Lam L. T.

L.T Lam was born in Hong Kong in March 1924. His original name, as written on his birth certificate, was L.T. Lam. His native place was Nancun, Huangqixiang, Nanhai County, where his grandparents worked as farmers. Lam’s father was the second of 12 children. The children were unable to go to school because the family was too poor. Lam’s father arrived in Hong Kong at the age of 12 with some relatives and became a cook upon completing an apprenticeship. When his father was around 16 to 18 years old, he returned to his native place to marry Lam’s mother, who was a teacher at a primary school in the village. The couple moved to Hong Kong and gave birth to Lam 10 years later. The family lived on Haven Street in Causeway Bay. As the couple couldn’t spare time to care for Lam, they sent him back to their native place to study in school when he was seven. Since Lam’s mother was a school teacher, Lam had been home-schooled since he was four to five years old, studying classic works such as The Three Character Classic, Thousand Character Classic and Ming Xin Bao Jian , which also taught Lam with the morality of social and interpersonal relationships.

Title	Family Background and Childhood Life
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry| Social Life
Duration	6m10s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-001

Lam’s parents had high expectation of him. After four years of school in his native place, Lam returned to Hong Kong at age 11 to receive English education. He enrolled in Siu On English College for Class 8. Located on Hennessey Road in Wan Chai, Siu On was a school that offered three levels of class (Class 8, Class 7 and Class 6）with 10 students in each class. The headmaster, Leung Siu On , used to teach at Wan Chai Public College and later established Siu On after retiring from his teaching position. There were three teachers at Siu On. Lam graduated fromSiu On after spending three years there. He started his first year there (Class 8) learning English alphabets. During his second and third years (Class 7 and Class 6), he studied subjects such as English, Maths, Geography and History.

Title	Siu On English College
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry| Education
Duration	2m43s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-002

After graduating from Siu On, Lam entered Wah Yi College on Hennessey Road for Class 5 and Class 4. Wah Yi was a private school opened by the alumni of Wah Yan College, Hong Kong. Lam was ranked the first by the time he finished Class 4 as he performed with excellent results, therefore his school fees were waived. Since Wah Yi had a close connection with Wah Yan College, students with good performance from Wah Yi could be promoted to Wah Yan. In this light, Lam forfeited his free education at Wah Yi and transferred to Wah Yan for Class 3. In Lam’s memory, the monthly tuition fees of Siu On, Wah Yiand Wah Yan were two, four, and eight dollars respectively. As Lam’s father found it difficult to afford Wah Yan’s tuition fees, he pleaded Fr. Burke, Sean P., the then Principal of Wah Yan, for financial assistance. Eventually, Lam only had to pay four dollars instead of eight. Lam’s Class 3 started in September 1941, but it came to a halt very soon due to Japanese invasion on 8 December.

Title	Wah Yi College and Wah Yan College
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry| Education
Duration	5m19s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-003

When the Japanese invaded Hong Kong, Lam’s father was then working at a warehouse in Causeway Bay (where the SOGO department store is today) owned by Jardine Matheson. He worked as a cook at a lodge inside the warehouse, which was reserved for the company’s English senior staff. At that time, the Lam family resided in a rented room in a Chinese-style tenement building on Haven Street, Causeway Bay. Before the Japanese invasion, Lam visited the warehouse after school every day to help his father wash dishes, and then headed home to complete his homework. After the war broke out on 8 December 1941, the Japanese first occupied Kowloon. Even then, Lam’s father still went shopping for grocery every day on Queen Victoria’s Street in Central. Then on 11 December, the Japanese air force raided Bailey Street and both of his father’s ears went deaf because for the bombing. Ten days later, the war began to intensify and the Japanese were planning to get across the harbour to Hong Kong Island. Causeway Bay was bombed for several days. Every time when Lam heard the air raid siren, he took refuge on Leighton Hill. Later in December, Lam’s father still went to work at the warehouse as usual, and Lam accompanied him there for dinner after school. When the Japanese finally landed on the Island, fighting began to exasperate and a combat line was opened near today’s Victoria Park. In the evening of 24 December, a curfew was put into effect in Causeway Bay. It was the evening when Lam’s father ran into Japanese troops on Caroline Hill Road. Lam’s father was deafened in one bombing raid and could not hear the Japanese soldier’s calling on him to stop. The Japanese regarded this an offensive act, and so they bayoneted him to death. Lam found 200 Hong Kong dollars and a HSBC passbook inside his deceased father’s sock. Lam hated the Japanese for destroying his family and forcing him out of school. He was saddened by the fact that his father died out of a misunderstanding.

Title	Father’s Death under Japanese raids
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Japanese Occupation
Duration	9m15s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-004

When the Manchurian Incident occurred in 1931, Lam was then studying in his native village. His national awareness was awakened after reading the newspapers and illustrated magazines that his father posted to him from Hong Kong. Deeply motivated by the nationalist sentiments against Japanese invasion into China, he had determined to serve his country. Before the war, one could often find Japanese toy dolls in the market that were made of a material called celluloid. With this in mind, Lam decided to devote himself to the plastic industry, hoping to manufacture toys that could compete with Japanese goods. This was his way to save the country. Lam regarded it a naïve but a meaningful idea. He was delighted that this objective had been achieved today.

