New information in red regarding Hong Kong lighthouse ladies. IDJ: The script below comes from one of my aviation books related to the 1930s China Coast. It’s an interesting aside about the wives of lighthouse keepers:- “Chinese keepers of the lights had invariably been pirated so often for their large supplies of specially refined kerosene, the lighthouse service found it […]
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York Lo: Shantung Guild (山東庄): Yee Tai Hong, Shun Tai Hong and Lee Yuen Cheung The traditional Chinese trading firms in Sheung Wan are known as “Nam Pak Hong” or South-North trading associations and earlier on the website we covered some of the firms which deal with the “South” trade – trading with Southeast Asia such as Pak Wo Cheung […]
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York Lo: Siu On Realty (兆安地產) Left: Siu On Realty founder Lee Siu-lun; Right: Siu On Centre in Wanchai In late January 2020, low-key real estate developer Lee Siu-lun (李兆麟) passed away at the age of 98. While he was relatively low profile compared to his younger brother Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land, his Siu On Realty was one of […]
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York Lo: From Thompson Wong (堂煌廣告) to FCB (博達廣告) Formed as Thompson, Wong & Associates in 1971 by Peter Thompson and Jenny Wong, Thompson Wong was one of the four largest ad agencies in Hong Kong and has gone through a dozen English name changes (but only one Chinese name change) over the past half a century thanks to a […]
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York Lo: Marklin Advertising (美靈廣告) Left: Chinese New Year ad of Marklin Singapore in 1958(Singapore Free Press, 1958-2-16); Middle: BOAC “Visit Hong Kong” poster in 1960 designed by Marklin; Right: Marklin founder Derek Nurse (HK Album, 1967) From the 1950s to the 1970s, Marklin was one of the leading ad agencies in the Far East with branches in Hong Kong, […]
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York Lo: Hit Maker: Yam Wu-fa (任護花) and his Novels, Newspapers and Movies Yam Wu-fa (second from right) with his family in 1959 (WKYP, 1959-8-21) When it comes to a novelist whose works were adopted into movies who was also a newspaper publisher in the Chinese world, the first name that comes to most people’s mind is probably Louis Cha, […]
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IDJ has sent this account of seven Hong Kong lighthouses concentrating on details of their construction, cost, delivery, dates of opening and light visibility. They are: Pratas Shoal (proposal shelved) Waglan Island A site NE of Lamma Island (proposal shelved) Gap Rock Cape D’Aguilar (Hok Tsui) Green Island Cape Collinson Stephen Davies in his article, Lighthouses in HK pre-1941, linked […]
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York Lo: Lai Yung Shang (雷允上) – the Centuries Old Maker of Lu Sheng Pills (六神丸) Earlier on the website we have covered several Western pharmaceutical manufacturers from Shanghai such as Sine and New Asiatic whose proprietors continued their businesses in HK after the Communists came to power in 1949 while their operations in the mainland became state-owned enterprises that […]
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York Lo: N. Lazarus (明晶洋行)– Leading Opticians of the Far East Left: N. Lazarus store in Central; Right: ad for N. Lazarus in HK in 1900 (China Mail, 1900-4-10) Eyeglasses is a big business in Hong Kong and one of the first opticians in record in the city was N. Lazarus, started in the late 19th century by oculist-optician of […]
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York Lo: Bargain Electrical Co (平霸電業) and System One (新一系電器) Bargain Electrical Co and System One were two leading electronics retailers in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s respectively that have since faded into history. The former was best remembered for its low prices and catchy TV commercials while the latter was launched by the conglomerate First Pacific and […]
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