Chan Kin Keung

Title	History of China Dyeing Works. Factory Condition in Tsuen Wan. Expansion of business as far as West Africa. Plant relocation to Yeun Long to cope with environmental protection policy. Co-operation with a French company.
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	19m48s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memroy Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	AY-CKK-SEG-001

China Dyeing Works was mainly in dyeing of garment fabrics, such as woven fabrics, while Fountain Set (Holdings) Ltd was in dyeing of knitted fabrics, since the machines used and the dyeing process were different. While China Dyeing Works did mostly woven garment fabrics, there were other companies which took care of bed linen, curtain and utility fabrics. China Dyeing Works dealt mostly with linen and cotton (i.e. natural fiber) and was not so much involved in synthetic fiber such as nylon or polyester.

China Dyeing Works' other dyeing business. Between 1976 and 1977, China Dyeing Works acquired a factory belonged to French-owned Subliprint Far East Ltd. The factory was located at Tuen Mun. It specialized in transfer printing. Transfer printing was to print the pattern on paper, and then transfer it to polyester fabrics. Nowadays that factory had shifted to the production of stretch silk, i.e. elastic spandex used in garment fabrics.

China Dyeing Works' sources of fabrics. From 1970s to 1980s, cost of production in Hong Kong increased which drove New Territories Textiles Ltd to close its local business and production was moved to mainland China and Africa. China Dyeing Works had to import fabrics from different sources, such as greige fabrics from Pakistan, Indonesia and mainland China.

Pre-dyeing treatment. When greige fabrics arrived at a dyeing factory, they had to go through the processes of singeing and desizing. Singeing removed the trimmings from the greige fabrics so the surface would become bright and smooth. To avoid the breaking of yarn during weaving, factory would apply size on the yarn before processing. Desizing was necsseary before dyeing. Otherwise the dye would not be applied evenly. Desizing added COD loading of a dyeing factory's sewage discharge, with the indicators ranged from 1,000 ppm to 30,000 ppm. The next step was scouring. Grease and impurities were removed from the fiber. This was followed by bleaching, which was to remove the natural coloring agent with oxidant. This would turn the greige fabrics to white color. What's followed was mercerizing which meant the fabrics have to be treated with sodium hydroxide.It gave the fabrics a lustrous appearance and strengthened their stability. Also, by doing so, fabric would be more absorbing to paint. These were all pre-dyeing processes. Then the fabrics could be dyed or printed.

Dyeing and printing involved a lot of dyeing auxiliaries. Different paints were selected for different fabric according to the fabrics' type, color, and fastness. Fastness referred to the degree of a fabric's bleaching. There were numerous tests for fastness of a finished fabric. Characteristics such as strength, color fastness, slip yarn, rebound, shrinkage, formaldehyde content and functional test would be tested.A full test would cost $2000 to $3000.

There were different types of dyeing. Cold dye was better for darker colors. It had a better energy –efficiency and infiltration. Continuous dyeing had a higher efficiency and the fabrics would appear more beautiful with even color on the surface. Different processes had to work with different paints. For printing, different ways of printing, such as direct printing, discharge printing and resist printing, could create different effects.

Post-dyeing processes. After dyeing, the fabrics needed to go through fixing. Fixing involved steaming, thermal treatment and multiple washing. All dyed fabrics needed to be washed to remove the loose dye so the dye would not come off when the cloth was washed at home. After washing the fabrics needed to go through finishing. This would alter the feel of the fabric, i.e. so called “hand feel” which could produce effects included peach skin, moleskin, micro sand, carbon brush and ceramic brush, etc. Different machines were used to create these feels in a fabric. There are other functional finishings including anti-wrinkle, waterproof, oil proof, anti bacteria, anti UV, wicking, air permeability, and adding favoring agents (such as collagen or ginseng taste), etc. These were all post dyeing processes. Shrinkage was part of the finishing process. Nowadays every garment has a mandatory 3% of shrinkage. Other finishing processes include calendering and electrifying which brought a glossy texture to the fabric. Fabric became elastic, either warp-wise stretch or weft stretch, after elastane was added. A normal piece of clothing could go through 50 times of washing. Given the processing technology of China Dyeing Works, a fabric was still wrinkle-free and iron-free after it had withstood 50 times of washing. This was the result of continuous research and development. However, R&D cost had to be kept in control and environmental issues have to be considered. For instance, organic cotton and fibers that could be recycled would require certificate of proof.

