Category: General
History of Mapping Hong Kong Part 6 – 1901 The Tate Map
Tymon Mellor: Tucked away behind rows of red and white Victorian houses, at the end of the crosshatched street of Exhibition Road, lies The Royal Geographical Society. Whilst Lowther Lodge has been the home of the RGS since 1912, visitors are ushered into their new extension, the Foyle Reading Room. Galvanised steel frames and large glass walls strike a modern […]
» Read moreHo Hung Yee – umbrella maker and repairer for 70 years, Peel Street, Central
HF: The SCMP of 26th July 2015 carried a report about the death of Ho Hung Yee who ran an umbrella stand on at the top end of Peel Street for decades. The article begins…”A fixture of the Central street scene dubbed the “Umbrella Man” for the decades he spent helping Hongkongers stay dry has died at the age of […]
» Read moreSik Yuen Co Ltd (錫元膠廠) – Maker of Dunlop Rubber Shoes in HK
York Lo: Sik Yuen Co Ltd (錫元膠廠) – Maker of Dunlop Rubber Shoes in HK Left: Sik Yuen Co ad in 1962 promoting its Dunlop shoes (WahKiuYat Po 1962-6-5); Right: the two principals of Sik Yuen – S.N. Chau (centre) and D.Y. Pong (right) with Fung Hon-chu at a HK Cotton Merchants Association function in 1961. (WKYP, 1961-6-22) Earlier in […]
» Read moreDuddell Street Gas lamps – last working gas street lamps in Hong Kong
“The exact year in which the flight of grantite steps at the southern end of Duddell Street in Central was constructed is not known, but a series of maps of Hong Kong from the period indicate that they came into existence between 1875 and 1889. According to the records of the Hong Kong and China Gas Co., the four gas […]
» Read moreThe Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Ltd ., building residential quarters for over 1,000 coolies and foremen, 1939
HF: IDJ has sent the following newspaper report. I have been unable to find any photographs of the ”coolie settlement” scheme buildings and if anyone finds any would be grateful to be sent them. Thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped copy of the newspaper article below. Special To The ”Hongkong Daily Press” THE HONGKONG AND KOWLOON WHARF AND GODOWN […]
» Read moreHistory of Mapping Hong Kong Part 5 – Mapping Kowloon
Tymon Mellor: With Britain’s acquisition of Kowloon under the Peking Convention in 1860, new maps were required for the territory. The Public Works Department (PWD) did not have any surveyors experienced in map making, their previous experience being limited to the setting out of building lots. It would fall to the military, in the form of the Royal Engineers to […]
» Read moreShanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part One) – the Pre-War Pioneers (Yaik Sang, Sung Kee Zee and Dao Kee)
York Lo: Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part One) – the Pre-War Pioneers (Yaik Sang, Sung Kee Zee and Dao Kee) Having contributed to the building of pre-war Shanghai into the leading metropolis in the Far East, Shanghainese builders and construction firms played a critical role in the post war construction boom in Hong Kong as the city emerged as […]
» Read moreNight soil collection in Hong Kong – updated – four current locations, July 2016
Chris added the following information in a comment on 3rd May 2024. ”I asked the same question and received a reply from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (3rd May 2024). There is only one location that the FEHD is providing conservancy services (night soil collection): Temporary toilet at Po Chong Wan Temporary Area, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. It appears […]
» Read moreHong Kong Electric – pioneer of mechanised tunnelling in 1989
IDJ has sent this 1997 article published on behalf of the HK Academy of Engineering Sciences and HK Institution of Engineers. “In 1989 Hong Kong Electric pioneered the introduction of mechanised tunnelling to Hong Kong, accepting the only bid that proposed the use of a tunnel boring machine for the construction of a 5.7 kilometre, 5 metre diameter cable tunnel […]
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