Kwok Kwai King

Kwok Kwai King was born in Hung Hom.  She moved into To Kwa Wan in 1961 and lived on Wan Hing Street for a year.  Her eldest son and eldest daughter were born in 1962 and 1963.  After their births, Kwok moved to live at Tin Kwong Road.  In 1964, her younger son was born and since then she did home-based processing work for factories nearby.  To improve family income, she sent children to live with their grandmother, while she went to learn sewing pyjamas.  Shortly afterwards she worked for Poon Lee Garment Factory which was on Kowloon City Road.  She received guidance from the factory manager, Mr Hui, who came from Mainland China.  She paid a lot of efforts in learning.  The 1967 riots brought the most difficult time to her.  She got pregnant when she was at Poon Lee, but did not take rest until she had to prepare for labour.  In those days, the price for salted eggs rose from one dollar per piece to half a dollar per piece.  Poon Lee closed down two years later.  In the 1970s, Mr Hui opened Hung Min Garment Factory in a factory building near the Kowloon City Ferry Pier.  The plant initially occupied just one level. It soon expanded and moved into a new premise in an industrial building on Lok Shan Road, taking up the sixth to the tenth floor including the rooftop.  Jeans under the brand name of ‘Bang Bang’ were manufactured there.

After the birth of her second child in 1970, Kwok Kwai King stayed at home to do beading work.  When her younger daughter entered kindergarten in 1973, she returned to work for Mr Hui at Hung Min.  Work was harsh and she had to work overtime every evening to earn her income.  She also taught her two daughters how to sew. Hung Min was a partnership between Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming.  Yip later co-founded the Bang Bang Studio with Philip Chan Yan-Kin, which occupied the sixth floor of Hung Min.  Mr Hui proposed to end the partnership and left Hong Kong for the USA in around 1977 to 1978.  While the movie studio was in operation, Kwok Kwai King was still working at the garment factory.  A few years later, through a friend’s introduction, she moved to work for Mei See and undertook all overlock stitching procedures for the boss, Mr Chau.  Mei See was set up on Kowloon City Road (near the airport tunnel entrance) in the beginning, but moved to Lai Chi Kok two years later after a fire.  Kwok Kwai King started to work in Lai Chi Kok.  Ten years after Kwok started working at Mei See, the factory’s business declined.  She therefore moved on to work at Tung Pai Garment Factory at Tai Wo Hau, Tsuen Wan, where she again took charge of all the overlock stitching procedures.  Since the workplace was far from home, she found it hard for her to manage family and work.  She then took up another job at a silk fashion factory in Mong Kok, doing overlock stitching for two years until she retired.

Kwok Kwai King was born in 1945 and lived on Wuhu Street in Hung Hom during childhood.  She is her parents’ only child.  Since her father passed away early, she lived with her mother, who worked in the government as a cleaner.  She received primary education at the Workers’ Children School in Hung Hom, which was located near the entrance of the Cross Harbour Tunnel.  After graduating from primary school, to relieve her mother from the difficulty of keeping the family alone, she stopped her studies at the age of 13 and began to work for income.  Shortly afterwards, she went to evening classes offered by people with a Kuomingtang background (China Nationalist Party).  In 1958, she got her first job at an ironmonger store that produced lamp sockets.  The store was located at the end of Wuhu Street, near the Whampoa Dock.  It occupied a ground-level shop of more than 1,000 square feet.  The whole plant had a workforce of 30-40 workers, with an attic that allowed five to six people working inside.  Kwok was responsible for attaching copper wire on the sockets, earning a daily wage of about a dollar.  There were many 11 or 12-year-old young workers in the factory.  In those days, child labour was very common.  The sockets were made of plastic.  The plant also installed pressing machines with one operator working with it.