Title	Personal Career and National Awareness
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Japanese Occupation
Duration	3m59s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-005

After the British surrendered, Lam began to do business using the money (around 200-300 Hong Kong dollars) left behind by his deceased father. He walked to Sai Ying Pun each day to purchase cans of sardine and condensed milk, and then re-sold them on the streets for a tiny profit. However, he could not make a living this way and had to return to his native place for survival. He described the life in the native village as being rather gruelling. At the end of 1945, Lam got married as his mother wished. Yet he soon parted from his wife and returned to Hong Kong for work, with 100 Hong Kong dollars in his pocket.

Title	The Fall of Hong Kong and Lam’s Return to Farm Work in His Native Place
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Japanese Occupation
Duration	3m47s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-006

Lam was looking for a job with had a good prospect. Arriving back in Hong Kong in 1946, he settled on Yee Wo Street in Causeway and lodged in a relative’s coffin shop. He later found his Maths teacher from Wah Yah College, Fr. Doody, Timothy Francis. Fr. Doody referred Lam to a job at Shek Kong airport, but Lam turned down the offer because the job came with a poor prospect. Fr. Doody then referred him to another position at HSBC as a counter clerk, yet again Lam declined it. By that time, Lam had spent all 100 dollars that he brought to Hong Kong. To make ends meet, he had to carry coffins to earn an income of two dollars per job. A friend of Lam was willing to refer him to a post as a police officer at the police headquarters at Oriental Building, but Lam was reluctant to accept it because it was a dangerous job. Eventually, he obtained a job at Sun Sing Bookstores (which sold newspapers and magazines) through a friend’s introduction. His monthly salary was then 60 dollars.

Title	Returning to Hong Kong After the War for Work
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	5m21s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-007

While working at Sun Sing Bookstore, Lam’s English skills improved speedily as he had the chance to come into contact with the staff of major companies, taipans, government officials and diplomats. Most of the clients of Sun Sing subscribed foreign magazines. Government officials from Mainland China would also source for foreign magazines and specialist books via Hong Kong magazine publishers. Lam learnt about the plastic industry from the foreign magazines and books. At the same time, he began to work as a real estate agent. After earning his first fortune, he started working for Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd, a company that imported chemical products. Lam had worked at the magazine firm for a year.

Title	Work Opportunities at Sun Sing Bookstores
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	1m33s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-008

In the beginning of 1947, Lam joined Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd. The company’s owner, Mr. Yeung, was the son-in-law of a friend of Lam’s father. Mr. Yeung initially worked at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), and later established Yuen Hing Hong to import and sell ICI’s chemical products. Lam’s monthly salary at Yuen Hing Hong was 100 dollars. A year later, he was promoted to become a manager with a raised salary of 200 dollars per month. Lam had once mentioned to Mr. Yeung that ICI’s acrylic sheet (or Perspex) can be used to make restaurant menu stands, photo frames, mirror frames, signs, umbrella handles, and mahjong tiles. He recommended Yeung to go into the plastic manufacturing business.

Title	Working Experience at Yuen Hing Hong（I）
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	3m55s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-009

From 1947 to 1948, the plastic industry began to gain greater and greater attention among Guangzhou’s manufacturers. A lot of them came to Hong Kong to collect market information. They also made enquiries to Lam at Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd and started building business relationship with him. During his employment at Sun Sing Bookstore, Lam had already exposed to information about plastic materials providers from America, British and Germany such as Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Rohm & Haas and Du Pont. He had also had experienced of importing raw materials from the company representatives in Hong Kong. After 1949, the workers union of Guangzhou’s plastic industry came to Hong Kong to purchase plastic materials (e.g. polystyrene and polyethylene) on behalf of the manufacturers. Lam represented Yuen Hing Hong and supplied the demanded materials, which earned him the favour of his boss. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, Western countries imposed an embargo on China because the acrylic sheets could be used for military purposes. Fearing that China might transfer acrylic sheets to North Korea, the USA banned the import of plastic materials into China. As a result, China’s manufacturers changed their strategy and purchased finished plastic products from Hong Kong instead, after which they would transport those products into Guangzhou via Macau. The products were then reverted back to raw materials and re-used for production.

(Editor’s Note: Lam added that acrylic products could not be recycled, so the manufactures had to smuggle them into China. At the custom, Lam would simply put “Raw Materials for Set Squares” on the declaration form if he knew that the manufacturers intended to make set squares out of those acrylic materials. Although that was a breach of the embargo, Lam was aware that the acrylic materials he exported were not suitable for military purposes and he was not going against the intent of the embargo.)

Title	Working Experience at Yuen Hing Hong（II）
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	5m7s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-010

After joining Yuen Hing Hong, Lam recommended his boss, Mr. Yeung, to set up a plastic factory. In those days, people from Mainland China would come to Hong Kong to purchase plastic sheets, which they made into set squares. Lam was inspired by this trend and suggested his boss to open a factory to make photo frames, as they were simple and easy to manufacture. The manufacturing procedures are as follows:

1) Crop the plastic sheets using a manual circular saw
2) Deburr the sheets using manual polisher
3) Glue the sheets and the photo stands together using chloroform
4) Put corrugated fiberboards at the back of the stands.