In view of heightened energy costs, China Dyeing Works had to change its production strategy. The company retained its factory in Hong Kong but downsized its manpower from 500 to 120. Production remained the same but increased in outsourcing. After receiving its orders from the clients, weaving and dyeing factories in the mainland would handle the production. China Dyeing Works would co-operate with weaving and dyeing factories in the mainland which would handle the production. China Dyeing Works would be responsible for quality control and delivery schedule. The company's production in Hong Kong had decreased. Hong Kong is now a base of training, research and development , and quality control. It had taken a more trading role in its business.

Cost comparison between mainland China and Southeast Asian countries. Mainland China could not compete with India in terms of cost. According to some magazines' reports, cost of production in India was only 60% of that of mainland China, while in Vietnam the figure was 25%. China Dyeing Works had to rely on its competitiveness in terms of service, such as delivery on schedule and quality control, to maintain good relationships with its clients.

Title	Printing & Dyeing business, production procedure, technology level and development of China Dyeing Work
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	18m48s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memroy Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	AY-CKK-SEG-002

Chan Kin Keung's qualifications. Chan King Keung was born in Hong Kong. He studied chemical engineering in Taiwan. He also picked up some dyeing knowledge as dyeing and printing were among subjects he had studied. At that time Hong Kong Polytechnics had already had a textile department. But nowadays the syllabus put more emphasis on merchandising instead of the technical craft. Vocational Training Council and Clothing Industry Training Authority also provided textile courses for the training of elementary workers in quality control. Most of them would want to work in mainland China after graduation.

Technical background of dyeing factory workers in the earlier days. At that time not many university graduates were willing to work in a dyeing factory. Those with a secondary school education could start work at China Dyeing Works as apprentices.They were provided with living quarters and possibility of promotion.Those apprentices were now supervisors who were major workforce of production department. Undergraduates from Hong Kong Polytechnics studying textile and merchandising would work at China Dyeing Works.Although they would become supervisors in various departments, they would not stay on for too long. Most of them would seek other opportunities such as testing and merchandising jobs.Working in a dyeing factory was not an attractive prospect for them because it was very hot in a dyeing factory. Long working hours was also required. China Dyeing Works was like the Shaolin Temple of the industry. People who come here to earn a good foundation and afterward it would be easier for them to look for other jobs outside.

When Chan Kin Keung joined China Dyeing Works, his seniors were from Hong Kong Polytechnics and universities in Taiwan. There were no graduates from The University of Hong Kong. When he started working there, both the plant manager and canteen supervisor were from Shanghai. In the earlier days most of the supervisors of the plant were from Shanghai. It took them no time to be assimilated to the Hong Kong society.

Since time had changed, local dyeing industry has shaken off the influence from older generation of Shanghainese. It was not difficult to find information on dyes as there was a saying that the six major dyes manufacturers would come to the dock to look for business. Larger dyes manufacturers such as ICI, Hoechst, Ciba, Bayer, BASF and Sandoz would introduce paints to their customers with samples as well as provide technical support. Since getting hold of paints was easy, so the industry grew fast. When one company could grasp a special usage of a certain paint, this would become a selling point and the company could monopolize the market.

Application of Chemical knowledge in the dyeing business. Chan Kin Keung has been applying his chemical knowledge into dyeing work. He knew that different paints need to be mixed with different chemical ingredients before they can be used. He believed that there was not that much knowledge of chemistry that can be applied to dyeing. But knowing some bio-chemistry would definitely help. He said dyeing knowledge can be picked up from books, and then apply it at work. Through trial and errors one can improve his/her skill.

Chan did not choose to study at the Hong Kong Polytechnics because at that time the Polytechnic was a vocational institute, not a university. He chose to study in Taiwan and applied Cheng Kung University because it has a good engineering faculty.

China Dyeing Works' research and development. When Chan Kin Keung joined the business, China Dyeing Works had no research and development department. When the company established its factory in Tsuen Wan, there was a lab where research would be done. For instance, printing quality was examined. If results were satisfactory, the fabric sample would be taken to the production line.Chan said he did not know very well of the research being done at the company when he first joined it, but he was sure that the plant manager and supervisors constantly had new ideas.He recalled that in 1972 when he joined the company, there were a few employees who had degrees in chemistry, including graduates from colleges inTaiwan and Hong Kong Baptist College.

The reason why Chan Kin Keung decided to join China Dyeing Works. When Chan joined China Dyeing Works, the company was already running at a substantial scale. It had developed a trainee programme, and Chan wanted to put his textbook knowledge into practice. So he wrote a letter to the company looking for a job, and after an interview he was accepted. He took great interest of his work all along. In 1979 to the end of 1986, he was sent to West Africa to work amongst the management team to oversee production. From 1987 to 1992, he left the company and migrated to Australia. During that time he was working at a printing factory there. In 1992, China Dyeing Works was planning to move to a new factory, and asked Chan to rejoin the company.