Kwok Kwai King worked at the ironmonger for about two years, and then went to a home-based workshop in Hung Hom learning sewing.  She paid 15 dollars of tuition fee every month. The master taught the students sewing back pockets on khaki trousers.  Sewing back pockets on men’s pants required delicate skills, such that the master taught the few who showed satisfactory performance in sewing.  Kwok learned diligently, and soon mastered the craft.  As she mastered the skill, she wanted to leave the home factory so that she did not have to pay the 15-dollar tuition fee anymore.  However, upon the master's request, she stayed behind and sow khaki trousers for another month.  She took up a sewing job at another garment factory but soon got married and became a full-time housewife.  After her marriage, she moved to Wan Hing Street, living with her husband and mother.  The period of water shortage in 1963 was a difficult time that they lived through.  In 1964, she moved to Hung Kwong Street (near Tin Kwong Road).  After the birth of her eldest son (in 1962), she stopped working outside home.  She had the first daughter not long later and when the third child came, the family was in financial difficulty (Editor's note: in 1964).  When her eldest son was admitted into kindergarten (which was on Ma Tau Wai Road), she worked outside home again to earn for his studies in kindergarten.

Poon Lee was located in a section of Ma Hang Chung Road near Kowloon City Road (next to present To Kwa Wan Sports Centre). Cheong Wah Factory Building was right behind.  Poon Lee was set up on the third floor of an eight to nine-storey factory building, with an area of about 1000 square feet.  The building had its own lifts and all apartments were occupied by factories.  Poon Lee mainly produced low-priced lady’s shirts made of silk blends for export to the Middle East.  Kwok Kwai King had seen foreign clients touring the factory workshop.  As a large manufacturer, Poon Lee took orders from overseas buyers without going through any agent. The company produced whole-piece garments and never outsourced any parts of the production.  It had departments responsible for cutting, ironing, overlock stitching, sewing, examining, and packaging.  There were 10 posts in the overlock stitching department and each worker needed to join shoulder seams, sleeves and front and back garment pieces altogether.  After completing these procedures, the products would be passed to the sewing department where collars, sleeves and bottom ends of the shirts.  There were 8 to 10 posts in the cutting department.  Despite the absence of a quality control department, there were one to two people tasked to examine the shirts.  The factory manager, Mr Hui was a smart person who always tried to find ways to simplify the sewing process.  After the closure of Poon Lee, he set up a garment factory as a joint venture near Kowloon City Ferry Pier.  Kwok Kwai King found the job at Poon Lee from an advertisement on the street.  The factory was hiring 10 overlock stitching workers and those who answered the advertisement were of similar age to Kwok’s (around 18 to 19 years old).  They did not know each other at first, but later they got along very well.  Overlock stitching was an emerging technique.  All ten of the new workers were novices, who learnt the technique from Mr Hui.  There was no basic salary during the learning period.  Oftentimes, they had to remake the shirts that were returned from the examination section.  Her fellow co-workers would all be tearful when that happened.  Kwok Kwai King learnt seriously and was thankful to Mr Hui for his attentive guidance. 

From 1964 to 1967, Kwok Kwai King assumed the duty as the provider for the family.  Her initial daily wage at Poon Lee was just over one dollar.  Later, her income rose to 110-120 dollars every two weeks.  The cost of living was lower in those days: rent was only a few dozen dollars.  Therefore, she could still afford the daily expenses.  She would split the payment she got from the first two weeks into two shares - one for food and the other for rent.  The second payment from another two weeks of a month would also be divided into two - one for food and the other for her son’s tuition.  In 1967, she left Poon Lee.  That year her fourth daughter was born and there was the 1967 riot.  These happenings made her life harder.  Her mother was no longer working in the government, but instead doing odd jobs at the Meyer Cookware Factory, which was at the junction of Kowloon City Road and Ma Hang Chung Road.  There was a vendor selling food inside the factory.  Her mother would buy lunch with a stainless steel rice box.  The vendor, knowing that she had several grandchildren, would give her more rice than usual.  Kwok Kwai King’s husband was an interior fitting master who had been unemployed after the 1967 riots.  He did not want to change industry or “downgrade” himself to be a labourer.  To feed the family, Kwok sewed doll clothes at home even during the first month after giving birth.  When the child was one month old, she returned to the workforce.