The whole procedures did not require any machinery. By selling plastic sheets, Yuen Hing Hong could only get a 7% to 10% profit margin, so they ran their own photo frame factory to improve profitability. Lam helped his boss coordinated the opening of the factory, naming it Winsome Plastic Works. The factory was located in rented space on the ground floor of an old building on 93 Hennessey Road. Lam himself moved into the penthouse of the shop as his residence.

Title	The Founding of Winsome Plastic Works
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	3m34s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-011

When Lam was working for Sun Sing Bookstore in 1946, he was a real estate agent as well. At the end of the year, he left his work and joined Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd. He suggested his boss, Mr. Yeung, to open the Winsome Plastic Works. Subsequent to the opening, the ambitious Lam decided to set up his own business. To avoid competing with his former boss, and knowing that there was a lack of plastic factories in Guangzhou, he decided to open the Raymond Plastic Factory there. The required starting capital was 15,000 dollars, but Lam’s salary at Yuen Hing Hong was only 200 dollars a month. He used the savings he had made from his time being a real estate agent. Lam also invited four other partners to invest in Raymond Plastic Factory:
1) The elder brother of an employee, Mr. Chan, who worked at Winsome’s engine room as a mechanic.
2) An old classmate from Wah Yi College, whose name was also Chan.
3) An employee of a foreign grocery store on Kwong Yuen Street East. His name was Leung.
4) The boss of Yuen Hing Hong, Mr. Yeung.

The first three partners managed the daily operation of the factory, being the Manager, Treasurer, and Production & Engineering Director, respectively, while Lam remained in Hong Kong with his own career. Lam would exchange correspondences with the other partners about business affairs. After 1949, Raymond was restructured into a public-private joint venture. All the factory staff retained their jobs, but Lam no longer managed the factory or received any bonus.

Title	The Development of Raymond Plastic Factory
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	8m20s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-012

In 1952, Lam established Advance Plastic Factory in Tai Kok Tsui in collaboration with a Mr. Chan and a Mr. Fan. Mr. Chan was originally a rubber merchant, and had known Mr. Fan from early on. He then gained interest in plastic business, and got involved in transhipping plastic products to Macau during the Korea War. It was during the War when he met Mr. Fan. Mr. Chan opened Cheung Kee Hong on Queen’s Road Central as well as Tat Hwa Rubber Factory Ltd to produce rubber products. After setting up Advance with Lam, Chan’s three sons also joined the factory because business was brisk. Lam’s former boss, Mr. Yeung, was eager to persuade Lam to focus onYuen Hing Hong and Winsome Plastic Works, promising Lam 25% of the company’s share. Lam accepted the offer and delegated the operations of Advance to his partners. Advance proceeded to make a handsome profit by producing plastic flowers. Mr. Chan emigrated during the 1960s and handed over Advance to his staff. Then he returned to Hong Kong in 1972 to set up Wynnewood Corporation Limited, a toy factory. Lam was well connected in the plastic industry and had business ties with six to seven local plastic firms, one of which was a joint venture with the Americans.

Title	The Development of Advance Plastic Factory
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	8m30s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-013

In 1952, Lam accepted Mr. Yeung’s offer and returned to Winsome Plastic Works. Lam’s friends disagreed with this move, thinking that Winsome was poorly managed at that time. Lam therefore decided to start up another business. In 1955, he opened Forward Products. Co., which manufactured western toy dolls on 8 Sai On Lane, Sai Ying Pun.

Title	The Founding of Forward Products. Co.
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	1m19s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-014

In 1957, Lam set up Alice Doll Fashions Limited. His wife was born in the Mainland to a wealthy family, but her family was torn apart during the Second World War. She was adept in sewing, and Lam needed costumes for the toy dolls produced by Forward Products Co. He therefore opened Alice Doll so that his wife might find mental sustenance and fulfilment from the work. The Lam family then lived on the 6th floor on 370 Des Voeux Road West, not far from the Forward’s factory site (8 Sai On Lane, Sai Ying Pun). Lam paid 550 dollars for a Singer sewing machine by instalments over 12 months. The machine was placed in the sitting room of his home, where his wife could make costumes for the dolls. He later bought another 4 to 6 machines, hiring female workers to do the sewing job on a daily wage of 2 dollars per person. At its summit, Alice Doll had 2,000 machines. In 1962/63, Winsome Plastic Works merged with Forward Products Co. to form the Forward Winsome Industries Ltd. Then Alice Doll moved into Fowind’s site in Quarry Bay, and became a subsidiary of Fowind. In the 1950s, Lam had, at one point in time, overseen the operations of several companies including Winsome, Advance, Forward, Alice Doll, Raymond, Yuen Hing Hong, among others.

