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In the Bulletin
From the Chairman
Messages
CH Tung
Donald Tsang
Chau Tak Hay
Jing Shuping
Jiang Enzhu
Yu Xiaosong
Robin Chan
Chan Wing Kee
Henry Tang
Peter Woo
Christopher Cheng
Lily Chiang
Anthony Nightingale
James Tien
Eden Woon
Cover Story
HKGCC: Helping Business Since
1861
The Chamber: The Beginnings
Challenges in Our Third Century
Special Feature
Chamber Chairmen & Directors
Chamber Members
Founding Members: Then
& Now
Chamber's Oldest
Members
1861-1899
1900-1909
1910-1919
1920-1929
1930-1939
1940-1949
1950-1961
April 2001 -- 140th Anniversary Special Edition
Year joined, 1936 Arnhold Holdings LimitedArnhold was established in 1866 when pioneering European traders Jacob Arnhold and Peter Karberg set up a small trading company on Shameen Island, Canton. The following year they opened an office in Hong Kong and in 1881 established their headquarters in Shanghai, heralding the beginning of a strong business presence in Hong Kong and throughout China.
Year joined, 1936 Chotirmall, K A J & Company (HK) Limited Chotirmall's remarkable success story begins with five Sindhi brothers in India. One went to work in Singapore who persuaded another brother to try his luck in business in Jakarta in 1875. It failed.Three of the brothers then tried their luck in Singapore. They succeeded and spread back to Indonesia. The company quickly grew from strength to strength. The partners opened branches in Saigon (1887), Hong Kong (1888), Bangkok (1892), Yokohama (1893), Shanghai (1894), Tsingtao (1895) and Port Arthur (1894). The branches in China succumbed to first the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and then the First World War from 1914-18. But today, Chotirmall is in New York, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, London and other capitals on the four continents of the world. The remarkable expansion worldwide of Chotirmall from the Far East with its origins in Indonesia dates from the time of India's partition in 1947. By 1964 Chotirmall also began to diversify. It went into the film business and now distributes in many parts of the world where there are Indian communities. It has also gone into the hotel business and into manufacturing. Besides being still heavily involved in the importing and exporting, Chotirmall, for instance, produces plastic syringes in a surgical equipment plant in France.
Year joined, 1936 Watanmal Boolchand & Company LimitedThe company is primarily involved in the trading of textiles, in addition to cereals, oils, sugar, coffee, tea, cocoa & spices, and non-electrical household articles.
Year joined, 1938 Li & Fung (Trading) LimitedLi & Fung was founded in Canton in 1906 as a traditional Chinese family company involved in export trading. During the 1950s and 1960s, Li & Fung grew rapidly on a wave of industrialization in Hong Kong. In the 1970s, the management of the company was transferred to the third generation of the Fung family, Dr Victor Fung and William Fung, who remain at its helm today. Today the Li & Fung Group is a multinational group of companies comprising of three distinct core businesses Ð export trading, retailing and distribution. Export trading is conducted by Li & Fung (Trading) Limited. It is today one of the premier global consumer products trading companies managing the supply chain for high-volume, time-sensitive consumer goods. Garments make up a large part of our business and we also source fashion accessories, toys and games, sporting goods, home furnishings, handicrafts, shoes, travel goods and tableware. As a supply chain manager across many producers and countries, the company provides the convenience of a one-stop shop for customers through a Total Value-Added Package: from product development, through raw material sourcing, production planning and management, quality assurance and export documentation to shipping consolidation. Li & Fung (Trading) Limited is today headquartered in Hong Kong from where it co-ordinates the manufacture of goods through an extensive network of offices in more than 35 countries. The company today employs over 5,000 people worldwide with an annual turnover of over US$2 billion.
Year joined, 1938 Wang Kee (1973) Limited Wang Kee (1973) Limited was established in 1905 under the name Wang Kee & Company Limited. Its operations covered a diversified range of activities, from property development to stevedore, transportation and warehouse services.The company once owned a 24-storey grade-A office building in a prime location in Central, as well as several godowns. In the years before containeris-ation, it had been appointed by the best-known shipping lines in Hong Kong to be solely responsible for their stevedoring operations, both in the harbour and alongside the wharves, until the full establishment of container terminals in Kwai Chung in the 1970s. In view of the economic transformation from harbour to terminal in the transportation sector in the early 1970s, Wang Kee & Co Ltd was reorganised and Wang Kee (1973) Ltd was incorporated to concentrate on warehouse and transportation services, while Wang Kee & Co Ltd focused on property development and equity management. The latter company is currently involved in residential and office developments in Beijing and residential developments in the New Territories.
Year joined, 1939 Deacon & Company Limited Established in 1856 by Albert Deacon in Canton, the company was engaged in the tea trade through to the early 1930s, adding banking, shipping and insurance agencies to its business and representing amongst others for a time in Canton, HSBC, P&O and Union Insurance. In 1938, as Canton was being besieged by the Japanese, an export office was opened in Hong Kong which prospered until Hong Kong, too, fell in December 1941.Re-opening its doors in 1945, they were only to shut again in 1955 in Canton (leaving the company with possibly the dubious distinction of being one of the last foreign corporations to depart or be thrown out), but here in Hong Kong the company was well positioned for the start of Hong Kong's Òindustrial revolutionÓ with garment exports forming the backbone of its business. The imposition of quotas in the '60s, initially by Britain as a temporary measure and subsequently by the rest of the West, led the company to broaden its exports into what was then loosely defined as hardgoods and engage in imports, primarily building products. The company has always been in private hands starting with the Deacon family to the 1890s, control passing to E T Bond to 1907, E A Stanton to 1923, H Staples-Smith to 1939, E H (Harold) Smyth to 1950, followed by Ronnie Ross (G R Ross, CBE, JP). The company now operates out of its own premises in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon. Garment exports continue to be a large part of its business but these are now primarily sourced from China with major markets being in Europe. Other exports include electronic & electrical goods, and pre-school toys where the company is extremely specialised.
Year joined, 1939 Friesland Foods LimitedFriesland Foods Ltd's main line of business is in trading, especially in dairy produce, eggs, honey & other edible food products.
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