When Kwok Kwai King was working at Poon Lee, her work hours were from 8.30am to 6.00pm.  She often worked overtime until 8.00pm, but sometimes she was not able to make it due to family reasons and had to leave the factory at 7.00pm to go shopping groceries.  One time, one of the co-workers of her department had a marriage party, and she was invited to be a bridesmaid with other co-workers.  Mr Hui, the factory manager, only allowed them to leave at 5.00pm for the wedding banquet.  Still dressed in their cheongsam and coats, the female workers returned to the factory that night after the banquet and worked hard to catch up with the schedule until dawn.   When they finished, they covered themselves with their coats and went to sleep in the workshop.  Kwok Kwai King was one of the 10 overlock-stitching workers in the department.  Most of them did not work in the garment industry in the first place.  She and her nine female co-workers were intimate, and they often made mutual visits and travelled together on holidays.  Their affection and friendship has been well maintained.  They were of similar age, and several already got married and had children then.  They used to live near the factory. 

Poon Lee had 8-10 sewing stations, and all of its workers were young women.  The garment industry was emerging in those years.  New beginners did not get any pay.  The older female workers were mostly responsible for examining shirts.  Overlock stitching generated more pay than sewing, so Hwok Kwai King tried hard to learn this new skill in order to pay for her son’s tuition.  Mr Hui, who taught her the skills, did not charge tuition fee but he was strict with product quality.  Kwok Kwai King learnt a lot from him.  Poon Lee had three cutting workers – all of whom were male including a master and two handymen who were paid a monthly salary.  Mr Wong, the factory boss, rarely showed up in the factory and only occasionally brought guests to the factory plant.  Mr Hui came to Hong Kong through illegal means in 1962 from Mainland China.  Initially, life was harsh for him and he fed himself with pork mixed with salt.  He was a man in his 20s then.  After being promoted to factory manager, he frequently modified the sewing machines and other equipment to improve efficiency.

Kwok Kwai King stopped working after the birth of her fourth daughter until the daughter reached a month of age.  She stayed with Poon Lee until the factory shut down in 1969.  When the youngest daughter was born in 1970, she stayed at home to do beading work until the daughter entered kindergarten.  She then went to work at Hung Min established by Mr Hui next to the Kowloon City Ferry Pier.  Mr Hui contacted her through her ex-co-workers and invited her back.  He suggested to enrol her daughter into morning classes at kindergarten and also allowed Kwok to leave early to pick her daughter up from school.  Kwok’s youngest daughter went to morning classes at a kindergarten in Wearbest Building behind the Jockey Club off-course betting branch, starting at 9.00am each day.  Kwok had to leave the factory at 12.15pm to pick her daughter up after school and make lunch for her.   At 2.00pm, she would return to the factory.  Before she left, she would put this little girl to afternoon nap and ask the landlord to keep an eye on her until the other two sons came home from school at 3.30pm.  Her other two daughters went to afternoon classes.  Later, Mr Hui opened a new plant on Lok Shan Road and hired a factory manager to oversee the old branch.  As this new manager was not aware of the special allowance Mr Hui offered to Kwok Kwai King, he had complained to Mr Hui about her leaving the factory early.  After a year, the new plant on Lok Shan Road expanded further and the first plant near to ferry pier was closed.  Kwok and other workers were then arranged to work on Lok Shan Road.