Title	The founding of Alice Doll Fashions Limited
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	7m7s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-015

Between 1963 and 1965, Forward Winsome Industries Ltd received a large volume of orders. Lam thereby outsourced the sewing procedures of doll costumes. Every evening, he and his wife would take the textile to the resettlement areas such as Sham Shui Po and San Po Kong. A contractor would re-distribute the textile to female workers living in the area for further processing. Lam would return in a few days to collect the finished costumes and give out wages. The textile could be sent as far as Ap Lei Chau, Sheung Shui and Fanling. The toy products of Forward were seldom outsourced, however. In 1969, Lam founded a toy factory in Taiwan, which took over some of Forward’s orders. The “June 4th Incident” in 1989 caused concern for American buyers that the USA might revoke China’s Most Favoured Nation status. The implication was that a high import tax could be levied upon products from China. The American clients suggested Lam to set up another factory in Southeast Asia, so Lam built one in Thailand jointly with a Thai company. The new factory was called Forward Freeland, specialising in original equipment manufacturing (OEM).

Title	The Founding of Fowind and Its Early Site Development
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	7m55s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-016

Between 1963 and 1965, Forward Winsome Industries Ltd received a large volume of orders. Lam thereby outsourced the sewing procedures of doll costumes. Every evening, he and his wife would take the textile to the resettlement areas such as Sham Shui Po and San Po Kong. A contractor would re-distribute the textile to the women living in the area to do home-based processing. Lam would return in a few days to collect the finished costumes and give out wages. The textile could be sent as far as to Ap Lei Chau, Sheung Shui and Fanling. The toy products of Fowind were seldom outsourced to smaller factories, however. In 1969, Lam founded a toy factory in Taiwan, which took over some of Fowind’s orders. In 1989, as it was uncertain whether the USA would sustain China’s Most Favoured Nation status, Lam invested in setting up another factory in Thailand.

Title	The Early Outsourcing Commissioned by Fowind
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	4m54s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-017

Forward Winsome Industries Ltd’s earliest OEM client was British toy maker, Palitoy. Fowind helped Palitoy manufactured “Action Man” figures (known as “G I Joe” in the USA). Palitoy was later bought by American toy company Hasbro, which became Fowind’s new client. Hasbro often made large orders and delegated different procedures to different factories in Hong Kong. Fowind mainly supplied accessories and costumes for them. The assembling process of different partial products was carried out by larger factories. Under OEM arrangement, the client needed to pay for mould casting, which accounted for the highest portion of the manufacturing cost. In recent years, Fowind had handled products like “Star War”, “Spider Man”, and “Transformers”. The mould casting fees of “Transformers” could be up to tens of millions of dollars per year. Lam illustrated the OEM process with an example:

Hasbro designed “Transformers” toys based on the film of the same name. They would hand the drawings of the design toFowind for making “hand samples”. After Hasbro had revised and finalized the samples, Fowind would cast the moulds and begin production. If Fowind handed over the finished products in a satisfactory manner, Hasbro would renew the contract annually. The standards set by foreign companies were high. Apart from liaising with clients, retailers such as Wal-Mart would also come to the factory to check on product quality and to do site visit. Therefore, suppliers had to be vigilant about the hygiene and labour right conditions in the factory. They must not, for example, hire child labour. Lam would improve on the testing of raw materials, products and the packaging to ensure safety, following international standards set forth by the International Council of Toy Industries. Upon receiving a sizable order, Fowind, in its earlier days, would outsource the making of toy accessories to smaller factories. The American clients would go to these subcontracting factories to inspect and check the products.

In recent times, foreign companies requested that production should take place under one roof, therefore Fowind had stopped this outsourcing practices. Fowind hired university graduates to be engineers in their quality control department. From the 1980s, Hong Kong factories took OEM orders from famous toy brands around the world. Fowind’s clients include Hasbro, Hallmark, Sanrio, Sekiguchi, Play Mobile, Disney, McDonald’s, Lego, etc. Lam believed that toy materials, the perception of toys and the toy market itself were all ever-changing. Factories must introduce timely products that target different age groups and consumer groups. The second generation of Fowind’s founder had taken over the business, and the factory had moved on to producing products like stationery, souvenir gifts, sportswear and household goods. When the idea a new product is confirmed, they would research into the market as well as intellectual property issues for making and rolling it out. Lam believed that there was much difficulty in developing the Chinese market nowadays.

Title	Fowind’s OEM Clients, and the OEM Model in the Toy Industry
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	20m4s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-018

The earliest product of Winsome Plastic Works was a chain of ducks, which was an improved version of a similar product from Japan. The Japanese goods were made of celluloid using a suction technique. Celluloid was a kind of elastic and flammable plastic. In 1948, Winsome modified the original Japanese products by using polystyrene and a method called “injection moulding”. Toys made of celluloid were popular in the market until 20 to 30 years ago. Forward Products Co. made toy cash registers with an inscription underneath saying “Empire Made”. They used British raw plastic for production and exported the finished products back to the UK, so that they could enjoy preferential import duties within the British Commonwealth.

Title	Post-war Products of Winsome Plastic Works and Forward Products Co
Date	19/10/2010
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-019

Lam believed that impetus for Hong Kong’s manufacturers to develop new products depended on their relationship with clients and their receptiveness of product diversity. If a client committed to long-term orders, the manufacturers would be more willing to invest in innovative product development. The toys of Fowind changed along with the changing market tastes. At the beginning, Lam focused on plastic daily goods, but he switched to doll costumes, and toy cars that were made of aluminium alloy. In 1972, they began to produce electronic toys. Fowind had diverse product lines. Lam believed human resource was imperative to product development. Fowind established a research department in 2000, hiring graduates of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University to do materials testing and introduce innovative ideas for product development. Overseas clients were mostly concerned about product safety. Giant retailers such as Wal-Mart would send representatives to the factory site and check the products, although they were not direct clients ofFowind. The International Council of Toy Industries was the international organisation governing the industry. It would blacklist manufacturers who had malpractices. Every country had its own safety standard over raw materials, regulating, for instance, the amount of lead content in paint. Fowind was aware of complying with each set of standard of different markets. For that, they needed employees who had knowledge of the safety standards of various importing countries.

