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 […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
HF: G Falconer appear to have had a presence in Hong Kong since 1885, according to the company website, and currently have a shop in the Peninsula Hotel. This article provides initial information about the Falconer and two British companies it was the Hong Kong agent for. As the above says: G Falconer & Company (Hong Kong Limited, Watchmakers, […]
» Read more
York Lo: Cost Plus Bazaar (美廉市場) and Mark V (美發) Left: Chinese advertisement for Cost Plus Bazaar at the Ocean Terminal in 1964 featuring some of the Japanese furniture. The store opened daily from 10 to 10 (WKYP, 1964-7-19) American retailers, big and small, have been the key driving force of industrial development in HK and China for the past […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more
HF: The first mention of a bakery in a Hong Kong newspaper I can find is that of Dorabjee Nowrojee’s in Queen’s road next to P&O Steam Ship Company’s office. The advert, published in 1864, is dated 1860 so it’s rather odd that it suggests a newly opened business. James Chan: The Wanchi Steam Bakery Company and The Colonial Bread […]
» Read more
HSBC Main Building (香港滙豐總行大廈) is a headquarters building of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which is today a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based HSBC Holdings. It is located on the southern side of Statue Square near the location of the old City Hall, Hong Kong. The previous HSBC building was built in 1935 and pulled down to make way for the current building. The current building is the […]
» Read more
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 […]
» Read more