Hung Min was founded by the former factory manager of Poon Lee, Mr Hui, on the ninth floor of an industrial building on San Ma Tau Street.  It was close to Kowloon City Ferry Pier and Wyler Gardens.  The plant was only half the size of Poon Lee, with old-fashioned hand-operated lifts.  On the second and third floor of the same building, there were some plastic factories.  Hung Min had departments that worked on cutting, checking shirts, sewing, buttons, packing, ironing and so on.  In the sewing room, there were four to five overlock-stitching stations and 8 to 10 sewing stations.  The packaging division was managed predominately by male workers, who had to share other manual jobs such as packing products into boxes.  They were managed by a foreman.  The ironing department, like their counterparts in the other factories, were staffed with only male workers.  Among the 10 co-workers at Poon Lee’s overlock-stitching department, two to three of them also joined Hung Min.  The husband of one of the female workers was a master of hydraulic and electrical projects who had helped Mr Hui to fix water and electric installations in  the factory.  That co-worker of Kwok, the wife of this electricity master, introduced Kwok to work for Hung Min, but she herself subsequently left the job because she had to help out in her husband’s workshop.  Hung Min produced fashion jeans and was a forerunner in the industry.  It later established its own brand ‘Bang Bang’ and hired its own designers.  Kwok had to adapt to this new job because the skills for overedging jeans and for women’s silk blouse were different.  The material used for jeans was thicker and it had to be sewed with a double-needle stitching machine known as ‘Big Buffalo’.

In later days, Hung Min was scaled up.  Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming opened a branch on Lok Shan Road at an industrial building.  It was a building wholly occupied by factories.  On the lower levels were plastics factories, sweater factories and garment factories.  Hung Min initially occupied the sixth and seventh floors, and later expanded further onto the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.   The sixth floor was the office; the seventh floor was the packaging department; the eighth floor was the sewing workshop; the ninth floor was mainly used for cutting with the machine department on the corner; the tenth floor was a warehouse for storing fabric; and the rooftop was a canteen.  Factory workers were divided into six groups, each with 20 people to process different orders for different types of garments.  The ninth floor contained a cutting area where workers work day and night on two shifts.  In the machine department, there was just one mechanic with four to five apprentices.  Kwok Kwai King and other overlock-stitching workers worked on the eighth floor.  It would be miserable if the needle of the overedging machines was broken.  The machine department would send someone to fix the needle, but it would take them the whole day to fix the problem because they were not as skillful as their master.  Under this circumstance, the female workers had to stop working and would not have any income for that day.  Therefore, they would put extra attention to the machine when doing stitching.

Hung Min was founded by the former factory manager of Poon Lee, Mr Hui, on the ninth floor of an industrial building on San Ma Tau Street.  It was close to Kowloon City Ferry Pier and Wyler Gardens.  The plant was only half the size of Poon Lee, with old-fashioned hand-operated lifts.  On the second and third floor of the same building, there were some plastic factories.  Hung Min had departments that worked on cutting, checking shirts, sewing, buttons, packing, ironing and so on.  In the sewing room, there were four to five overlock-stitching stations and 8 to 10 sewing stations.  The packaging division was managed predominately by male workers, who had to share other manual jobs such as packing products into boxes.  They were managed by a foreman.  The ironing department, like their counterparts in the other factories, were staffed with only male workers.  Among the 10 co-workers at Poon Lee’s overlock-stitching department, two to three of them also joined Hung Min.  The husband of one of the female workers was a master of hydraulic and electrical projects who had helped Mr Hui to fix water and electric installations in  the factory.  That co-worker of Kwok, the wife of this electricity master, introduced Kwok to work for Hung Min, but she herself subsequently left the job because she had to help out in her husband’s workshop.  Hung Min produced fashion jeans and was a forerunner in the industry.  It later established its own brand ‘Bang Bang’ and hired its own designers.  Kwok had to adapt to this new job because the skills for overedging jeans and for women’s silk blouse were different.  The material used for jeans was thicker and it had to be sewed with a double-needle stitching machine known as ‘Big Buffalo’.

In later days, Hung Min was scaled up.  Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming opened a branch on Lok Shan Road at an industrial building.  It was a building wholly occupied by factories.  On the lower levels were plastics factories, sweater factories and garment factories.  Hung Min initially occupied the sixth and seventh floors, and later expanded further onto the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.   The sixth floor was the office; the seventh floor was the packaging department; the eighth floor was the sewing workshop; the ninth floor was mainly used for cutting with the machine department on the corner; the tenth floor was a warehouse for storing fabric; and the rooftop was a canteen.  Factory workers were divided into six groups, each with 20 people to process different orders for different types of garments.  The ninth floor contained a cutting area where workers work day and night on two shifts.  In the machine department, there was just one mechanic with four to five apprentices.  Kwok Kwai King and other overlock-stitching workers worked on the eighth floor.  It would be miserable if the needle of the overedging machines was broken.  The machine department would send someone to fix the needle, but it would take them the whole day to fix the problem because they were not as skillful as their master.  Under this circumstance, the female workers had to stop working and would not have any income for that day.  Therefore, they would put extra attention to the machine when doing stitching.