Title	The Transformation of Fowind’s Toy Products
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	8m28s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-020

Lam’s factories, including Winsome Plastic Works, Advance Plastic Factory and Forward Products Co.. had participated in the Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo (HKBPE) for six to seven times during the times of Governor Alexander Grantham, Robert Black, and David Trench. Winsome was a producer of photo frames, lampshades and signs for the local Hong Kong market. They had a shop on 93 Hennessey Road. Winsome was the first of Lam’s factories to join the HKBPE. It was an opportunity to directly promote the factory to the public and businesses, and they were well received. Alice Doll and Forward, on the other hand, manufactured for the overseas markets. Lam explained that running a booth at HKBPE could boost company reputation and promote the company to foreign businesses in Hong Kong. At the same time, it was a good time to sell out a sizable volume of products. Forward used their female factory workers in the Miss Exhibition Pageant, and one of them had wun an award one year. Forward also advertised on Overseas Chinese Daily News. Lam stressed that the HKBPE was not only a chance for local sale, but also for marketing and connecting factories to exporters.

Lam introduced photos taken at the HKBPE: Governor Robert Black visiting Fowind’s booth, Winsome’s products in the 1950s, Group photo at Winsome’s booth, Group photo at Forward’s booth. Lam spent 20,000 to 30,000 dollars every year in designing and building his booth. Only a certain selection of products was sold in the exhibition. But that was enough for the company to break even. The HKBPE stipulated the size of each booth, so the participant factories all tried their best to design the booths in ways to attract visitors. Lam displayed different sorts of doll costumes and crystal balls at the booths. The dolls looked like Barbie, for a lot of Hong Kong factories copied foreign products in those days. It was not common for plastic factories to be present at HKBPE. One of the more outstanding exception was Red A. Toy factories did not take part actively either. Large factories with abundant capital, such as Red A, put up booths with eye-catching design, so did the major producers of vitreous enamel, torches and crystallised ginger. Lam’s booth was constructed by an interior design company. Usually, those companies would come to pitch their services after the factories registered for the HKBPE. The two parties would confer with each other to work out the booth design.

Title	What He Experienced at The Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	15m51s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-021

After 1949, Raymond PlasticFactory was restructured into a public-private joint venture. Lam subsequently established a series of companies in Hong Kong such as Advance Plastic Factory, Forward Products Co., and Alice Doll Fashions Ltd. This was evidence of his undying enterprising spirit. The wage in Taiwan was low at that time, and a lot of Hong Kong investors were attracted to open factories there. They centralised in the Kaohsiung Export Processing Zone, where the cost was low. Through a friend’s introduction, Lam was able to buy land in Sanshia, Taipei to open a toy factory operated for 10 years, hiring 200 to 300 workers. It was a medium-sized factory, as compared with Mattel which had employed thousands of workers there. At its peak, Lam’s plant in Hong Kong had 300 to 400 workers. If the outsourcing workers were also included, the total number of staff would add up to more than 1000.

Title	Setting Up a Factory in Taiwan
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	4m57s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-022

The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce had always maintained interactions with Mainland China. The Chairman at that time was Ko Chuk Hung. In 1976, The Chamber organised a tour to the Mainland to visit the industries there. As a Chamber member, Lam was interested in setting up business in the Mainland, and so he jointed the visit tour to Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, among other places. It was during that trip when the Tangshan Earthquake occurred. However, Lam did not immediately set up his factory in the Mainland for the following reasons:

*Lam felt that Mainland China was backward and the quality of factory management was poor.
*His wife was lack of confidence in the political environment in China and opposed to Lam’s return.
*Lam believed it was most crucial to find a reliable business partner.

However, when he toured the Mainland between 1976 and 1979, he discovered that most of the former partners of Raymond Plastic Factory had passed away. His former classmate at Wah Yi College, Chan, had no desire of going back to the business.

Title	Background of Lam’s Return to Mainland China
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	7m05s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-023

In April 1979, Lam set up a factory in Dongguan, making it a testing ground for investment in the Mainland. This all began when Lam was invited by a Dongguan businessman with whom he had businesses ties. Dongguan was not a developed area and on the factory site there was just a dilapidated old house with fewer than 10 sets of machines. Lam had to go to the factory everyday to train up his staff about the work procedure and the skills they needed to know. He hired local mainland workers but Hong Kong managers. The mainlanders despised capitalism, and Lam had to repeatedly explain to the local officials that his intent was to teach the locals to work diligently for a living, so that they in turn could also help Lam himself. During the talk, he met the mayor of Dongguan, who sent his son to Lam’s factory to undertake a internship. Today, the son is able to set up a plastic processing plant himself.

