Ha Chung Fong

Ha Chung Fong said his entering of textile industry was by chance. There was a dyeing factory opposite to the machine factory where Ha was working at. The owner of the dyeing factory asked Ha to handle his machines, and later suggested the two of them would open a dyeing factory together. In 1969, together they raised a fund of HK$150,000 and started a small dyeing factory. The simple machines of the factory were all assembled by Ha. At that time, business was booming for the manufacturing sector. Ha's factory was making a profit in its first year of operation. His employees did not know much about dyeing business, and had to learn from daily operation and experience.

Title	An opportunity arose so he started a dyeing factory with a friend, to learn the trade while running the business.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	1m31s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-001

Ha and his business partner started a small dyeing factory in Castle Peak Road. It started with dyeing business. They then bought machines and expanded to knitting synthetic fabrics because the manufacturing process was not difficult and easier for them to manage. As newer and more diverse fabrics became more complicated to produce, manufacturers needed to raise capital regularly to catch up on new facilities and new market. Money was also needed for expanding factories and updating machines. How to raise capital became an important aspect of the manufacturing industries.

Title	As the manufacturing process became more complicated, Ha Chung Fong had to raise capital to buy new equipment.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	1m43s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-002

Globe Dyeing established it first plant in Castle Peak Road because rent was relative cheap at the industrial building here, and it was also close to Ha's clients. At that time, Lap Shun Textiles was on the 2nd floor while Globe Dyeing was on the 4th floor. During that time, a lot of garment and dyeing factories were located in area around Castle Peak Road and Hai Tan Street in Sham Shui Po. They were mostly small factories and some would be inside walk-up buildings. In 1970, Ha moved his factory to Tsai Wan Kok Street (i.e. 9 Milestone), Tsuen Wan. There were other large spinners in the vicinity.

Title	Small textile factories congregated in Sham Shui Po while the larger ones resided in Tsuen Wan.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	1m42s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-003

Ha gained much of his experience of running factories from self exploration. For example, he continuously tried to improve the quality of his velour towel cloth. During which he had encountered much difficulties, but to be able to solve them gave him much satisfaction.

Title	Being able to tackel diffiuclties while running a factory brought great satisfaction.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	25s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-004

The techniques employed in Hong Kong's knitting and dyeing business are rather advanced. Sri Lanka government saw the importance of Ha's establishment of his production facilities in their country. Textile industry held the largest portion of Sri Lanka's import and export trade.

Title	Sri Lanka government attached great importance to Ha Chung Fong's factory in their country made him proud.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	1m45s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-005

The textile industry was first developed in Europe and USA, followed by Japan. Industries in Japan were strong, with good management culture and awareness. Goods were delivered on time and quality was good. These contributed to the rapid development of its society. After Japan, Hong Kong also started its textile industry, which spread to Taiwan and South Korea.

Title	Textile industry first started in Europe and US and then Japan before coming to Hong Kong, then Taiwan and Korea.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	1m40s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-006

Local textile industry started with weaving business. It had a longer development while the development of knitting was shorter. There were pros and cons of both weaving and knitting. Weaving was a mass production industry, while knitting one could produce in a smaller quantity. Knitting could produce more diverse products, with sportswear and casual wear were popular among female and children. Woven wool fabric was part of the knitting business, with similar technology. In terms of warmth protection, modern technology has rendered both knitted and woven wool fabrics equally good, thus knitted fabrics have taken over wool's market place and drove down the demand of wool products. These days woven wool business is in its decline. Weaving used to be the major component of the textile industry but its importance has been taken over by knitting.

Title	Knitted fabrics took the place of woven fabrics and woven wool as the trend shifted.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	2m55s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-007

The Textile industry was highly diversified. From dyes and fabrics, many experts have spent extensive effort in improving the techniques involved. The improvement in synthetics and chemicals helped the advancement in society. Textile industry involved the knowledge of chemical, weaving and knitting techniques and the understanding of machinery. Professionals in these fields were constantly required in the industry.

Title	From dyes and fabrics, many experts have spent a lot of efforts in improving the techniques involved in the textile industry.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	2m16s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-008

Textile industry contributed to the growth of a society. It was one of the basic components of an industrialized country. With textile industry providing a solid foundation, a country could develop other industries. Taking India as an example, the country's textile industry provided the impetus for its animal husbandry, and sericulture for harvesting silk. The plantation of cotton had also helped the development of agriculture. Thus textile industry was interconnected with other industries such as livestock and agriculture.

Title	Textile industry built the foundation providing impetus for the development of other industries.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	57s
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.	AY-HCF-HLT-009