Hung Min was founded by the former factory manager of Poon Lee, Mr Hui, on the ninth floor of an industrial building on San Ma Tau Street.  It was close to Kowloon City Ferry Pier and Wyler Gardens.  The plant was only half the size of Poon Lee, with old-fashioned hand-operated lifts.  On the second and third floor of the same building, there were some plastic factories.  Hung Min had departments that worked on cutting, checking shirts, sewing, buttons, packing, ironing and so on.  In the sewing room, there were four to five overlock-stitching stations and 8 to 10 sewing stations.  The packaging division was managed predominately by male workers, who had to share other manual jobs such as packing products into boxes.  They were managed by a foreman.  The ironing department, like their counterparts in the other factories, were staffed with only male workers.  Among the 10 co-workers at Poon Lee’s overlock-stitching department, two to three of them also joined Hung Min.  The husband of one of the female workers was a master of hydraulic and electrical projects who had helped Mr Hui to fix water and electric installations in  the factory.  That co-worker of Kwok, the wife of this electricity master, introduced Kwok to work for Hung Min, but she herself subsequently left the job because she had to help out in her husband’s workshop.  Hung Min produced fashion jeans and was a forerunner in the industry.  It later established its own brand ‘Bang Bang’ and hired its own designers.  Kwok had to adapt to this new job because the skills for overedging jeans and for women’s silk blouse were different.  The material used for jeans was thicker and it had to be sewed with a double-needle stitching machine known as ‘Big Buffalo’.

In later days, Hung Min was scaled up.  Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming opened a branch on Lok Shan Road at an industrial building.  It was a building wholly occupied by factories.  On the lower levels were plastics factories, sweater factories and garment factories.  Hung Min initially occupied the sixth and seventh floors, and later expanded further onto the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.   The sixth floor was the office; the seventh floor was the packaging department; the eighth floor was the sewing workshop; the ninth floor was mainly used for cutting with the machine department on the corner; the tenth floor was a warehouse for storing fabric; and the rooftop was a canteen.  Factory workers were divided into six groups, each with 20 people to process different orders for different types of garments.  The ninth floor contained a cutting area where workers work day and night on two shifts.  In the machine department, there was just one mechanic with four to five apprentices.  Kwok Kwai King and other overlock-stitching workers worked on the eighth floor.  It would be miserable if the needle of the overedging machines was broken.  The machine department would send someone to fix the needle, but it would take them the whole day to fix the problem because they were not as skillful as their master.  Under this circumstance, the female workers had to stop working and would not have any income for that day.  Therefore, they would put extra attention to the machine when doing stitching.

Hung Min was founded by the former factory manager of Poon Lee, Mr Hui, on the ninth floor of an industrial building on San Ma Tau Street.  It was close to Kowloon City Ferry Pier and Wyler Gardens.  The plant was only half the size of Poon Lee, with old-fashioned hand-operated lifts.  On the second and third floor of the same building, there were some plastic factories.  Hung Min had departments that worked on cutting, checking shirts, sewing, buttons, packing, ironing and so on.  In the sewing room, there were four to five overlock-stitching stations and 8 to 10 sewing stations.  The packaging division was managed predominately by male workers, who had to share other manual jobs such as packing products into boxes.  They were managed by a foreman.  The ironing department, like their counterparts in the other factories, were staffed with only male workers.  Among the 10 co-workers at Poon Lee’s overlock-stitching department, two to three of them also joined Hung Min.  The husband of one of the female workers was a master of hydraulic and electrical projects who had helped Mr Hui to fix water and electric installations in  the factory.  That co-worker of Kwok, the wife of this electricity master, introduced Kwok to work for Hung Min, but she herself subsequently left the job because she had to help out in her husband’s workshop.  Hung Min produced fashion jeans and was a forerunner in the industry.  It later established its own brand ‘Bang Bang’ and hired its own designers.  Kwok had to adapt to this new job because the skills for overedging jeans and for women’s silk blouse were different.  The material used for jeans was thicker and it had to be sewed with a double-needle stitching machine known as ‘Big Buffalo’.

