Sham Wai Chi wrote his MPhil thesis for Lingnam University in 2007 on the History of the Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company covering the years 1923 up to the 1970s. HF: The original company was founded by Lau Tak Po in 1897 when he purchased 5 wooden boats and provided services from HK Island to Kowloon under the company name Yaumati […]
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By Fung Chi Ming The tricycle or ‘cycle rickshaw’, as some people now call it, combines the characteristics of bicycle and rickshaw. Tricycles could be found in Asia and around the world, but they differed significantly in design and appearance. In Malacca and Singapore, it was a carriage with a passenger seat on the left side of the rider. In […]
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Tymon Mellor: The development of the Hong Kong road network over the years has allowed the territory to expand and develop into this sophisticated city. At the end of the nineteenth century, roads were limited to the major urban areas of Hong Kong Island and southern Kowloon. In 1898, with the extension of Hong Kong into the New Territories, the […]
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HF/Tymon Mellor: “Zonta White House (崇德家福軒) is a western house standing on the summit of a hill overlooking Tai Po Road. It was constructed in 1906 for the accommodation of the managerial staff engaged on the construction of the Kowloon-Canton Railway (九廣鐵路). The house and the adjacent guest bungalow and servants’ quarters sit in six acres of grounds close to […]
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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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HF: Our recently posted article, Wong Kwong-tin, manager of the Kai Tak Company, Managing Director of the Kai Tak Motor Bus Company, linked below, says “he is also pioneer Managing Director of the Kai Tak Motor Bus Company, which has been a most important factor in, and largely responsible for, the development of the Kowloon Peninsula.” Here are a few […]
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IDJ has sent the following: The merit of the scheme lay in the provision of a service to the Mid-Levels at Robinson Road. The scheme was opposed by residents near to the line of the proposed tramway, in particular by the Vicar Apostolic of Hong Kong, the Right Reverend Bishop Pozzoni, who objected on the grounds that a tresstle bridge […]
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The Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department’s brief history of Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong. The script and images all come from the article. The Name: Kai Tak is named after two businessmen, Sir Ho Kai and Mr. Au Tak, who were involved in a company formed to reclaim land in Kowloon Bay for a residential housing scheme. The Company, unfortunately, […]
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Tymon Mellor has sent this photograph of the railway line and station at Fanling. This shows proper passenger carriages unlike the flat, open waggons shown in the image below. HF I had heard about this almost forgotten branch of the Kowloon Canton Railway but knew almost nothing about it. The line operated for exactly 16 years from 1 Apr 1912 […]
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Fung Chi Ming: The type of man-powered transport known in English as “sedan chair” has different regional names, including jiao (轎) in China and kago (駕籠) in Japan. In Hong Kong, where it is no longer used as a means of passenger transport, it is known in local Cantonese dialect as san-dau (山兜, “mountain cabin”), kin–yue (肩舆, “shoulder carriage”) and […]
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