer in China and opened its factory in Hong […]

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Cheong Sun Development (昌生興業) and the Trio Behind the Firm

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Industrial Buildings + Demolitions, People, Property
Cheong Sun Development Image 11 York Lo

York Lo: Cheong Sun Development (昌生興業) and the Trio Behind the Firm Cheong Sun Development was a notable listed property developer in the 1970s which was founded in 1972 by a trio from Shanghai (K.S. Cheng, T.O. Liu and K.L. Kung) and acquired by Far East Consortium in 1981. Most of the buildings in HK starting with the character “Cheong” […]

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A S Watson & Company Ltd aka The Hong Kong Dispensary – a Timeline 1841 to 1945

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Manufacturing, People, Retailers
A S Watson Chemist Detail Advert China Mail 1.8.1878

3rd June 2021 An additional image and information sent in by Dheeraj Khiytani was added. See 1907. HF:Watson’s is possibly the oldest retailer still in existence in Hong Kong and unquestionably among a tiny few that have opererated continuously since the early days of the colony… By 1941 Watson’s was already the largest chemist, retailer of health and beauty products, […]

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Ho Hung Yee – umbrella maker and repairer for 70 years, Peel Street, Central

Articles, General, Industrial Districts + Locations, People, Traditional Industries

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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N. Lazarus (明晶洋行)– Leading Opticians of the Far East

Articles, General, Hong Kong Companies, Manufacturing, Non-Hong Kong Companies, People, Retailers
N. Lazarus, Opticians Detail Image 2 York Lo

York Lo: N. Lazarus (明晶洋行)– Leading Opticians of the Far East Left: N. Lazarus store in Central; Right: ad for N. Lazarus in HK in 1900 (China Mail, 1900-4-10) Eyeglasses is a big business in Hong Kong and one of the first opticians in record in the city was N. Lazarus, started in the late 19th century by oculist-optician of […]

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Ching Cheong Weaving & Dyeing Works (禎昌織染布廠)

Articles, Hong Kong Companies, Manufacturing, Non-Hong Kong Companies, People
Ching Cheong Weaving Detail Image 1 York Lo

York Lo: Ching Cheong Weaving & Dyeing Works (禎昌織染布廠) The Ho family at the 70th birthday celebration of Ho Cheuk-yau in 1956 (TKP, 1956-9-23) Ching Cheong Weaving & Dyeing Works was one of the largest and oldest weaving and dyeing mills in Hong Kong founded in 1923 by Ho Cheuk-yau (何卓猷, 1886-1960)and run by his family until the 1980s. A […]

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Crown, Fung Hang and Wing Hang – Three Leading Independent Record Companies and the Golden Age of Cantopop in the 1970s and 1980s

Articles, Entertainment, Hong Kong Companies, People
Crown, Fung Hang And Wing Hang Image 4 York Lo

York Lo: Crown, Fung Hang and Wing Hang – Three Leading Independent Record Companies and the Golden Age of Cantopop in the 1970s and 1980s Crown Record, Fung Hang Record and Wing Hang Record are three leading independent record labels in Hong Kong. The first two traced its roots to Cantonese opera in the 1960s and all three helped to […]

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