James Chan: Dragages Hong Kong, is a very familiar company name on signs at major construction projects around Hong Kong. It’s parent company is Bouygues Construction The company was founded in Vietnam in 1902 as Société Française Industrielle D’Extreme-Orient. It undertook its first project, the dredging and maintenance of a 2,000 kilometre canal system in the Mekong Delta. In 1910 […]
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James Chan: Frank Bowden was born in Exeter, England on 30th January 1848. In the early 1870s he came to Hong Kong. By 1872, when only 24, he had made a fortune in the local stock market. It would be of interest to have further details about Bowden’s time here. In particular how he made his fortune at that time […]
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Tymon Mellor: With the end of the Second World War and the growing population of Hong Kong, it was clear that upgrading of the Kowloon – Canton Railway line would be required to accommodate the increase in passenger and freight traffic. The first priority was to provide a new terminus within Kowloon to accommodate the passenger and freight services. Following […]
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“… Macau Aerial Transport (MAT) was the first commercial airline company to be established in Macau or Hong Kong. [Founded by Charles de Ricou he] found it wise to set up MAT as a British company but public opinion in Macau was generally against having yet another ‘foreign’ enterprise in their midst. The Government of Macau, however, sensing the obvious […]
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HF: The Rhyl History Club, Wales, UK, has a report of Alfred Dickinson’s death and details about his career. He was a widely travelled man including to Hong Kong. His company Alfred Dickinson & Co was closely involved in the development of Hong Kong Tramways. For example, “In February 1902 The Hongkong Tramway Electric Company Ltd was formed in England […]
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James Chan: Yau Fung Tours and Transportation Company Ltd, later trading as Hong Kong Bus was incorporated on 11th February 1977 and dissolved on 31st July 2008. “Another operator who had traditionally run an all-single-deck fleet was Yau Fung Tours which introduced six ex-Greater Manchester Fleetlines in 1987. These were followed by two ex-Stagecoach of Perth Neoplan Skyliners. A further single Fleetline […]
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From IDJ, with many thanks to Yannis Baritakis, on Syros Island, Greece, for adapting IDJ’s original word document including images for inclusion on our website. Flights using seaplanes and float-planes between Hong Kong and Macao were not entirely unknown after de Ricou’s Macao Aerial Transport Company in the 1920s failed to continue with the project due to interference and indifference […]
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Tymon Mellor: The development of the Hong Kong road network has allowed the territory to expand and develop into the sophisticated city it now is. From the arrival of the British in Hong Kong in 1841, construction of new roads commenced almost immediately and continues to this day. The first road to be built was Queens Road, starting in May, […]
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“With its outstanding record of safety and continuity, the Peak Tramways Company has always been conscious of the requirement to keep the Tramway’s operational heart in top shape. Surprisingly, since the beginning, the haulage plant has seen only one complete change – in 1926 when the original boilers and steam engine were replaced with an electrically-powered system.” Many thanks to […]
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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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