Everything tagged: General

Tait & Co. were granted a lease of land in Amoy by the British in 1852.

Mr Tait was the Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish consul in Amoy that year and was notorious as the main exporter of coolies.

Tait & Co. was established in Anping, Tainan, Taiwan, in 1867 for the opium trade. 

So is this the Tait after which the cairn is named?  Did he spend time in Hong Kong?  Who thought it a good idea to honour a slave trader?  Information on this is so hard to come by.

Hi everyone!

We're looking into the Murray House at Stanley, and are attempting to find the truth behind the ghost stories, and we were wondering if anyone would be able to help us out with a few facts as we're fact checking articles on the basis of history; we'd be forever grateful! We've tried to research into the facts elsewhere but haven't been able to come across much, and are aware that there's a comment regarding the hauntings on the Murray House listing on Gwulo already, but it doesn't state much hard evidence.

​I am keenly interested in the WW2 Battle of Hong Kong in which Canadian Forces took the lead and suffered the highest rates of dead, wounded and Prisoners of War amongst the Allies posted in Hong Kong.

I have written this email [below] to the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department to ask them to erect a commemorative plaque at the site of the former North Point Prisoner of War Camp.

Would you please write a similar letter to the LCSD or others, to encourage them to do the same?

You may do so by email to:

I would like to know something about the early efforts to plant and cultivate the Peak.

When looking at old photos of HK, say from the 1860s-80s, the peak looks more like a lunar landscape than the hillsides we have today with dense, impenetrable vegetation (hence the customary description of HK by early visitors as 'a barren rock').

Can anybody direct me to any reading about the efforts to cultivate the Peak, and about the decision what sorts of vegetation should be introduced?

I did try to search here but did not find much. I apologise if I missed some discussion.

Do any of the readers know of the exact address of the Domei News Agency in Hong Kong...whether head office or editorial office in the pre-World War II period? The office closed on 1st December 1941 prior to the Japanese invasion...

Thanks!

I found these mentions in The Public Works Department's annual reports. (Click the year to see the report.) Comments added in [[ ]]

1922:

• 189. [[This is the entry for the "Kowloon Tong Development Scheme", and describes the resumption of land, and a contract given to excavate and fill land in the area.]]

1923: 

After several cycles with the designer we've got a layout I'm happy with. We've got two colour options, so I'm interested to hear your preference, and any other feedback on the layout - especially if you spot any mistakes! (The book size is 6 x 9 inches.)

The built-in search on Gwulo is very literal. eg if you search for pillbox, it only lists pages that contain the word with that exact spelling - no pages with pillboxes or pill box, etc. Sometimes that's good, but other times it's good to see pages that are probably of interest, even if the words aren't exact matches. Google is better at that type of search.

Now you have the option to quickly swap between the two options. Here's the results page for the standard Gwulo search for pillbox: