Dodwell & Company (天祥洋行) was one of the leading British merchant firms, active in China and Japan during the 19th and 20th century. It was a direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co. “It was established in 1858 when W R Adamson and Company (silk dealers) set up in London, with its head office in Shanghai and branches in Hong Kong, […]
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In our Queries and Answers 5 Eric Spain had an enquiry about salt production in Mui Wo. He remembers seeing some RAF aerial photographs which showed salt pans there. [presumably immediately before, during or shortly after WW2?]. Frank Watson and Namussi added information to Q+A 5 which is linked below. HF: Further information can be found in a post I made on gwulo.com […]
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York Lo: Bakilly – the forgotten maker of perfumes, hair cream, toothpaste and other personal care products HF: York added four images to his original article in March 2019. These are indicated by an asterisk in the captions. Founded in the 1910s, Bakilly (百家利) was a major local personal care product brand in Hong Kong for over half a century […]
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York Lo: The Kam Family of Hocan and Jardines For the past century, the Kam family has been important players in the import export industry in Hong Kong, starting with Kam Cheung-yan and his brother Kam Cheung-fai who were compradors for the major foreign owned trading houses such as Gerin Drevard and Jardines, and later as proprietors of their own […]
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HF: The building that is now known as Western Market was originally the old Western Market (North Block), which was identified by Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) as one of the Declared Monuments in 1990. It is the oldest market building surviving in Hong Kong. Further information about the demolished South Block would be of great interest. As would images […]
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York Lo: Asia Provisions (亞洲辦館) and Asia Cold Storage (亞洲凍房) The Asia Company’s ad in 1960 (HK Police Magazine) Aside from Wang Kee and Wing Sang Cheong covered in earlier articles, The Asia Provisions Co Ltd (incorporated in 1970) and its predecessor The Asia Company (亞洲公司,1925-1970) has been a major player in the food provisions business in HK since its […]
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York Lo: Bernard Van Zuiden (萬瑞庭, 1899-1979) – Dutch Trader and Philanthropist in Hong Kong Bernard van Zuiden (right) welcoming his visiting elder sister at a cocktail reception in HK in 1959 (WKYP, 1959-12-10) Life and Career of Bernard Van Zuiden Born in Enschede in eastern Netherlands, Van Zuiden studied textile and commerce in his hometown in the 1910s. He […]
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York Lo: Barbara Fok (霍畹蘭) and August Moon Hotel (中秋月酒店) Article and picture of Barbara Fok visiting the US to attend the World Expo in New York and her daughter’s high school graduation in California (WKYP, 1964-6-5) From 1960 to 1977, August Moon Hotel at 25 Kimberley Road in Tsim Sha Tsui was a prominent hotel in Kowloon famous for […]
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York Lo: Po Chai Lemonin (普濟檸檬精) Left: “Lemon King” Chan Shiu-chuen; Right: Po Chai Lemonin ad Founded in Canton in the early 1920s by Chan Shiu-chuen (陳少泉, 1903-1968) and moved to HK in the late 1940s, Po Chai Drug Co (普濟藥行) was best known for its Lemonin – a popular pain killer medicine across China and Southeast Asia from […]
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“Discount the growing throngs of tourists and worsening traffic and not too much has changed for Tai O’s indigenous townsfolk. Shrimp, fish and squid are still laid out to air dry under the sun as they have for generations. But residents from one of the west Lantau town’s fishing villages are beginning to discover an additional use for sunshine through […]
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