York Lo: Stereo(天然)– Photofinishing Pioneer Poster of Stereo Ltd from the 1960s listing its 7 branches and highlighting its complete continuous processing system (Photo Credit: Teresa Robeson) Before the rise of digital photography in the 2000s, photofinishing was a big business in Hong Kong. The first photofinishing chain in HK was not Fotomax (which was founded in 1982) but the […]
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HF: G Falconer appear to have had a presence in Hong Kong since 1885, according to the company website, and currently have a shop in the Peninsula Hotel. This article provides initial information about the Falconer and two of the British companies it was the Hong Kong agent for. As the above says: G Falconer & Company (Hong Kong […]
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Seawise Giant, later Happy Giant, Jahre Viking, Knock Nevis, Oppama, and finally Mont, was a ULCC supertanker (ultra large crude carrier) that was the longest ship ever built. She possessed the greatest deadweight tonnage ever recorded. Fully loaded, her displacement was 657,019 tonnes (646,642 long tons; 724,239 short tons), the heaviest ship of any kind, and with a laden draft of 24.6 m (81 ft), she was incapable of navigating the English Channel, the Suez […]
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Dodwell & Co. (天祥洋行) or Dodwell’s, was one of the leading British merchant firms, or hongs, active in Hong Kong, China and Japan during the 19th and 20th century. It was a direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co., Dent & Co., and Russell & Co. Swire oulived the latter two and remains a major commercial power in Hong Kong, China and […]
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York Lo: Emcolon Fashion Wigs (愛其麗免恤髮品) Emcolon Wigs lucky draw at the 27th HK Products Expo in 1969-70. Nelson Lee (left) assisting Chuang Chung-wen of Chuang’s Cutlery and CMA (centre) who was the guest of honor. (HK Memory) One of the wig manufacturers that was not covered in an earlier article on the HK wig industry [see link below], is […]
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Hugh Farmer: “The boycott of American flour by the Chinese in 1905–6 gave a big fillip to the trade in Australian flour, and prominent amongst the firms to benefit by this were Messrs. Barretto & Co., whose business was established, in 1895, by Messrs. A. A. H. Botelho and F. D. Barretto. The headquarters are in Queen’s Buildings, and as merchants, […]
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HF: We recently posted the article, Q+A 45 Proposed fixed crossing to Lantau Island, late 1970s. In this I wrote: The Tsing Ma bridge and its neighbour the Kap Shui Mun bridge both opened in 1997 but I have not come across any proposed bridge to Lantau prior to the opening of the new airport. Any information regarding government or private […]
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Some brief notes on the Swire Waste Services Ltd. Swire BFI Waste Services Ltd was apparently formed in 1987 as a 50:50 joint venture with Browning Ferris Industries. I am assuming, until corrected that BFI refers to Browning- Ferris Industries a North American waste management company that was disbanded in 1999. In 1993 Swire BFI won a 50-year landfill management contract in […]
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HF: According to a 2013 Enviromental Protection Department report all three landfill sites in Hong Kong will be full by 2019. The creation of waste and its disposal have obviously been happening since people first settled in the area now known as Hong Kong though with a considerable increase in recent times. A huge subject then that I approach with […]
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HF: This is an initial attempt to analyse the impact of World War One on industry in Hong Kong. First some rather surprising evidence of pro-German feelings immediately prior to the outbreak of WW1. During research at the national archives in Berlin for his forthcoming book, The Germans and Hong Kong, 1843-1997, Bert Becker, associate professor of history at the […]
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