In later days, Hung Min was scaled up.  Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming opened a branch on Lok Shan Road at an industrial building.  It was a building wholly occupied by factories.  On the lower levels were plastics factories, sweater factories and garment factories.  Hung Min initially occupied the sixth and seventh floors, and later expanded further onto the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.   The sixth floor was the office; the seventh floor was the packaging department; the eighth floor was the sewing workshop; the ninth floor was mainly used for cutting with the machine department on the corner; the tenth floor was a warehouse for storing fabric; and the rooftop was a canteen.  Factory workers were divided into six groups, each with 20 people to process different orders for different types of garments.  The ninth floor contained a cutting area where workers work day and night on two shifts.  In the machine department, there was just one mechanic with four to five apprentices.  Kwok Kwai King and other overlock-stitching workers worked on the eighth floor.  It would be miserable if the needle of the overedging machines was broken.  The machine department would send someone to fix the needle, but it would take them the whole day to fix the problem because they were not as skillful as their master.  Under this circumstance, the female workers had to stop working and would not have any income for that day.  Therefore, they would put extra attention to the machine when doing stitching.

Hung Min was founded by the former factory manager of Poon Lee, Mr Hui, on the ninth floor of an industrial building on San Ma Tau Street.  It was close to Kowloon City Ferry Pier and Wyler Gardens.  The plant was only half the size of Poon Lee, with old-fashioned hand-operated lifts.  On the second and third floor of the same building, there were some plastic factories.  Hung Min had departments that worked on cutting, checking shirts, sewing, buttons, packing, ironing and so on.  In the sewing room, there were four to five overlock-stitching stations and 8 to 10 sewing stations.  The packaging division was managed predominately by male workers, who had to share other manual jobs such as packing products into boxes.  They were managed by a foreman.  The ironing department, like their counterparts in the other factories, were staffed with only male workers.  Among the 10 co-workers at Poon Lee’s overlock-stitching department, two to three of them also joined Hung Min.  The husband of one of the female workers was a master of hydraulic and electrical projects who had helped Mr Hui to fix water and electric installations in  the factory.  That co-worker of Kwok, the wife of this electricity master, introduced Kwok to work for Hung Min, but she herself subsequently left the job because she had to help out in her husband’s workshop.  Hung Min produced fashion jeans and was a forerunner in the industry.  It later established its own brand ‘Bang Bang’ and hired its own designers.  Kwok had to adapt to this new job because the skills for overedging jeans and for women’s silk blouse were different.  The material used for jeans was thicker and it had to be sewed with a double-needle stitching machine known as ‘Big Buffalo’.

In later days, Hung Min was scaled up.  Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming opened a branch on Lok Shan Road at an industrial building.  It was a building wholly occupied by factories.  On the lower levels were plastics factories, sweater factories and garment factories.  Hung Min initially occupied the sixth and seventh floors, and later expanded further onto the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.   The sixth floor was the office; the seventh floor was the packaging department; the eighth floor was the sewing workshop; the ninth floor was mainly used for cutting with the machine department on the corner; the tenth floor was a warehouse for storing fabric; and the rooftop was a canteen.  Factory workers were divided into six groups, each with 20 people to process different orders for different types of garments.  The ninth floor contained a cutting area where workers work day and night on two shifts.  In the machine department, there was just one mechanic with four to five apprentices.  Kwok Kwai King and other overlock-stitching workers worked on the eighth floor.  It would be miserable if the needle of the overedging machines was broken.  The machine department would send someone to fix the needle, but it would take them the whole day to fix the problem because they were not as skillful as their master.  Under this circumstance, the female workers had to stop working and would not have any income for that day.  Therefore, they would put extra attention to the machine when doing stitching.

