Ha Chung Fong

Ha Chung Fong was born in Xinhui. He came to Hong Kong when he was a teenager. In 1957 he was studying biology for two years in a university in mainland China. Losing interest in biology, he came back to Hong Kong and studied civil engineering in Chu Hai College. Ha 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	Personal background. Starting a career in dyeing industry
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	4m46s
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-SEG-001

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. During the 1960s, knitters dominated the local textile industry. 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	The development of textile industry in Hong Kong. Early development of Globe Dyeing Factory Ltd.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	3m29s
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-SEG-002

Hong Kong's textile industry first started with mainly weaving factories, as the technology required was introduced here quite early. Dyeing technology also had a significant impact on textile industry. The progress made in chemical dye technology also drove the Hong Kong textile industry to change. In the earlier days, chemical dyes were imported from Europe. Yu Kam Kei's Cheung Wah Ho Dyestuffs Company and another agent Wing Wah Company were in the business of importing dyes and they made considerable profits. After the war, spinning became the major component of the local textile industry.During the 1940s, many Shanghainese entrepreneurs moved to Hong Kong after the liberation of China.They contributed to the development of the spinning industry here.Nan Fung Mill was such example. The company owned a lot of land for its factories. It later on became a listed company as a property developer. Other pioneers in the spinning business were TAL Group's Li Zhen Zhi; Winsor Industrial's Chou Wen Hsien and Peninsula Knitters Ltd's Tang Hsiang Chien. Pioneers in weaving were Lim Por-Yen of Lai Sun Garment which was in weaving and his wife U Po-chu's Bo Ngai Company which was in knitting business; Yangtzekiang Garment Ltd's Chan Sui-kau who started his company with weaving and knitting, and Esquel Group's Yang Yuan Lung who started at TAL Group but later developed his own business. And those in knitting were Law's Textile Industrial Ltd's Law Ting Pong who was in knitwear and knitting; Lap Shun Textiles's Law Siu Lun; Unison Knitting Factory's Ng Chong and Unitex Ltd's Chan Fok Hei.

Title	History of the textile industry in Post-War Hong Kong. Pioneers of Hong Kong textile industry.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	7m41s
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-SEG-003

Comparison of woven and knitted products. 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.

Heyday of wool industry. Wool weaving started in the 1960s, with its most robust period in the 1980s to 1990s. Consumers used woven wool products as decorative items, such as shawls. Law's Textile founded by Law Ting Pong and Crystal Group founded by his eldest son Kenneth Lo were both large knitting and woven wool manufacturers. Since it took a long time for making profits from textile industry, some factory owners left woven wool manufacturing to other businesses. For instance, Jimmy Lai who used to be in woven wool manufacturing, left the industry and started his magazines and newspapers instead.

Title	Development of Hong Kong-made woven, knitted and woolen products.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	5m1s
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-SEG-004

In the early days of Globe Dyeing Factory, Ha Chung Fong was responsible for soliciting orders from clients and Lap Shun Textiles was his first client. His company would handle the dyeing process for his clients. In 1980s, his company expanded to weaving business. When the company first started, the factory was at Ka Ming Court, which was at 690 Castle Peak Road, Cheung Sha Wan. The building was just opposite to Hong Kong Spinners. The factory of Globe Dyeing was a mere 7500 square feet, very small compared to the company's factory in mainland China now which has over several million square feet of space. Rent was relative cheap at the industrial building on Castle Peak Road, 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 such as South Sea Textile and Nan Fung Textile.

The plant at Castle Peak Road only had simple facilities. It had two US-made steamers which cost HK$75,000. Other machines were assembled by Ha with various components. In 1989, Ha raised enough capital and built an industrial building in Tuen Mun for his Lake Side Printing Factory, and began printing and dyeing business. The factory had its own sewage facilities. Ha said he is now 72 years old. His textile career was full of challenges.

Title	Earlier operation of Globe Dyeing Factory Ltd, its factory on Castle Peak Road, and development at the later stage.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	5m41s
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-SEG-005

In the 1980s, when Ha Chung Fong started Lake Side Printing Factory in Tuen Mun, the company had expanded to producing velour. Velour was a mixed fabric produced with the similar technique as knitting. Towel cloth was one of its products. Towel cloth could be weaved or knitted. Ha's factory was among the first generation of towel cloth producers. He continuously tried to improve the quality of his velour towel cloth. He realized cloth for towels could keep one warm, so he thought it was suitable for making pajamas, children's clothes and sportswear, etc. Ha had gained much of his experience of running factories from self exploration, but to be able to solve them gave him much satisfaction. When starting his business, the hardest moment was that he had to work with his workers to catch up deadlines when only a few of them were willing to work overtime on Sundays. He sacrificed his free time, as well as time for his family. He sometimes had to sleep on rolls of fabrics in the evenings.

In 1969, Ha Chung Fong founded his first company, Globe Dyeing Factory. It was located on 4th floor of Ka Ming Court at 690 Castle Peak Road. The factory specialized in dyeing for the garment factories. At first it could only handle single color dyeing. In 1970, his factory was moved to Tsai Wan Kok Street, Tsuen Wan. Apart from dyeing, it also expanded into weaving. During the first and second year it was only in nylon weaving. Later it expanded to include synthetic fibre and cotton. Around 1979 to 1980 the factory moved to Tuen Mun, renting space at Tin's Centre Industrial Building Block 9. Later he purchased several units in the building in different stages, eventually had up to 200,000 square feet of floor space. The factory was then in weaving towel cloth, dyeing and yarn dyeing. In 1989, he received loans from his bank for the expansion of his factory. Ha said banks were like providing parents to an industrialist.

