What were the industries before the Second World War? What did Hong Kong produce? How did the development of industries affect Hong Kong people’s life? Through this collection, you will learn some major developments of Hong Kong industries from the nicely arranged slideshow with historical photos. If you want to explore more and see how deep the rabbit hole goes, please click open this archive and read the scanned image of the original documents, including official papers and reports, industrial advertisements and photos.

The materials of this collection are of various types. Some are government records, including Administrative Reports, the Hansard (proceedings of the Legislative Council), Sessional Papers (papers presented at the Legislative Council), bills, ordinances, notifications and census returns. Non-government documents include publications of merchants’ associations, company papers, newspaper clippings, advertising materials, oral interviews, and radio, film and television programmes. The materials are drawn from many sources such as The “Hong Kong Government Reports Online” of the University of Hong Kong Libraries; publications of the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association; the Hong Kong Public Records Office; and commercial industrial publications.

The materials can be browsed by period, industry and topic. Selected materials are organized under special topical highlights:

·         Essays

·         Government Reports

·         Census Reports

·         Factory Surveys

·         Industrial Advertisements

A glossary is also offered that give users some sense of the topics discussed in this collection. A list of references is given to inform users of further readings that may help further studies of pre-war industry in Hong Kong.
 and open access to the materials are permitted for research, private study and other non-commercial purposes.