HF: I was told many years ago that Hong Kong had the most ferry routes of any city in the world. And that Sydney was second and Seattle third. If that was true back in the 1980s it may not be so in 2014. During this period I have seen several routes vanish, including Jordan Road to Central, a wonderful […]
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Gregory Couch has kindly given permission for his article, The first commercial airliner ever shot down by hostile air action, to be posted on our website: CNAC DC-2 #32, the Kweilin, was machine-gunned and forced down by five Japanese pontoon biplanes on August 24, 1938, shortly after leaving Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport. Hugh Woods was at the controls, and […]
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On August 4, 1947, the 10,471 ton Tien Loong was the first steamship owned, managed, financed and crewed by Chinese, to sail from Shanghai to France. And was thus the first such vessel to sail in the Atlantic Ocean. She arrived in Le Havre, France on October 28. Chinese Maritime Trust (a sister company of Island Navigation Corp.) had signed […]
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Tymon Mellor: This article has been extracted from The Kowloon Canton Railway (British Section) Part 4 – The Early Years (1910 to 1940). Major Railway Incidents Each year there were a number of incidents on the railway. Typically there would be a few derailments resulting in some damage, but no major injuries. There were also regular fatalities, normally three or four […]
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Tymon Mellor: Following the Second World War, in 1949 the Royal Air Force established a permanent airfield at Shatin,with a 350m long concrete runway, coordinates 05/23 and a small control tower, along with building and hangars made of corrugated steel. With the growing tension in China, during the 1950’s the British Army Air Corps operated Auster AOP.9 spotter planes from the […]
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HF: Added information “Another adventurer was the Neapolitan aviator, Francesco de Pinedo (1890-1933) who, in 1925, landed his Savioa S-16ter two-seater hydroplane (nicknamed Gennariello) in Hong Kong harbour.|Engineer Ernesto Campanelli from Oristano was his co-pilot. After Hong Kong they flew on to Shanghai, Japan and Australia before returning to Rome landing on the Tiber River. It was truly a remarkable expedition, […]
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In Search of an Improved Industrial Design – The Hong Kong Rickshaw over Time By Fung Chi Ming The rickshaw, as westerners pronounce it, originated in Japan where it is known as jinrikisha – jin (man) riki (power) sha (carriage). Its basic design includes a carriage resting on two large-diameter wheels, a pair of long parallel poles joined by a […]
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This article started life as Q+A 28. New information – see IDJ Jan 2016. Vicky Chan, Lamma resident, asks where Village Vehicles, more usually known as VVs (though there are apparently VWs) are made. She suggests they are so simple in design that the answer must be somewhere in Hong Kong. Is she right? And if so where exactly? They […]
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Hugh Farmer: My earlier article about early plans for trams on HK island stated that the official opening date was 30th July 1904. This is correct. However, The Hong Kong Daily Press of Monday, 15th Aug 1904 states that the full service of the Electric Tramway had begun two days before on Saturday the 13th. It mentions that the cars […]
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Malcolm Morris added this comment to Q+A 27 Village Vehicles: There was another type of Village Vehicle in use in the New Territories a few decades ago. Lorry buses. These were privately owned and provided transport for villages in areas not served by the major bus companies. IDJ has sent this photo from the very early 1970s. Malcolm attached a […]
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