Title	Expansion of Globe Dyeing Factory (1): woven towels and velour, factory relocation.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	11m45s
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-SEG-006

Ha believed a successful textile business should also include garment manufacturing. He cited Marjorie Yang as an example. Marjorie Yang is the daughter of Yang Yuan Long, founder of Esquel Textile Ltd. Marjorie Yang has been more successful than his father. She expanded the company's business into a vertical set-up. Apart from printing, it also included cotton supply, weaving and knitting, garments and dyeing. In 1980, Ha Chung Fong founded a factory in Yuen Long's Tong Yan San Tsuen specialized in fabric printing. After the establishment of Lake Side Printing Factory in 1998, Ha once again expanded into fabric printing business.

Ha tried garment manufacturing, and established his own brand, but the market was not so receptive to his products. He believed fabrics has a very close relationship with fashion trend. Knitted fabrics are easy to worn out but they are not without merits. Knitted fabrics are useful for producing female, children's sports clothes and baby clothes. These days’ knitted fabrics are more common in the market than woven fabrics. In the beginning, Ha's factory took dyeing business from larger garment factories. Later while continuing his dyeing business, he also expanded to knitting and selling fabrics. In the early days Globe Dyeing Factory's produced knitted towel cloth which was first sold to Law's Textile and Sunrise Knitting Factory.

Ha divided his knitting business into two sections: one was designing his own fabrics and sold them to his clients, the other was knitting fabrics according to clients' specifications. Currently Ha hires two specialists holding doctor's degree in textile, one from the mainland and one from Hong Kong Polytechnics. Together with a 70-strong research and development team, they study and develop new fabrics for Fountain Set (Holdings) Ltd. The company's R & D department was set up over 20 years ago. It began its work when the company had its factory in Tuen Mun. The company's printing section also engaged in R&D. The process of printing was more complicated. Different kinds of dyes were used for fabric printing and so it required a strong management team to oversee the business.

Ha Chung Fong started his printing business. In 1996 Ha established his dyeing and printing facilities in Sri Lanka. Although workers would gain experience from their daily work, Ha also hired a professor of textile from Hong Kong Polytechnics to assist in his business. While in Hong Kong, at the time when he was running Lake Side Printing Factory, Ha hired apprentices in printing so they could learn and practice at the same time. Normally a dyeing factory would start with the color red. Ha mentioned because of his lack of experience, his first batch of red dyed fabrics was not a success. During the 1980s, at his factory in Tong Yan San Tsuen, he had not started hiring graduates from Hong Kong Polytechnics so he only hired technicians instead.

Title	Expansion of Globe Dyeing Factory (2): garments, knitted fabrics and printing business.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	10m28s
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-SEG-007

Hong Kong's large knitters started from the scratch. For instance, Texwinca Holdings Ltd started in knitting and then expanded into dyeing. It also runs Baleno which was responsible for retailing. On the other hand, Fountain Set (Holdings) Ltd started in dyeing and then expanded to knitting. Those large corporations which have vertical set-up were Unitex Limited (founded by Chan Fok Hei), Unison Knitting Factory (founded by Ng Chong), TAL Group (founded by Li Zhen Zhi), Esquel Group (founded by Yang Yuan Lung), Crystal Group (founded by Kenneth Lo) and Lap Shun Textile (founded by Law Siu Lun), etc.

These big companies held a few 100,000 export quota on knitting products. Fountain Set specialized in processing for local garment manufacturers and did not export directly to the US so it had no export quota for its knitted products. Fabric export did not need any quota. So Fountain Set's fabrics were exported to Central and South America, as well as Thailand, etc. Ha Chung Fong realized that in order to increase productivity, the company needed to expand its sales force. Thus he set up sales offices in Seoul, Singapore and Shanghai so the company could sell directly to famous brands. His company also trained its own sales representatives, with their own sales methods. For instance, Fountain Set produced sports clothes for brands such as Li Ning, Sept Wolves and Anta, etc.

Title	Hong Kong's knitting factories started from small. Larger factories hold export quota. Sales network of Fountain Set (Holdings) Ltd.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	5m44s
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-SEG-008

Recounting the ups and downs of textile industry, Ha Chung Fong said the most prosperous period was during 1986 to 1987. At that time, clients did not even bother to negotiate prices with him. He believed that supply and demand dictated the market conditions. 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. Ha felt proud that his company brought employees from Hong Kong and mainland China to Sri Lanka to provide leadership and to handle administration. He decided to expand to Sri Lanka because the country has no dyeing business. It relied on the import of fabrics for its import and export of garments.

Title	Ha was proud of setting up production facilities in Sri Lanka.
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	5m5s
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-SEG-009

Ha Chung Fong had a profound relationship with the textile industry. 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. Textile industry first started in Europe, and then Japan, before coming to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. 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, providing essential job opportunities for a society.

Title	Textile industry in an indsutralist's eyes
Date	17/11/2009
Subject	Industry
Duration	5m26s
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-SEG-010