Law King Hei

Biography

Law King Hei was born in 1949 in his hometown of Foshan. Both of his parents came to Hong Kong to work in the light bulb industry before WWII. In 1950, his father worked at Chiu Kwong Light Bulb Factory, which was founded by his fellow townsman. The factory was located in an old factory building on Sheung Heung Road, To Kwa Wan. In the 1960s, his father became a shareholder of the factory. Chiu Kwong produced small light bulbs for local torch and battery factories. It also took seasonal orders producing Christmas lights for the US market. In the early 1960s, Law King Hei and his siblings reunited with their parents in Hong Kong, and the family lived together in a building on To Kwa Wan Road. Their residence was equipped into a light bulb workshop, where the children helped with packaging, doing tests and dyeing after school. Law was educated at St. John's College and Ying Wa College, before entering the University of Hong Kong. After graduating from HKU, he took up administrative work in government departments and universities. In 1967, the family moved to Kwun Tong, and since then the home-based workshop gradually shrank in size. Taking advantage of the economic reform in Mainland China, Chiu Kwong outsourced its main production processes to light bulb factories in Dongguan. The factory eventually closed in the early 1990s.