York Lo: Lun Sang & Co (聯星建築) and The Pressure Piling Co (HK) Ltd (香港壓力打樁) Left: Lun Sang & Co founder Henry Luk Hing-yao (the spelling in the Chinese and English caption are inaccurate, a mix-up with the Malaysian Chinese millionaire/philanthropist Loke Yew); Center: ad for for Lun Sang and its affiliate Pressure Piling; Right: Luk Ping-sheung, second generation leader […]
» Read more
York Lo: Luks Industrial (陸氏實業) – Maker of Etron TV Left: Luks founder Luk King-tin (Capital, 1990); Right: logo of Etron TV from a 1988 TV ad in HK listing Luks as its manufacturer and Yin Kin Ltd as its distributors and being available in the Sheung Wan, Yaumatei and Mongkok branch of Wing On (VCRBase) A history of television […]
» Read more
HF: Our article, A Brief History of Hong Kong Cinema to 1988 – Film Studios and Personalities states that in 1913, the American, Benjamin Brosky and Li Minwei co-founded HK’s first film studio, Huamei (Chinese-American). [Brosky appears to have been actually called Brodsky but has also been written about as Brasky and Polasky.] Here is a brief biography of Brodsky. […]
» Read more
York Lo: Far East Candle Works (遠東燭業) and Ki Yip Chemical Works (基業化工廠) Article about Far East Candle & Chemical Works’ booth at the 1964 HK Products Expo with a picture of its products in its booth (KSEN, 1964-12-28) Earlier in the group, we have covered Mark V, the HK-based affiliate of US retail chain Cost Plus Bazaar which was […]
» Read more
York Lo: Chow Yau (周有, 1912-1983) – Vertical Integrator of the HK Death Care Industry With over 45,000 deaths per year, the death care industry is a huge business in Hong Kong. While many Chinese articles have covered Siu Ming, the king of funeral homes who monopolized the business in the 1960s and early 1970s, little has been written about […]
» Read more
York Lo: Kun Wing Fook Medicine Co. (靳永福藥廠) and “Coconut Tree” brand carminative oil (椰樹牌驅風油) Left: Kun Wing Fook booth at the 1971-72 HK Products Expo (HK Memory); Right: article and picture of Kun Wing Fook booth at the 1959 HK Products Expo featuring a tree with coconuts imported from Singapore (TKP, 1959-12-6) Kun Wing Fook Medicine Co, best known […]
» Read more
York Lo: South China Tea Corporation (華南茶業) and “Cocktail Tea” (鷄尾茶) Left: Outdoor advertising for South China Tea’s “Cocktail” covering the building which housed the Mayfair Studio in Kowloon (likely 3 Saigon Street); Right: a South China Tea Corp’s “China Beauty” Chinese green tea tin (Worthpoint) While the family of Southeast Asian tycoon Eu Tong-sen might be best known in […]
» Read more
York Lo: Shui Hwa Watch (瑞華表行) Ad of Shui Hwa Watch in 1977 listing all the brands it was sole agent of (WKYP HK Yearbook, 1977) From the 1950s to the 1980s, Shui Hwa Watch was one of the leading watch dealers in Hong Kong, best known for being the sole agents for famous Swiss brands such as Piaget (伯爵表, […]
» Read more
York Lo: Chow Deuk Sang and Aurora Chow When it comes to prominent HK jewelers with the surname Chow, the first two that comes to most people’s mind are Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang, which also happens to be the top two chains by the number of stores. From the 1940s to the 1960s, there were two other […]
» Read more
York Lo: Fotoprint Service (浮圖攝影) Fotoprint on Stanley Street in 1959 on the right next to Mow Kie Ladies Tailor (ABC); Right: Fotoprint on D’Aguilar Street in 1965. (Gwulo) Fotoprint Service was a prominent distributor of photo supplies and provider of photofinishing service from the 1940s to the 1980s alongside several of the firms covered earlier such as Asia Photo […]
» Read more