For Hong Kong students who would like to study in Taiwan, they should sit a joint examination for admission to tertiary institutions. Chan was graduated from Pui Ying Secondary School (at Babington Road). His grades at school were good and he was nominated to National Cheng Kung University(NCKU) in Taiwan.He was accepted without taking the joint examination. During the first year he was awarded a scholarship. NCKU was located in Tainan where the living cost was very low.

Chan Kin Keung's career development at China Dyeing Works. When Chan first joined China Dyeing Works, he was placed at the printing department. He was responsible for the preparation of printing paste. After three months, he was promoted to supervisor of the printing department, responsible for printing technique and production. At that time the factory was running with two 8-hour shifts. Living quarters were provided to the workers. In 1975, Chan was promoted to assistant manager of the printing department. And in early 1979, he was sent to work in Nigeria, West Africa. At that time, the company had 10 factories in Nigeria. Chan was responsible for the management of UNTL plant's printing department which focused on wax printing production. In 1986, he migrated to Australia. In 1992, Chan came back to Hong Kong. He then worked as assistant plant manager at the company's factory in Tsuen Wan. He was responsible for production which covered technical issues, prioritizing orders and machine repairs, etc. Later on he also took up sales mission, including visits to clients, price negotiation, getting orders and arranging production schedule, etc. In 2006 he was promoted to Assistant General Manager. The Managing Director was at the Central office. The company established close relationship with its clients. An agent and sales representatives were employed in London and New York respectively.

When Chan joined the company in 1972, the owner, Cha Chi Ming was working at the Central office in the Swire Building. At that time, the office was in Central while the factory was in Tsuen Wan. Cha was an entrepreneur and he regarded himself as a textile industrialist. He was very keen in finding new technologies. He established two foundations in the mainland. Qiu Shi Science & Technologies Foundation concentrated on technologies. Sang Ma Trust emphasized on the advancement of textile technology and it had a great impact on China's textile industry.

Title	Background of chemical engineering. His career in China Dyeing Works. Qualification and career prospect of engineers in dyeing and printing industry.
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	25m23s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memroy Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	AY-CKK-SEG-003

China Dyeing Works' vertical set up. Cha Textiles is now under the leadership of Cha Chi Ming's daughter Cha May Lung. The group is still heavily invested in the vertical set up of its textile production. The group recently bought 60,000 mu of land (Editor’s Note: One Mu is equal to 1/15 hectare or 1/6 acre). It all started with cotton plantation. The group established ginning factories to smash cotton fruits and extracted raw cotton. Subsequently it was spun into coarse and fine yarns.

The yarns were then woven into fabrics before they were dyed according to clients' requirements. Finally dyed fabric was passed on to garment factories. This was what we understand as a vertical set up. In the 1970s, China Dyeing Works already had vertical set up in place. It grew cotton in West Africa. It had five dyeing factories in Nigeria and Ghana. It had four spinners in Nigeria and a few others in smaller West African countries. At that time, people from Hong Kong who were sent to work in West Africa could bring their family with them. Cha Textiles developed wax printing, originally a handicraft, into a mechanical mass production. Its wax printed fabrics supplied to the West African market, and had a market share of over 80% initially. As more companies entered the market and set up wax printing factories in West Africa and mainland China, Cha Textiles decided to shrink its investment in West Africa due to fierce competition. Smuggling was very rampant in West Africa. Workers associations were also very active there. The demand of higher wages raised production cost. The prices of smuggled fabrics were even cheaper than those made locally. These factors had a heavy negative mpact to the profit of the company. Until recent years government of West African countries grant loans to attract foreign investment. The group is considering investing in West Africa again. In view of the smuggling problem, the group is planning to target higher end products to avoid counterfeit.

Title	Vertical Set up of China Dyeing Works. Development of West African Business. Chan Dyeing Works’ source of fabric
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	17m50s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memroy Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	AY-CKK-SEG-004

Promotion and enterprising method in recent years. For each season, such as spring in March to April or autumn in September to October, buyers would come to Hong Kong with advanced notice to their suppliers to arrange meetings. China Dyeing Works would prepare the fabric samples and new technologies to the buyers. Buyers would judge on the hand-feeling and impression on the samples to pick the right kind of fabrics. Sometimes buyers could add a few dozens of fabrics and then ask the supplier to provide samples and quotations.