Hung Min was founded by the former factory manager of Poon Lee, Mr Hui, on the ninth floor of an industrial building on San Ma Tau Street.  It was close to Kowloon City Ferry Pier and Wyler Gardens.  The plant was only half the size of Poon Lee, with old-fashioned hand-operated lifts.  On the second and third floor of the same building, there were some plastic factories.  Hung Min had departments that worked on cutting, checking shirts, sewing, buttons, packing, ironing and so on.  In the sewing room, there were four to five overlock-stitching stations and 8 to 10 sewing stations.  The packaging division was managed predominately by male workers, who had to share other manual jobs such as packing products into boxes.  They were managed by a foreman.  The ironing department, like their counterparts in the other factories, were staffed with only male workers.  Among the 10 co-workers at Poon Lee’s overlock-stitching department, two to three of them also joined Hung Min.  The husband of one of the female workers was a master of hydraulic and electrical projects who had helped Mr Hui to fix water and electric installations in  the factory.  That co-worker of Kwok, the wife of this electricity master, introduced Kwok to work for Hung Min, but she herself subsequently left the job because she had to help out in her husband’s workshop.  Hung Min produced fashion jeans and was a forerunner in the industry.  It later established its own brand ‘Bang Bang’ and hired its own designers.  Kwok had to adapt to this new job because the skills for overedging jeans and for women’s silk blouse were different.  The material used for jeans was thicker and it had to be sewed with a double-needle stitching machine known as ‘Big Buffalo’.

In later days, Hung Min was scaled up.  Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming opened a branch on Lok Shan Road at an industrial building.  It was a building wholly occupied by factories.  On the lower levels were plastics factories, sweater factories and garment factories.  Hung Min initially occupied the sixth and seventh floors, and later expanded further onto the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.   The sixth floor was the office; the seventh floor was the packaging department; the eighth floor was the sewing workshop; the ninth floor was mainly used for cutting with the machine department on the corner; the tenth floor was a warehouse for storing fabric; and the rooftop was a canteen.  Factory workers were divided into six groups, each with 20 people to process different orders for different types of garments.  The ninth floor contained a cutting area where workers work day and night on two shifts.  In the machine department, there was just one mechanic with four to five apprentices.  Kwok Kwai King and other overlock-stitching workers worked on the eighth floor.  It would be miserable if the needle of the overedging machines was broken.  The machine department would send someone to fix the needle, but it would take them the whole day to fix the problem because they were not as skillful as their master.  Under this circumstance, the female workers had to stop working and would not have any income for that day.  Therefore, they would put extra attention to the machine when doing stitching.

Hung Min was founded by the former factory manager of Poon Lee, Mr Hui, on the ninth floor of an industrial building on San Ma Tau Street.  It was close to Kowloon City Ferry Pier and Wyler Gardens.  The plant was only half the size of Poon Lee, with old-fashioned hand-operated lifts.  On the second and third floor of the same building, there were some plastic factories.  Hung Min had departments that worked on cutting, checking shirts, sewing, buttons, packing, ironing and so on.  In the sewing room, there were four to five overlock-stitching stations and 8 to 10 sewing stations.  The packaging division was managed predominately by male workers, who had to share other manual jobs such as packing products into boxes.  They were managed by a foreman.  The ironing department, like their counterparts in the other factories, were staffed with only male workers.  Among the 10 co-workers at Poon Lee’s overlock-stitching department, two to three of them also joined Hung Min.  The husband of one of the female workers was a master of hydraulic and electrical projects who had helped Mr Hui to fix water and electric installations in  the factory.  That co-worker of Kwok, the wife of this electricity master, introduced Kwok to work for Hung Min, but she herself subsequently left the job because she had to help out in her husband’s workshop.  Hung Min produced fashion jeans and was a forerunner in the industry.  It later established its own brand ‘Bang Bang’ and hired its own designers.  Kwok had to adapt to this new job because the skills for overedging jeans and for women’s silk blouse were different.  The material used for jeans was thicker and it had to be sewed with a double-needle stitching machine known as ‘Big Buffalo’.

