HF/Richard Hale: At one time Hong Kong was home to a thriving pearl cultivation industry which appears to have been initially centred on Tolo Harbour. “Tai Po was the centre of the local pearl industry. As far as we know, pearls were first collected from the nearby sea in AD 761 during the fourth year of the reign of the […]
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IDJ has sent the following article: Source: The Building of Hong Kong: Constructing Hong Kong Through The Ages, A Walker & SM Rowlinson, pub. for The HK Construction Association by HKUP, 1990 This article was first posted on 21st February 2015. Related Indhhk articles: The locations of Lime Kilns in Hong Kong – a list Lime-making on Tsing Yi island […]
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Wong Wai King is the author of Tai O – Love Stories of the Fishing Village. Among many subjects that Ms Wong has written about in her book is a short article titled “Toi shan dau” (Sedan-chairs). Ms Wong has very kindly agreed to allow the re-typing of this section to be included as an article on our site. Copyright […]
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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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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 third of these is about the Yuet Tung China Works which has been producing hand-painted porcelain since 1928. The article begins: Tso Chi-hung is the manager of Yuet Tung China Works, the last company in Hong […]
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IDJ remembers seeing log sawing by hand particularly in shipyards building wooden junks and sampans but also on construction sites. Many had two or four men pushing and pulling from above and below. They could tear through a log surprisingly accurately and quickly. The frame’s sidebars were used to guide the saw blade in a straight line and achieve the right […]
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York Lo: South China Tea Corporation (華南茶業) and “Cocktail Tea” (鷄尾茶) Left: Outdoor advertising for South China Tea’s “Cocktail” covering the building which housed the Mayfair Studio in Kowloon (likely 3 Saigon Street); Right: a South China Tea Corp’s “China Beauty” Chinese green tea tin (Worthpoint) While the family of Southeast Asian tycoon Eu Tong-sen might be best known in […]
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HF: Here’s another in our series of Ginger Factories from the late 19th century and early 20th. I cannot find out much more about this company and would like to know when it was established. Also about Wong Chi Chau mentioned in this article. And the company of which he was the compradore of, Messrs. Alvares & Co. The article […]
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A Bygone Industry in Hong Kong – Rickshaw Makers’ Stores By Fung Chi Ming The rickshaw is long out of date, but in days past it was a widely used form of urban transport. For public hire and for private use, it also created new employment. The first rickshaw in Hong Kong was of Japanese construction. But, as time went […]
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IDJ has sent this SCMP article about 99 year old Mak Sing-ying. Mr Mak has for 81 years been making pans, cans, boxes and buckets out of tin from his workshop in Sai Kung. The article was published on 9th November 2014 See: SCMP article Sai Kung’s ‘tin man’ 9th November 2014 This article was first posted on 18th December 2019.
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