2 Where were HK’s Rickshaws made?

Newsletter 4

2. Kevin Hall writes to ask where the rickshaws used in Hong Kong were made. Can anyone help?

Newsletter 5

James Chan responds. Rickshaws were first imported into Hong Kong from Japan in 1874. There is no evidence that they were manufactured anywhere else. However, while there is considerable information about their use in Hong Kong, and worldwide, there is little about where they were made outside Japan.

Can anyone provide clarification about whether all Hong Kong rickshaws were indeed made in Japan?

Newsletter 6

Fung Chi Ming has responded. He says “James Chan is correct in saying that rickshaws were first imported into Hong Kong from Japan in 1874. But as time went by they were locally produced. There were a number of shops where they were made, located in many parts of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. One of these shops was located in Ki Ling Lane near to Des Voeux Road West in Western District.

When I made a visit to Ki Ling Lane one afternoon in the early 1990s, I saw that the rickshaw shop (a pre-WW2 shophouse, I think) was surrounded by hoarding and about to be demolished. I took a photo of it. It was eventually demolished and replaced by a modern high-rise. Quite sad that a piece of heritage has been lost.”

[FCM is the author of the book Reluctant Heroes: Rickshaw Pullers Hong Kong and Canton 1874-1954 Hong Kong University Press, 2005. The above information about the manufacture of rickshaws in Hong Kong is not mentioned in the book.]

Newsletter 7

In the first of two articles on Rickshaws in Hong Kong  contributor Fung Chi Ming writes about Rickshaw Makers’ Stores

Newsletter 8

In his second article, The Hong Kong Rickshaw over Time Fung Chi Ming describes the design and regulation of rickshaws in Hong Hong from their introduction until the last licenses were issued in the 1960s