In later days, Hung Min was scaled up.  Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming opened a branch on Lok Shan Road at an industrial building.  It was a building wholly occupied by factories.  On the lower levels were plastics factories, sweater factories and garment factories.  Hung Min initially occupied the sixth and seventh floors, and later expanded further onto the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.   The sixth floor was the office; the seventh floor was the packaging department; the eighth floor was the sewing workshop; the ninth floor was mainly used for cutting with the machine department on the corner; the tenth floor was a warehouse for storing fabric; and the rooftop was a canteen.  Factory workers were divided into six groups, each with 20 people to process different orders for different types of garments.  The ninth floor contained a cutting area where workers work day and night on two shifts.  In the machine department, there was just one mechanic with four to five apprentices.  Kwok Kwai King and other overlock-stitching workers worked on the eighth floor.  It would be miserable if the needle of the overedging machines was broken.  The machine department would send someone to fix the needle, but it would take them the whole day to fix the problem because they were not as skillful as their master.  Under this circumstance, the female workers had to stop working and would not have any income for that day.  Therefore, they would put extra attention to the machine when doing stitching.

Hung Min was founded by the former factory manager of Poon Lee, Mr Hui, on the ninth floor of an industrial building on San Ma Tau Street.  It was close to Kowloon City Ferry Pier and Wyler Gardens.  The plant was only half the size of Poon Lee, with old-fashioned hand-operated lifts.  On the second and third floor of the same building, there were some plastic factories.  Hung Min had departments that worked on cutting, checking shirts, sewing, buttons, packing, ironing and so on.  In the sewing room, there were four to five overlock-stitching stations and 8 to 10 sewing stations.  The packaging division was managed predominately by male workers, who had to share other manual jobs such as packing products into boxes.  They were managed by a foreman.  The ironing department, like their counterparts in the other factories, were staffed with only male workers.  Among the 10 co-workers at Poon Lee’s overlock-stitching department, two to three of them also joined Hung Min.  The husband of one of the female workers was a master of hydraulic and electrical projects who had helped Mr Hui to fix water and electric installations in  the factory.  That co-worker of Kwok, the wife of this electricity master, introduced Kwok to work for Hung Min, but she herself subsequently left the job because she had to help out in her husband’s workshop.  Hung Min produced fashion jeans and was a forerunner in the industry.  It later established its own brand ‘Bang Bang’ and hired its own designers.  Kwok had to adapt to this new job because the skills for overedging jeans and for women’s silk blouse were different.  The material used for jeans was thicker and it had to be sewed with a double-needle stitching machine known as ‘Big Buffalo’.

In later days, Hung Min was scaled up.  Mr Hui and Yip Chi Ming opened a branch on Lok Shan Road at an industrial building.  It was a building wholly occupied by factories.  On the lower levels were plastics factories, sweater factories and garment factories.  Hung Min initially occupied the sixth and seventh floors, and later expanded further onto the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.   The sixth floor was the office; the seventh floor was the packaging department; the eighth floor was the sewing workshop; the ninth floor was mainly used for cutting with the machine department on the corner; the tenth floor was a warehouse for storing fabric; and the rooftop was a canteen.  Factory workers were divided into six groups, each with 20 people to process different orders for different types of garments.  The ninth floor contained a cutting area where workers work day and night on two shifts.  In the machine department, there was just one mechanic with four to five apprentices.  Kwok Kwai King and other overlock-stitching workers worked on the eighth floor.  It would be miserable if the needle of the overedging machines was broken.  The machine department would send someone to fix the needle, but it would take them the whole day to fix the problem because they were not as skillful as their master.  Under this circumstance, the female workers had to stop working and would not have any income for that day.  Therefore, they would put extra attention to the machine when doing stitching.