Lai Kit Fong

Biography

Lai Kit Fong was born in Guangzhou in 1928. Her family came from Hetang, Xinhui. Her father had worked as the chief Chinese comprador for East Asiatic Company, trading fabrics in his hometown. In 1938, when Guangzhou was defeated by the Japanese invaders, Lai fled to her hometown Hetang, where she was enrolled in a private home school to study until junior secondary level. Lai married Lee Sai Yik in 1949 and moved to Hong Kong a year later. In 1950, they started to run a factory making plastic products. By 1952, they established on Jervois Street their Chun Fat Plastic Products Factory. In the 1950s, Chun Fat grew in size and moved several time, first to To Kwa Wan, Sai Wan and then to Kennedy Town. In 1967, they restructured and renamed Chun Fat into Silver Mfy. Holdings Co. Ltd, which primarily manufactured cosmetic toys. In the 1970s, they returned to their hometown of Hetang and later set up a processing factory there in 1981. Gradually, they moved the Hong Kong production line up north and developed their OEM business overseas. In 1988, their children took over the family business and Lai began to retire from factory management.