The pilot factory in Dongguan was successful. In 1982, Lam set up another factory in Hainan. The reason he did not go back to Hainan right away when he made the first investment was that he did not want to embarrass himself in front of his folks over there in the light of possible failure, as it was a traditional Chinese notion to return home in glory after making a fortune. Lam thought that it was a must to introduce new technologies in order for China to develop itself in the early days of the country’s Economic Reform. In 1982, Lam established the Don Xiu Toy Factory in Yan Bu, Dong Xiu, Nanhai. Local officials were in charge of recruitment and they eventually hired 52 workers. Lam picked three people to be managers. The head of the factory was originally a veterinarian, but was later promoted to become the Communist Party’s local leader in Dong Xiu with a wage of RMB36. The other two managers were formerly a leader of coolies and a farmer respectively. Lam also hired his former classmate, Chan, to manage the factory on his behalf, focusing on finance and external affairs. The head of factory had a successful career and retired in 2007. Lam thought the weaknesses of Mainlanders was that they were not smart enough and was in favour of nepotism. Hence he did not delegate all of his authority to them and instead preferred to manage remotely from Hong Kong.

Title	The Process of Setting up a Factory in the Early Years of Economic Reform
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	19m16s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-024

Forward Winsome Industries Ltd had a workforce of 20,000 in the mainland at its summit. Nowadays, the production has been automated. As a result the number of workers gradually decreased to 10,000. From the 1980s onward, Fowind gradually moved its production line away from Hong Kong to the Northern region in the Mainland. The management from Hong Kong used to travel to the Mainland twice a week, but now they are all stationed there full-time. The company had seen an increase in Mainland staff and a reduction in Hong Kong staff. The size of the Hong Kong factory shrank continuously but smoothly, with the retirement of senior staff and the volunteer departure of other members. The production line was at last folded completely in Hong Kong in 1989, at which time the company had 10,000 workers in the Mainland. Since establishing a factory in Mainland China, Fowind’s turnover had grown by about 10 times.

Title	Closing of the Factory’s Production Line in Hong Kong
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	4m22s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-025

The second generation of Forward Winsome Industries Ltd had ascended to management by succession. In the 1950s, Lam and his whole family lived next door to the factory. The front of the building was Forward Products Co., where his son oftentimes stayed. Lam allowed his son to choose any subject at school that as wished. When his son went to the USA for overseas study, Lam arranged him to work as a summer intern at the factory of one of Lam’s clients. He tried to set an example for his children. For instance, he would take his son to meet his clients so that he could let him observe how business was done and offered guidance for him. He also taught his son not to act like an idle and depraved successor to Lam’s business, but to act humbly and blend in with his colleagues. Lam treated his clients with sincerity and paid attention to their preferences in food and drinks, which helped him build a close rapport with them. Lam did not mix his private life with business, so he never favoured his own relatives who worked in the factory. After he set up a factory in the Mainland, his wife would travel to oversee the sewing process to make sure it was up to standard. She would explain in detail the requirements of different parts of a doll’s costume.

Title	Succession of Fowind’s Second Generation
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	6m26s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-026

Lam depended on his trusted staff to run the many factories that he set up in the early years. Workers from Winsome Plastic Works always wrote private messages to Lam, telling him about the unjust happenings in the factory. When Lam inspected the factories, he would pay attention to the informants. If this was found to be true, Lam would hand the matter over to the management team for further action. A female worker at Alice Doll Fashions Limited had once written to Lam and alleged that a cutting table operator worked secretly as a tailor outside of work for a couple dollars of extra income. In the beginning, Lam would inspect the factories in person and was fastidious about the furnishing of the factory and the appearance of his workers during client visits. Lam admitted that inspection time was limited and the visits therefore tended to be superficial. Lam wholeheartedly trained his staff. When he inspected his factories in the Mainland, he was greeted with workers’ smiling faces and felt that the staff was delighted by their superior’s visit.

Title	Staff Management Experience (I)
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	7m20s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-027

Lam made use of his wide social network to develop his career. For example, he sought the help of his close classmate to set up his factory in Guangzhou before WWII. Lam had put efforts into cultivating his network, and thought that his connections would come in handy at times of need. He encouraged his staff with higher calibre to set up their own business. For the less capable staff, he treated them well for their loyalty. When an employee behaved inappropriately, he would talk to him/her individually and led him back to the right track by persuasion. If the behaviour of an employee became intolerable, Lam would fire him. Lam was good at maintaining rapport with his employees. For example he had recently reunited with his former staff from Raymond PlasticFactory which was closed down over 50 years ago. He treated his staff generously, encouraging them to save up money for purchasing property, and even making down payment for them to do so. Some of them kept in touch with Lam even after they had set up their own businesses.

