IDJ has sent this article about the HKSMEE’s first model engineering exhibition which took place in February 1986. The exhibition was formally opened, but in rather jolly way, by Mr Peter Quick, the then Managing Director of the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation, who drove a model locomotive through a banner and around the 300ft oval track. The article also says […]
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The Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography contains an article about Henry Robert Butters written by Norman J Miners. Permission to use the article here has been granted by HK University Press. Butters was born on 11th April 1898 in Glasgow, Scotland and died on 1st March 1985 in Stirling, Scotland. Neither David Bellis of gwulo.com nor Hugh Farmer of this site have […]
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York Lo: Richard C.K. Chan (陳卓堅): timber baron, shipping tycoon and stamp collector Left: Richard C.K. Chan (standing) delivering a speech to the press as head of the Timber Guild in 1962. To his left were Wong Shui-leung of Kwong Chan Timber, Kan Chi-nam of Wing Tai Cheung and Leung Kam-tong of Hip Shing Timber (WKYP, 1962-12-18); right: cover of […]
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York Lo: William S.T. Lee & Co (曉莊貿易) – the firm which brought Montblanc pens, Rodenstock glasses, Seiko watches, Ricoh cameras and Kenwood stereos to HK Left: William ST Lee (second from right) with winners of the Montblanc coloring competition his firm sponsored in 1965 (KSDN, 1965-5-3); Right: Montblanc ad by William S.T. Lee Co From the 1960s to the […]
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Mike T: “The West Point Industrial Reformatory was opened [in 1864], under Ignatius Ip Uen, James How, Aloy Leang and Asam Wan and taught 45 Chinese boys shoe-making, carpentry, tailoring and bookbinding. This institution may certainly be regarded as the first initiative in technical education in Hong Kong. It later received an annual grant of $1,000 from the Hong Kong […]
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IDJ has sent this paper on the construction of the “Big” Buddha, at the Po Lin Monastery, Lantau Island. It took 10 years to plan and build the bronze statue which was finally opened to the public at the end of 1993. The paper was written by Peter PK Ng, of P K Ng Associates (HK) Ltd, whose website is linked […]
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Russell & Company ( 旗昌洋行) was the largest and most important American trading house in Qing dynasty China from 1842 to its closing in 1891. Samuel Russell founded Russell & Company in Canton, China, in 1824. Dealing mostly in silks, teas and opium, Russell & Company prospered, and by 1842, it had become the largest American trading house in China. Russell withdrew from the company in 1836 and returned to […]
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HF: We recently posted the article, Q+A 45 Proposed fixed crossing to Lantau Island, late 1970s. In this I wrote: The Tsing Ma bridge and its neighbour the Kap Shui Mun bridge both opened in 1997 but I have not come across any proposed bridge to Lantau prior to the opening of the new airport. Any information regarding government or private […]
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According to Claire Grey’s excellent family history website, linked below, W R Loxley and Company (China) Ltd was established in Hong Kong in 1872 and… ‘…J. M. Beattie bought it possibly in 1900. Later two brothers: A. Beattie and M. P. Beattie joined the firm. The business was sold to J. A. Russell and D. O. Russell in 1919 and under the agreement A. Beattie […]
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HF: The SCMP of 26th July 2015 carried a report about the death of Ho Hung Yee who ran an umbrella stand on at the top end of Peel Street for decades. The article begins…”A fixture of the Central street scene dubbed the “Umbrella Man” for the decades he spent helping Hongkongers stay dry has died at the age of […]
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