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Law King Hei
Law King Hei
Descendant of Chiu Kwong Light Bulb Factory's founder
Sex: Male Birthyear: 1949 Age at Interview: 64 Education: University Occupation: Administrative Staff in univetsity Theme: Industry,Community,Social Life During the Cultural Revolution, many rural residents fled to Hong Kong illegally from the Mainland and took refuge in Law’s in To Kwa Wan. Most of the migrants were married men who left their wives and children in their hometown. Since they lacked professional skills, they mainly worked in restaurants and light bulb factories. The factory on Sheung Heung Road had provided shelter for many rural townsmen, giving them food and accommodation in the factory. After settling down, the migrants would move to live in rented bed spaces in the nearby old buildings in To Kwa Wan.
Title The family factory became a place of refuge for their fellow townsmen Date 18/02/2013 Subject Social Life Duration 2m4s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. TKW-LKH-HLT-001 Law King Hei’s family came from Dajiangxiang, Chancheng District, Foshan. In his grandfather's time, one of his kinsmen came to Hong Kong setting up the Kum Shan Battery Factory, which produced light bulbs. Many other kinsmen arrived afterwards to work at the factory. Some of them later started up their own light bulb factories or become contractors of light bulb parts. Kum Shan was a nurturing ground where the kinsmen learnt the production skills. Law King Hei guessed that the two distant uncles who opened Chiu Kwong had also worked at Kum Shan before WWII.
Title The origin of the Law family’s participation in the light bulb industry Date 25/02/2013 Subject Industry| Social Life Duration 1m29s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. TKW-LKH-HLT-002 Chiu Kwong made good profits from producing Christmas lights. Initially the factory offered simple models of Christmas lights: light bulbs on tying together with copper wires. Later, the products became more sophisticated adding bird cages, tree branches, tree trunks and other plastic decorative items onto the “tree”. The kind of lights Law King Hei remembered most was light bulbs hanging on the tip of each branch of the Christmas trees. Chiu Kwong bought in plastic flowers, cages and other parts from local plastics factories. The assembling process took place in Law King Hei's home where Law King Hei and other working girls threaded the plastic flowers onto the wires.
Title Christmas lights for export made the highest profit Date 18/02/2013 Subject Industry Duration 2m40s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. TKW-LKH-HLT-003 The apartment of Law King Hei's family was also a light bulb workshop. Many people and workers came in and out of it. In the summer, there were five or six female child workers. One or two of them only worked in the summer, while the other three or four were stable hands. The girls started to work at 8am. Most of them brought their own lunch boxes and had their meal inside the workshop to save money. At approximately 5 or 6pm, the girls would leave work. They were paid on a piece-work basis and receive their wages on the 1st and the 15th days of each month. Later, Law King Hei’s mother asked the housewives next door to help with power tests and other simple processes. The housewives and girls earned low wages. The Law family earned the price difference between what they received from the factory and what they paid to the workers.
Title Light bulb workshops in homes on To Kwa Wan Road Date 18/02/2013 Subject Industry| Community Duration 2m45s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. TKW-LKH-HLT-004 Law King Hei used to go to morning school of the primary school. When all children were in half-day school, they would finish their homework right after going home; after that, they spent the rest of the day making light bulbs. Other than binding wires, which their mother was responsible for, the children had to take part in all other processes such as packaging, fire tests, dyeing and installing accessories. The boys would do delivery as well. Law King Hei and his brothers would bring raw materials home from the factory on Sheung Heung Road and then return the finished goods to the factory. They moved the goods with paper boxes which were used for carrying fruits. They would walk up the stairs to the sixth floor and made several round-trips between home and factory every day. It was especially tough during summer.
Title Making light bulb was his extra-curricular activities Date 18/02/2013 Subject Industry| Community Duration 2m17s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. TKW-LKH-HLT-005 Law King Hei recalled that there were lots of mobile food stalls on the streets outside Chiu Kwong during lunch hours. The stalls opened at around noon time, serving simple dishes, porridge, fried noodles, fried vermicelli and so on. It was mainly male workers who squatted on the roadside to take their meals. The women usually brought their own lunches to work. Mobile food stalls in To Kwa Wan located predominately in the side streets such as Chi Kiang Street, Sheung Heung Road, Ha Heung Road and Lok Shan Road. The food vendors would place the cooked food into the trays on their carts and go selling on the streets. People did not care about hygiene. Food stalls were not found on the main streets like To Kwa Wan Road.
Title Mobile street food stalls in a factory district Date 18/02/2013 Subject Community Duration 2m28s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. TKW-LKH-HLT-006 In retrospect, Law King Hei had mixed feelings toward the life in To Kwa Wan. He loved it because he was able to come to Hong Kong from Macau to reunite with his family and ran the light bulb factory through hard times. Yet, he admitted that the living environment there was not satisfactory as air pollution was serious with the cement factory and slaughterhouse nearby. Cows were killed in the slaughterhouse every day, and the cows’ screams woke up people living nearby. The slaughterhouse’s door was always covered with blood, and the air was full of the bad smell of cow skin. He was astonished by how the people on the Thirteen Streets could live just opposite to the slaughterhouse. He was glad to leave To Kwa Wan, but soon after the move, his family members all parted ways because they either got married or went abroad.
Title Mixed feelings toward his life in To Kwa Wan Date 18/02/2013 Subject Community| Social Life Duration 1m53s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. TKW-LKH-HLT-007