Wu Wai Keung

In 1962, Wu Wai Keung established Wing Ming Craft Shop, a mold casting workshop, in a building at No. 14 Ying Yeung Street. He considered that mold casting was a better way to make a living than spraying paint because he needed a larger workforce for paint spraying orders with lower profits. During the period between the 1960s and 1970s when mold casters were in limited supply, the customers were willing to pay for the molds without asking for quotations so that they could start production as soon as possible. The business was so good that the mold casters did not have a minute of rest throughout the day. Kin Ming Mold Casting Factory was Wing Ming’s major customer. To serve Kin Ming closely, which was operated in a unit by Kowloon City ferry pier, Wu Wai Keung decided to set up his workshop in To Kwa Wan.  Wing Ming Craft Shop did not visit manufacturers’ offices in person to find business. He got orders through word of mouth. The customers would visit his workshop and place their orders. Some customers were mold processing factories, while others were toy manufacturers. 

As more orders came in, the workshop was found to be too small to meet the demands. So, Wu Wai Keung rented an apartment on the 2nd floor of No. 3 Ying Yeung Street in 1969 to set up a new workshop. This expansion of workshop premise was possible because he worked for the large orders from AAA manufacturer. The operator of AAA Plastic Manufacturing Company Limited (situated on Shun Ning Road) got an order from an Italian customer through a “hong” (export & import firm). It was an order to produce hanging decorative items by soft plastic in the shape of animal figures such as snake, crocodile and insect. In those days, products of this kind had never been produced in Hong Kong. The AAA manufacturer sourced molds from Wing Ming Craft Shop, and Wu Wai Keung successfully met his demands. 

The business was good after the Kowloon riots (in 1967) took place. In 1970, while he had sightseeing vacation in Taiwan and Japan, he observed that there would be a promising prospect for plastic factories. So he had partnership with some friends to set up a factory on the street-level. When they were notified by the Labour Department that factory operation in a street-level shop was prohibited, Wu Wai Keung had no alternatives but moved the workshop to Kwun Tong. It was a rented unit in a factory building. All of a sudden, the workshop premise was expanded from several hundred to several thousand sq. ft. In face of soaring operational costs, the shareholding partners withdrew one after another because they did not want to bear the risk. Wu Wai Keung continued to operate the factory on his own. He put all his eggs in one basket and invested more than $100,000 in it. After running the new factory for more than 10 years under limited resources, Wu Wai Keung finally decided that the factory was not viable any more. He moved the factory to Hung Shui Kiu, Yuen Long and closed it down 2 years later. Afterwards, he once again operated a plaster mold casting workshop on the Thirteen Streets in To Kwa Wan. 

In 1971, Ming Wo Manufacturing Co. was moved from the ground floor of No. 19 Yin On Street to Kwun Tong. Wu Wai Keung considered that the rent for a factory unit in To Kwa Wan were too high, besides, they were not as good as those in Kwun Tong in all other aspects. But, it was easier to reruit female workers in To Kwa Wan. After Wu Wai Keung moved the factory to Kwun Tong, he had to employ female workers from North Point. At the time, young female workers preferred to work for jeans factories and electronic factories. Ming Wo Manufacturing Co. could only recruit female workers of older age, between 40 and 50 years old. The factory had 30 to 40 workers in total. After Ming Wo Manufacturing Co. was moved to Kwun Tong, he closed down Wing Ming Craft Shop, let out the apartment of No. 14 Ying Yeung Street 

In the early 1980s, Wu Wai Keung closed down the factory in Kwun Tong and re-established the mold casting workshop in the Thirteen Streets. Work was not heavy. Therefore, with the help of his wife, he organized a mutual aid committee for the building. In the early years, the building was managed informally by some active residents. For example, when they found it necessary to install lights along the stairways, an old female resident was sent to visit each household to collect money. Wu Wai Keung suggested that they should form a mutual aid committee to manage the matters of the building in a more systematic way. He also suggested that a fund should be set up to pool monthly payments from each household for paying the expenses of the building. The residents nominated Wu Wai Keung the chairman of the mutual aid committee. Considering that he had some spare time to spend and it would do good to the residents, he accepted the appointment and had served the chairmanship for about 20 years.