For latest updates please see items highlighted in blue. On 14th July 2020 images of Robert Rae Hutcheon and Shanghai were added. HF: We have been sent information about a couple of employees of the Asiatic Petroleum Company in China and one in the UK. We have also received requests for information about two more employees. I thought it might […]
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York Lo: Ruby (紅寶石) – Restaurant Empire from the 1950s to 1980s Left: The fa pai of Ruby Restaurant in Causeway Bay at its opening in 1966; Right: Ruby’s ad promoting its Mother’s Day special featuring pigeons and fruit punch at all five of its locations in 1984 (WKYP, 1984-5-9) From the 1950s to the 1980s, Ruby was one of […]
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York Lo: Lee Seng Heng (李成興魚露): King of Fish Sauce Left: Lee Seng Heng’s Kingfisher trademark featuring medals it won in the 1920s and 1930s. (IP Australia); Right: recent ad for Lee Seng Heng fish sauce (Yue Yick Food Industries) Earlier on the website, we covered many HK sauce makers which have a long history of over a century. Lee […]
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York Lo: Sang Lee & Co (生利建築) – leading contractor from the 1900s to 1950s From the 1900s to the 1950s, Sang Lee was one of the leading building contractors in HK responsible for many notable public projects such as the old GPO Building and the Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir which were completed in the 1910s and the massive Wanchai […]
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Brian Edgar: 1938 was an important year in the modernisation of baking in Hong Kong. In November Lane, Crawford moved to a fully mechanised facility in the Happy Valley section of Stubbs Road – my father, Thomas Edgar, had become the company’s bakery manager in the spring, probably to oversee the move from Wanchai (“see 1” below). But it seems […]
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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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York Lo: Kwong Sang Engineering (廣生機器廠) Left: Kwong Sang Engineering founder Ng Kai-lau (HK Pun U District Association, 1955); Right: Family of Kwong Sang founder Ng Kai-lau welcoming his fifth son Chung-yau (triangle) back from studies in the US in 1961. (KSDN, 1961-7-7) Kwong Sang Engineering was one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of ship machinery in Hong Kong […]
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York Lo: Pioneer: 60 years of Supplying Construction Materials in Hong Kong Left: Ad for Pioneer Concrete in 1962 with picture of its production site in Hunghom (top) and construction site on Caernavon Road in Kowloon (bottom). (Wah Kiu Yat Po 1962-2-1); Right: Pioneer Concrete co-founder and longtime chief Sir Tristan Antico Hong Kong residents often refer to the city […]
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York Lo: Tak Chuen Distillery (德泉酒庄) and “Double Happiness” Wines Left: Ko Ho-ning; Center: Close-up of Tak Chuen’s display at the 1954 (KSEN, 1954-1-13); Right: Yau Chi-ho, manager of Tak Chuen (HK Pun U District Association) While the family of Ko Ho-ning (高可寧, 1878-1955) might be best known for their pawn shops, many properties, movie star daughters in law (Grace […]
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Mary Anne Le Bas has sent an SCMP article, Six home-grown Hong Kong trades at risk of dying out, published on 21st June 2015. The fifth of these is a product that has been around for around 200 years. The company was founded by current manager Yuen Yee Lum’s great-great-grandfather in Guangzhou, in 1835. Mr Yuen believes his is the last company making […]
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