Title	Staff Management Experience (II)
Date	12/11/2010
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-028

Lam had operated his plastic manufacturing business for many years. The greatest challenge he found was the inflation in material cost. Since the material cost was not pegged with the price clients paid at the time of placing an order, the factory owners did not get compensated for the loss due to the rising cost of raw materials. A lot of owners who could cover the rising cost had to cancel the orders or even close down their factory. Lam had a good credit record and could obtain bank loans and interest-free advance from clients to buy materials when he was short of funds. It was Lam’s belief that the success rate of applying for loans depended upon a factory owner’s credit he or she had built up over the past. With a letter of credit from the client, an owner could get a 50% loan from the bank (Editor’s loan that was equvilaent to 50% of the total price of the order). There were three main factors that determined the success of a plastic factory owners, namely cost of raw materials, labour and packing materials (such as toy accessories). Each of them accounted for 1/3 of the total cost. Remaining factors would be management fees and profit. The supply of raw material supply was the most unpredictable of all factors, and this had got Lam into trouble at three different points in time. Lam reiterated that loyalty, diligence and trustworthiness were the factors of success.

Title	Mitigating the Problem of Raw Material Cost Inflation
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	5m46s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-029

Lam believed that humility, conscientiousness and trustworthiness were the keys to success. Plastic factory owners used to be inexperienced, but if they humbly sought their clients’ advice, they would be able to improve their techniques and raise the supply of funds for moulding. However, if they made empty promises to clients and failed to keep to their words, this would harm their future business. Some owners used to go astray and brought their clients to night clubs for entertainment. This caused the clients to lose faith.

The founder of the Glorisun Group worked with modesty and built his business upon clients’ support. Lam believed that working hard meant that one should never think of retiring, be willing to sustain losses, and even forgo one’s own leisure time to meet production deadline. In the early years, owners of Chaozhou origin stayed at their factories all day long. They sent their sons or staff to deliver samples and solicit orders from clients. Some worked outside the office during daytime to take orders and returned to the factory during the night to focus on production. Lam brought up the case of an owner, Leung, as an example: Leung arrived in Hong Kong from Zengcheng with just two taels of gold in his pocket. Renting a bed space in Shatin, he learnt about plastic production methods from his housemate. Leung invested his two taels of gold in making moulds, which he then handed over to his friend to make casino tokens. When he had saved up enough money, he opened a business in Tung Tau Village. In the day time, he visited the mahjong centres in the city to sell his tokens by way of consignment. He returned to his workshop at night to run production of plastic tokens. Once the business began to grow, he switched to making toy products. He later got into the fan manufacturing industry after getting an order from Dodwell to produce fans out of sandalwood. He possessed 10 machines at the same time, and enjoyed a reputation as “the King of Fan”. In summary, Leung made his way to success because of his diligence, modesty and faithfulness.

Title	The Road to Success for First-Generation Plastic Factory Owners
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	13m2s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-030

When Lam was an employee at Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd., the company expanded on its raw plastic material business, acting as an agent for importers from Britain, USA, Germany and Italy, from whom he bought and resold plastic materials to local factories. Lam once conducted a research for information about American plastic firms such as Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Rohm & Haas, and Du Pontetc. In those days, Yuen Hing Hong used to represent British companies like Distiller Plastic Groups, Imperial Chemicals Industries, Saro (High Impact Polystyrene Sheet), and British Celanese (Cellulose Acetate). Simultaneously, Yuen Hing Hong was an agent for Styrene Hair, which was artificial hair made of Styrene for toy dolls, and for nylon, which was used to make toothbrushes. In 1960, Lam was invited by Distiller Plastic Groups to go on training in the UK. Larger companies such as Monsanto and Dow Chemical had appointed their agents in Hong Kong from early on.

From 1947, some small-scale plastic factories in Hong Kong had been buying raw materials via Yuen Hing Hong to produce spoons, small bowls, combs, dolls, and imitation jewellery targeted markets in Southeast Asia. Yuen Hing Hong once sold perspex sheets to a mahjong factory on Wellington Street. Perspex sheet was a kind of plastic materials that were used to produce mahjong tiles, signs, lampshades, lamps, and umbrella handles. Winsome Plastic Works used to make sign stands which can be placed on reception desks. In the post-war period, major plastics works in Hong Kong were founded by wealthy Shanghainese industrialists, including Kader, Chong Yuen, Far East Plastic, Perfekta and Po Yuen initially produced toothbrushes. Early suppliers of plastic materials were Chinachem, Wo Foo Plastics, Tins Chemical and Wah Sun Hong etc. Chinachem was an agent for an American material called ‘US Chemical High Density Polyethylene 666’, while Wo Foo Plastics and Tins Chemical focused on making PVC materials. H.C. Chieng, a plastic tycoon who ran factories in Shanghai, moved to Hong Kong in 1946/47 and openedChong Yuen on Tam Kung Road, To Kwa Wan, making daily products such as plates and hangers.

Title	Raw Material Suppliers and Factory Owners in the Beginning Stage of Plastic Manufacturing Industry
Date	29/09/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	14m8s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-031

With the exception of rich Shanghainese industrialists, most Hong Kong-based toy manufacturers in the 1950s came from a humble background. Constrained by a lack of fund, technology and experience, they struggled to keep their business survived. Lam tried his best to help his industrial partners to solve their cash flow problem, so that they could get through dire situations. In the early days, the manufacturers usually raised money from their relatives before resorting to borrow from load sharks. They spent the money on running their businesses and sending their children abroad for school so that the children might come home and set up their own enterprises as well. Lam cited the examples of four of his industrial partners to show how early Hong Kong industrialists were zealous and were reliant upon each other to tackle the difficulties with limited cash flow.