The sales team of China Dyeing Works would obtain market trends and situation before meeting. For instance, if a buyer makes pants, then the sales representative would prepare thick fabrics. Or if the company was in the production of infant clothing, then lighter fabrics would be prepared. After a buyer decided on the coloring for samples, then it's followed by price negotiation and then orders would be made the next season. Buyers of China Dyeing Works were mostly renowned brands and they had a stable business relationship. When a buyer asked for a sample, the testing sample that comes up would usually pass the buyer's requirements. Buyers usually worked with several suppliers, and never put a few eggs in the same basket. Every year China Dyeing Works would send sales representatives to the US and pay visits to the final buyers and pitch the company's prints and fabrics to the buyers. These final buyers would place orders to the garment factories. They also specified certain suppliers of parts and accessories for the finished product. For instance, the buyer would request that the fabrics should come from China Dyeing Works. Then the garment factory would purchase the fabrics from China Dyeing Works accordingly. The garment factory would take care of the process during the production, such as quality control and wastage, etc. The buyer would receive the qualified final product according to schedule.

Commissioning was quite common in the 1970s. Buying offices (Fabric agents) would act as representatives for their clients, i.e. brand companies. They would handle various production processes on behalf of their clients. They helped their clients to find the right provider or company for fabrics, dyeing process and garment production, etc. These buying offices would be responsible from raw material sourcing to final production. China Dyeing Works had a rather simple business model. Upon receiving orders for a certain fabrics, it would proceed with the dyeing according to the requirements. The advantage of this approach was that the buying office would take care of production details with its clients' requirements. However the buying office would take commission. There were still buying offices acting as representatives for certain overseas brands and they would place the orders to factories in China. China Dyeing Works had various suppliers of greige fabrics, and thus could have a better control on pricing. The company does not need to work with buying offices and so can get a higher profit.

Partnership between China Dyeing Works and DMC (Dollfus Mieg & Cie) from France. China Dyeing Works helped to source fabrics for DMC. DMC had high standard on the fabrics' quality. The company would send representatives to monitor every detail including the color of the greige fabrics and quality of the finished fabrics. During that time, rayon was very popular. But when rayon was soaked with water, its ability to absorb paint would be lower which made it more difficult for the dyeing process. Not every dyeing factory could handle rayon easily. China Dyeing Works imported rayon greige fabrics from Taiwan and South Korea for further processing. The company also worked for Marks & Spencer and GAP for rayon fabrics processing. Rayon fabrics had a better drape which was more suitable for making women's dress. There was once a Subliprint factory in Tuen Mun. The factory was in transfer printing but now has shifted to production of chemicals.

Title	Changes of promotion and enterprising strategies of China Dyeing Works from 1970s to 2000s
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	13m46s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memroy Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	AY-CKK-SEG-005

The high cost of sewage treatment was only one of the reasons why dyeing factories had to shut down.In terms of environmental protection and social responsibility, though sewage treatment would add on the cost of production, China Dyeing Works was still engaged in better treatment of the sewage the company discharge. The cost of power was getting higher and higher. Before 2000, the company's production volume was high so sewage discharge was also high. The company believed it was still cost effective to treat its own sewage. However when production volume decreased, maintaining its own sewage treatment became less cost effective.

China Dyeing Works had two options. According to the license agreement, if the sewage discharged was qualified to a certain standard, then the licensee can discharge a certain volume of sewage. For instance, if the COD of the discharged sewage was below a certain level, then the licensee would not be required to pay the sewage surcharge fee. But if the COD was above that certain level, then sewage surcharge would be imposed. China Dyeing Works had chosen to pay the sewage surcharge fee, as the company believed that it was more cost effective than running its own sewage treatment facility. Not far from Yuen Long Industrial Estate near the sea, there was the government-run Wang Chau Sewage Treatment Plant. It was a rather large facility. Since industrial production at the Industrial Estate has decreased, volume of discharged sewage also declined. The sewage treatment plant would sometimes work less than its optimum level during a week. The plant would be quite content to handle the sewage from China Dyeing Works. Since the treated sewage would be discharged to the sea through Hau Hoi Wan so decolorization involved would not be so vigorous. If the sewage was discharged to a river, then higher level of decolorization would be needed.

Factory owners were supportive to environmental protection. But during the 1993 to 1994, most of the dyeing factories were not prepared to fulfill the environmental protection policy. In the 1950s and 1960s, factories provided employment to the locals so factory owners were praised as entrepreneurs.
However, they were seen as polluter around 1993 to 1994. In order not to violate the law, many dyeing factories had to be closed or relocated away from Hong Kong.

