“Long before the age of cash boxes and the Octopus card, Hong Kong’s buses and trams had conductors who would collect fares. China Motor Bus (CMB) vehicles also had a gateman to supervise passengers boarding and leaving the bus. But by the mid-1970s, both CMB and Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) were running one-man buses, with a cash box next to […]
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York Lo: King of Entertainment: Wong Kow (黃球) and his Mayflower (五月花) group of restaurants and nightclubs Left: Wong Kow; Right: Matchbox for the Mayflower Restaurant group in the 1960s which list the phone numbers for all four of its restaurants and Oriental Ballroom. Wong Kow (1921-2017) was a major figure in the HK restaurant and entertainment industry in the […]
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Elizabeth Ride has sent BAAG Report KWIZ #77, dated 15th December 1944, and noted earlier: After KWIZ #4, the Naval section is not included in the AWM papers, and does not appear again until KWIZ #66, and then in a slightly different format. The image shown on the Home Page and below is of the Japanese oil transport ship Sanko […]
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Elizabeth L Johnson wrote an article about “Patterned Bands” in the New Territories which was published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Volume 16, 1976. [HF: I have been unable to copy the Chinese characters which appear in the article.] The article begins: These notes on a form of peasant textiles are based on research conducted in Kwan […]
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York Lo: Dickson and Hopson: the Tales of Two Handbag Companies Dickson and Hopson are two players in the handbag business in Central with similar sounding names and over half a century of history but catering to two different segments – the earlier focused on the higher end clientele while the latter caters to the mass market with its own […]
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York Lo: Lee Hung-tong (李漢忠): Thai Chinese Trader, HK Industrialist and Singer Trade between HK and Thailand had existed since the beginning of the colony and in fact the first trading firm in Nam Pak Hong was Yuen Fat Hong which was engaged in the Siam trade and firms that specialized in trading with Thailand are known as “Siam guilds” […]
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IDJ has sent several adverts for Far East Motors. York Lo: Far East Motors was founded in 1934 when Far East Aviation was awarded the exclusive dealership of Chevrolet (Chevy) in HK and South China by American auto giant General Motors. Its first location was at 26 Nathan Road in Kowloon next to the Peninsula Hotel with 15000 sq ft […]
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York Lo: Filmo Depot (菲林模影機) Left: Filmo Depot’s ad for Filmo 8 in 1939 (China Journal, December 1939); Center: article announcing the re-opening of Filmo Depot after the War in 1947 (HK Sunday Herald, 1947-9-21) Right: Filmo Depot’s ad for its Corrascope films in 1960 (Pacific Island Monthly, May 1960) From the 1930s to the 1970s, Filmo Depot was one […]
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York Lo: Wo Kee Cheung (和記祥) and Wo Fung Cheung (和豐祥) Left: Ad for Wo Kee Cheung in 1964 (WKYP, 1964-1-3); right: Thank you ad by Wo Fung Cheung to guests attending the opening of its Tai Po Road branch in 1964 (WKYP, 1964-4-5) In the early 1960s, Canton Trust & Commercial Bank (廣東信託商業銀行) was one of the most aggressive […]
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York Lo: The Tsang Family of Sui Heong Yuen (瑞香園) Founded by Tsang Yuet-chee (曾月池, also known as T.Y. Chee) in the early 20th century, Sui Heong Yuen is one of the oldest Chinese business groups in HK with interests in trading, godowns, logistics, financial services and property development. At the 100th anniversary celebration of the HK General Chamber of […]
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