Leung Fong

Biography

Leung Fong was born in 1933 in his native place of Sanshui, and grew up in a farming family. His father had worked at a textile factory in Guangzhou before WWII. Leung studied in the rural area until he graduated from secondary school. After graduation, he came to Hong Kong in 1949 and stayed with his townsmen in Central. Then he took an apprenticeship in Sham Shui Po at Kam Fei Ma Garment Factory, specialising in sewing shirt collars. In the early 1960s, he worked as a collar sewer at Winner Garment Factory on San Ma Tau Street, To Kwa Wan. In 1967, the plant was moved to Castle Peak Road. He soon left the job after having worked for about four years at Winner. He subsequently worked for a number of garment factories in Hong Kong and Kowloon until his retirement in 1995. Early in the 1950s, he had joined the Hong Kong and Kowloon Undergarment Workers Union. He later served as a union’s officer, organizing cultural activities and paying visits to workers’ homes. When working at Winner, he once negotiated with the factory management on behalf of the workers. Leung lived in Central during his early days in Hong Kong, and moved around different districts because of work. In the 1970s, he applied for low-cost public housing, and was allocated Ka Wai Chuen in Hung Hom since 1980 until now.