The history of explosive storage in Hong Kong is an interesting one. The earliest location appears to have been Magazine Island, originally named One Tree Island, which lies just to the West of Aberdeen Harbour. From 1887 to 1908 it was leased for an annual rent of $100, by the Nobel Explosives Company, who built a magazine, a road and […]
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HF: A little more information about the Lok On Pai “Desalting” (as Desalination was called in the 1970s) Plant, Hong Kong. Thanks to SCT for proof reading the retyped version of the original book extract. Another important decision in the history of water supply in Hong Kong was the introduction of desalting plants. In 1971 an experimental desalting plant, which […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Five) – Ngo Kee and Sung Foo Kee/Lidell Ngo Kee and Sung Foo Kee (now Sun Fook Kong) are two other leading construction firms which trace their roots back to pre-war Shanghai. Owned and managed respectively by the Loo and the Sung families for over half a century, the two firms were […]
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Maureen Fan left a comment below Carles Brasó Broggi’s article Shanghai Spinners: Pioneers of Hong Kong’s Industrialisation. This reads in part: Thank you for your informative article. My grandfather Robert Fan Wenzhao (1893-1979) was the architect who designed the HK Spinners factory at Cheung Sha Wan, including the workers dormitories, a dining hall, a recreation area, basketball and volleyball courts and […]
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York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in HK (Part Seven) – John Lok, Yao Kee, Paul Lee, TK Shen, Wide Project and Wai Kee In the first six articles in this series, all the Shanghainese builders profiled were firms that were established in pre-war Shanghai and moved to HK before or after 1949. This article will profile seven Shanghainese builders who were […]
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Edward Schneider, Carl Ingenohl’s great-grandson, has sent this 1911 advert which confirms the factory location was on a large site in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, bordered by Nathan Road, Dundas and Soy Streets (and also as Edward confirms elsewhere, Kwong Wa Street). The single page advert has been divided for this article into four sections. HF: I believe the term Flor […]
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York Lo: Ching Chun-kau (程振球) – Real Estate, Amusement Park and Resort Pioneer Ching Chun-kau (left, HKBCA) and his most famous project – Kai Tak Amusement Park (right) In the 1950s through 1970s, Ching Chun-kau was a prominent figure in HK business circles as he was involved in a variety of businesses ranging from construction, property development, an amusement park, […]
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York Lo: Wah Mei Electric – Leading Distributor of Electronics from the 1920s to 1960s and related firms Left: Wah Mei ad in 1927 (8th Far East Games brochure); Right: the old Wah Mei store in between Sunlight Hing Kee and Kin Ming Radio on Des Voeux Road Central Wah Mei Electric was one of the oldest and largest distributor […]
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York Lo: Famous HK Tailors (Part Four): the Shanghainese Tailors – Loa Hai Shing, H. Baromon, Ying Tai, Jimmy Chen, W.W. Chan, Ascot Chang and William Yu In the late 1940s and early 1950s, a large number of Shanghainese tailors relocated from Shanghai to HK and became a major force in the HK tailoring industry with their excellent craftsmanship […]
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Rope-Making Twine, halliards, cables – if what you need can be classified under the general heading of ‘rope’, it is almost certainly made in Hong Kong. One of the Colony’s earliest industries was ship-building from which a natural offshoot was rope-making. In 1883 Hong Kong’s first rope-making was opened with a capital of HK$150,000.[HF: this was The Hongkong Rope Manufacturing […]
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