A retrospect of the development of Hong Kong's dyeing industry in the post-war period. Before 1972, and before Chan Kin Keung joined the business, he said he only knew that Shanghai industrialists came to Hong Kong because of the political change in China. Their arrival contributed to the development of local textile industry as they founded spinners, weavers and knitters as well as dyeing factories. The factories were mostly located at Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsung and Kwun Tong, etc. Between 1974 and 1975 dyeing industry was in a slump but it rebound quickly. During the early 1980s, dyeing industry was in its boom but not many people in the business paid much attention to environmental protection. There was ample supply of workers but the requirement on quality of the products was not that high. At that time, manpower was important for the business but luckily there were a lot of immigrants from China and they provided a cheap labour force. At the end of 1980s, the government started to implement sewage discharge policy. At the beginning dyeing factories tried hard to cope with. Until 1990s when the policy was in full fledged, a lot of dyeing factories either had to close or move to the mainland. Those that moved to China could not survive for long. There were only very few dyeing factories left within the pearl delta area.

After 1994, there were only a few smaller factories left in Hong Kong. At about the same time China Dyeing Works moved to Yuen Long Industrial Estate. It was one of the very few factories left in Hong Kong. Until 2002, the company was doing alright with its business. In recent years, oil prices continued to surge, pricing competitiveness continued to weaken and competition from surrounding countries posed imminent threat to local textile industry. Even garment factories could not survive in this weather. A lot of garment factories moved to countries with lower production cost, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Hong Kong Polytechnics also stopped its training courses of textile. China Dyeing Works understood that it had to change its business approach in order to survive.For instance, it commissioned some production to other factories so as to decrease the production level of its Hong Kong factory and thus cut cost. The government did not support manufacturing industry. It did not provide any assistance to the factories to better handle sewage treatment. Fuel prices were not coping with the changing circumstances. Together with the policy of high land prices, these contributed to the decline of dyeing industry. During 2001 to 2002, China Dyeing Works went against the Department of Environmental Protection in court because the company was convinced that the Department had procedural problem with taking samples of sewage. Eventually the court ruled in favour of China Dyeing Works.

Title	Policies on sewage treatment and decline of dyeing industry. Review on the post-war development of dyeing industry in Hong Kong
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	13m49s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memroy Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	AY-CKK-SEG-006

There were more male workers in dyeing factories. Working conditions were not that good at older dyeing factories. Steam was employed at the production line so the whole workshop would be very hot and slippery. Male workers were needed as manual labour. Working conditions at China Dyeing Works was better. Ventilation was good so the workshop was not very hot. The number of male workers also always outnumbered female workers at China Dyeing Works. In the earlier days, all the secretaries at every production line were female. Now female employees are responsible for the lab, doing work on testing and analysis. Nowadays the numbers of male and female employees were mostly even. At the peak of the company's business in 2004, there were about 480 workers. The factory was operating in two shifts, each 12 hours.When the factory was moved to Tsuen Wan, it was operating in three shifts, each eight hours. And since the factory has moved to Yuen Long Industrial Estate, the older workers were reluctant to go so far to work. There was a lack of younger workers joining the company so there had been a shortage of manpower. The factory is now running with two shifts, each nine hours with three hours as overtime. Chan Kin Keung said when the factory was running with eight-hour shifts workers were more motivated. Now that it is 12-hour shifts workers are tired because of the long working hours. However, overtime will be paid 1.5 times of normal wages. Without the overtime work, workers would receive lower wages and this would be more difficult to keep the workers in the business.

After the factory was moved to Yuen Long Industrial Estate, the company started to provide shuttle buses for the workers. At first there were five to six buses and picked up workers as far as Kwai Tsung, as well as Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai. When the factory was in Tsuen Wan, only trainees and some workers would be provided with living quarters. The quarters were located on the factory's rooftop, with about 10 rooms. Since they all faced the chimney of the factory so living conditions were poor. Salaries were calculated as either daily or monthly basis. Salaries for those with fewer experience or jobs such as gardener or janitor would be calculated daily. Nowadays most of the employees were with monthly salary. In the earlier days salaries were also calculated according to rank, which were workers, technicians, supervisors and managers. There was also bonus and how it was paid was also determined according to the rank. For instance the lowest rank would be normal workers, and then there were workers with a quarter of bonus, which meant they received a quarter of what was paid to normal employee as bonus. And then there were workers with a half of bonus, i.e. they received half of what was paid to employee as bonus. And then there were normal employees. When the spinning and fabric factories were in good business, a normal employee could receive up to seven or eight months' salary as bonus and a quarter of the production line workers would receive two months' salary as bonus.

Title	Labour and working conditions of China Dyeing Works
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	8m14s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Oral History Archives
Repository	Hong Kong Memroy Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	AY-CKK-SEG-007