The Hong Kong Dispensary was founded in Hong Kong in 1841. Alexander Skirving Watson, a British pharmacist, joined the company as Manager in 1858, and by 1862 the name A.S. Watson began to feature prominently with the Hong Kong Dispensary and eventually became the official name of the pharmacy and was then incorporated in the A.S.Watson Group. The Hong Kong […]
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York Lo: Lee Ka Yuen Emporium (李家園百貨) Founded in 1904 and operated until the 1990s, Lee Ka Yuen Emporium was one of the oldest department stores in Hong Kong which was a landmark on Shanghai Street in Kowloon for decades. Little info is available about the first five decades of Lee Ka Yuen aside from the fact that it started […]
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HF: Chak Wai Leung was born in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, in 1942. In 1959 he became a civil servant in the Hong Kong Government where he worked for over thirty three years. “Chak Wai Leung was born in a scholarly family. He was well versed in photography and darkroom operations even as a teenager. While persuing the art of photography, […]
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Paul Mark Onslow kindly sent me a manuscript of The Hongkong Land Company’s 90th Anniversary 1889-1979 which I intend to post on the website shortly. The manuscript contains a section entitled Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd, Part of Asia’s History featured in this article. HF: I have retyped the article to increase legibility and aid searches on the site. Please […]
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The following article, The Pottery Kilns at Wun Yiu, Tai Po, by J.W. Hayes, was first published in the 1975 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. HF: I have retyped the article to aid clarity and website searches. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped version. Notes and Queries The Pottery Kilns at Wun Yiu, Tai Po […]
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IDJ has sent the following newspaper article about a proposed fertilizer factory in 1949 near Gin Drinkers’ Bay, also known as Lap Sap Wan in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong. The bay was reclaimed in the 1960s and became Kwai Fong and part of Kwai Hing. HF: I have retyped the article to assist clarity and to aid searches. Thanks to […]
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Travis Ling: The Philippines watchmaker Levy Hermanos had a HK branch in Queen’s Road, Central at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries. Armand Levy was the manager of the Hong Kong branch, and E. Levy, J. Weill and Albert Weill were watchmakers. Armand Levy resided at 61 Wyndham Street and Albert Weill at Stillingflete, 4 […]
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York Lo: The Three Kings of Biscuits – M.Y. San, M.P. San and Pacific In the history of the biscuit and confectionery industry in Hong Kong, M.Y. San, M.P. San and Pacific Biscuit & Confectionery were three prominent firms which shared a common root – they were all started by members of a Filipino Chinese family hailed from Zhongshan (formerly […]
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James Hayes has kindly given permission for several of his articles published by the Royal Asiatic Society (HK Branch) to be posted on our website. Here he writes about Charcoal Burning in Hong Kong which was included by the RASHKB in its Journal Volume 11, 1971. James mentions several locations where charcoal was produced, namely:- Kwun Tong Lamma Island Tong […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the early days of the Colony, convicted criminals were subjected to a harsh regime of beatings and manual labour. In particular, convict teams were used to construct the new roads required for the expanding economy. The first Chief Magistrate for the territory, Captain William Caine, an army officer familiar with military discipline, was appointed on the 30 […]
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