HF: The following article has been extracted from the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography. The article about Ngan Shing-kwan was written by May Holdsworth and Eva Kwok and first published in the Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography, edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn. The publisher, HK University Press, has kindly granted permission for it to be posted here, but retains copyright […]
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Compiled by IDJ Macau, the Portuguese colony forty miles across the Pearl River delta from Hong Kong had a surprisingly long aviation history despite no land based airfield or aerodrome until the 1990s. After visits by travelling American showmen-balloonists demonstrating vertical flight in 1891, it was not until 1920 that French born local entrepreneur Charles de Ricou revealed ambitious plans […]
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A Bygone Industry in Hong Kong – Rickshaw Makers’ Stores By Fung Chi Ming The rickshaw is long out of date, but in days past it was a widely used form of urban transport.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 an extract from a book by Martin Barnett published in 1984 about the history of tramways in Hong Kong. HF: Chevalier R Pescio was an Italian with an exotic name and an alluring proposal. Namely to build a tramway between Victoria and Aberdeen. He repeatedly tried to obtain government interest in this scheme between 1906 and 1910 […]
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HF: IDJ has sent three articles about replacing Kai Tak airport post World War Two. Various locations were discussed with the main option appearing to be the Ping Shan/Deep Bay area west of Yuen Long. Certainly construction work actually started at the Ping Shan site as the articles linked below demonstrate. However, and eventually, a plan to modify Kai Tak […]
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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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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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IDJ has kindly sent this account of riding on the footplate of a 2-8-0 express passenger locomotive of the KCR from Kowloon station to Lo Wu, on the border with China, and back again. The article, written by Nicolas B Watson, was published in Meccano Magazine in 1955. We begin with a brief details of the suspension in 1949 of the […]
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IDJ: This image was accompanied by the following text: “The advocates of monorail transport proposed an “Aerometro” route along the north shore of Hong Kong Island in 1980 as an alternative to both the trams and the MTR Island line. This is how Hennessy Road would have looked. (Aerometro Ltd)” This article was first posted on 15th March 2015. Related Indhhk […]
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AC wrote a comment following the article, Cross Harbour bridge proposal – road 1901, tram 1920s. “There were suggestions (not detailed proposals) during the planning of the Shing Mun Reservoir scheme to construct a road tunnel together with the cross harbour pipeline, much like the first Lion Rock Tunnel for the Plover Cove scheme. It was however not taken forward.” […]
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