York Lo: Wo Shing Company (和聲唱片): Leading Record Label from the 1930s to 1960s Left: Robert Kotewall in 1941 (Harrison Forman Collection); Right: Wo Shing’s posthumousalbum for Siu Ming Sing after the War (review33) From the 1930s to the 1960s, Wo Shing Co Ltd was a leading local record label in Hong Kong and the firm was also responsible for […]
» Read more
York Lo: Wong Man-keung (王文強, 1903-1976) and W.S. Sherly & Co (些厘洋行) While Wong Man-keung and his W.S. Sherly & Co might be very low profile, the products which they acted as sole agent for in HK such as the malted drink Horlicks, Pepsodent toothpaste, Longines watches and Kleenex tissues are the opposite and his family is also connected to […]
» Read more
HF: Blackhead Point (黑頭山, lit. “black head hill”), also known as Tai Pau Mai (大包米), Tsim Sha Tsui Point or Signal Hill ( 訊號山), was a cape before land reclamation in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. It remains as a small hill almost hidden away behind Chungking Mansions. The industrial connection? Blackhead Point was named after a German businessman in Hong Kong, Friedrich Johan Bertold Schwarzkopf, (also […]
» Read more
York Lo: Kar Cheung Chong Bank (嘉彰莊銀行) Founded in 1911 and operated out of the Nam Pak Hong district, Kar Cheung Chong Bank was a Chinese banking firm in HK and affiliate of Tan Peng Choon Banking Co in Thailand and Swatow which played a key role in the trade and remittance between HK, Swatow and Thailand for decades before […]
» Read more
York Lo: From Transistor Radios to Bicycle Meters: the Yuen family and Kendy Enterprise (堅力實業) and Dayton Industrial (達騰工業) Left: Kendy portable radio from the 1960s; Right: Dayton group founders Jack and Daisy Yuen with their son Paul (Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, 2012-10) While the general public in HK might be familiar with Andrew Yuen Wai-man (阮偉文) from the […]
» Read more
York Lo: Yau Luen Investment Co (友聯置業) and its Directors Henry Hsu and Lui Tak-wah Incorporated in 1960 and dissolved in 1977, Yau Luen Investment was a property developer in the 1960s which built at least 5 buildings in HK and Kowloon. Although the firm, which operated out of Room 1011 and later Room 1115 in Central Building in Central […]
» Read more
Nikki Veriga: This photo is of my grandparents – James (Newcastle on Tyne) and Elizabeth Thirlwell (nee Wilkinson) and their children. Grandad was a Master Mariner and captained the tug “Tai Koo” on her final voyage. [The Tai Koo struck a mine and sank in the Red Sea with the loss of 26 of the 63 people on board on 12th September […]
» Read more
York Lo: Fung Cheong Shun (豐昌順) – from Dyeing Factory to King of School Uniforms Left: Billboard for Fung Cheong Shun fabric using Caledon dye next to A Fong Studio in the 1930s; Right: Fung Cheong Shun ad in 1967 (HK Pun U District Association) Fung Cheong Shun, the oldest and largest maker of school uniforms in Hong Kong with […]
» Read more
D.L. Wu (伍德鄰) (1905-1995) devoted his entire life to the shipping industry. After attending the Shanghai Baptist College and the University of the Philippines, he started his shipping career in Shanghai in 1928 where he worked for the China Merchants Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. Still in Shanghai, he joined the San Peh Steam Navigation Co. in 1937 and he was […]
» Read more
York Lo: Continental King Lung (五洲景龍) and Legarleon (利家安) Continental King Lung (CKL) and Legarleon were two leading futures brokerages in HKactive in the late 1970s and early 1980swhich built up extensive global networks of branches and clients within a very short period and the earlier diversified into real estate, movie and records production and electronics before shuttering its futures […]
» Read more