1) When Lam was working at Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd, a factory owner, named Tong, established a factory on Wai Ching Street with several Three-Quarter Ounce Injection Moulding Machines. Tong once purchased 100 pounds of materials from Yuen Hing Hong but was not able to pay the balance of 300 dollars on time. Lam lent his whole month’s salary to Tong to pay for the materials without the knowledge of his own boss.
2) The father of Wo Foo Group’s Chairman Joseph Lee came to Hong Kong from Ningbo, and built a hut out of iron boards at the bottom of Lee Garden. There, he boiled rosin in barrels and sold them to mahjong houses.
3) The father of the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries Cliff Sun arrived in Hong Kong from Ningbo after the war, and rented half of a shop on Shantung Road, where he worked as a mechanic. He did not have the resource to install a telephone.
4) A certain factory owner from Tianjin, who worked at Dah Chung Manufacturing Co. Ltd before, settled down on Yu Chau Street and installed four sets of Three-Quarter Ounce Injection Moulding Machines. These moulding machines could only produce products below the weight of 0.75 ounce. Once he was not able to pay the rent of 500 dollars, and Lam lent him 2 months’ salary so that he could get through the hard time.

Title	Rough Start for First-generation Plastic Factory Owners
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	13m11s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-032

In the 1950s, when Lam was not able to get bank loans, he borrowed from loan sharks. Later on, with his outstanding business performance, Lam convinced the banks to lend him money without putting down any collateral. A bank once consulted Lam’s American client about Lam’s credibility. That client laid complete trust in Lam’s Alice Doll Fashions Limited upon learning about his credit record. Lam worked frequently with banks and his clients, with whom he had built a good and lasting rapport. In the past, Lam used to dine alongside his clients and the banks. Even his clients came under the investigation of the banks.

In the early times, factory owners from Chaozhou and Guangdong, unlike their Shanghainese counterparts, only had limited funds and their factory buildings were often quite crude. It cost a lot of money for the owners to buy raw materials and make moulds. However, it was not common for the exporters to lay down a deposit in advance. Since the profit margin of their products was large enough, the owners would not hesitate to get usurious loans with an interest rate of as high as 40% a month. Between the 1950s and 1960s, some banks would accept the clients’ purchasing orders as a kind of collateral. If the owners were able to present a letter of credit, the bankers would approve the loans for sure. Those who had better credit record could even obtain a 50% loan against the amount of the letter of credit. If the owners were diligent and humble, some exporters and hongs were willing to give them advance payment.

Title	The Methods of Collecting Funds Among the First-Generation Plastic Factory Owners (I)
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	6m56s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-033

Apart from bank loan, plastic industrialists also borrowed from loan sharks. Interest rate was rather harsh. At that time the government did not impose control on private loan. Those who reported to the government would lose their borrowing privileges. It was a common practice that creditors could not resort to legal means and intimidation to debtors who failed to repay. Lending was a lucrative business at that time. Borrowers could not get a full sum of loan. For example, a borrower only obtained $6,000 from a $10,000 -loan. Small Chinese-capital banks such as Canton Trust and Commercial Bank was used to extend credit to Chinese industrialists.

Lam had lent to numerous small industrialists. He once over-drafted two-month pay, i.e. $500, to help a customer of Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd. He also lent $5000 to an industrialist who was going to found his business. Lam reiterated that at that time industrialist were suffered from fund shortage when they started up their business. They only borrowed for their enterprise. Hong Kong’s toy industry thrived in the 1970s. Industrialists strengthened their financial status so they no longer relied on loan sharks. Lam only got collateral loans from bank. In most cases he picked HSBC as both parties had built up a long-term partnership. Usually he was able to secure a 30% loan while 50% was his maximum. Industrialists often obtained loan from small banks without putting down any collateral. Bank staffs tended to extract commissions from borrowers. This practice was especially popular in Taiwan.

Title	The Methods of Collecting Funds Among the First-Generation Plastic Factory Owners (II)
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	24m23s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-034

In the 1950s, apart from engaging in raw material business at Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd, Lam also ran a few plastic factories and met with clients frequently to obtain orders. Lam’s fine reputation in the plastic manufacturing industry helped him develop his business. Foreign-made toys generally did not register for trademark patent at that time, resulting that the Hong Kong manufactures simply replicated the design of foreign toys in the same way as the Japanese replicated German design. Local toy manufactures did not speak much English and so they replied on ‘hongs’ (exporters) heavily to find orders of export. Each time when a hong received the visit of a client from overseas, they would notify the local manufactures and arrange them to meet the clients at the hong’s office. The manufacturers would bring sample products to show to the clients. Lam spoke fluent English, which was his competitive advantage over his competitors in the industry. Most of his clients came from the UK and the US. The Americans specifically imported plastic goods for large retail stores such as K-mart and Wal-mart. It was a standard practice for the hong’s employees to get rebate from manufacturers in the early years. If they didn’t receive satisfactory rebate, sometimes these hong’s agents disclosed the sample design of this manufacturer to another competitor. This was known as ‘order transfer’. Lam recalled one occasion when he witnessed such transfer unfairly:

One of the products that Lam made was making good deals, but in one occasion, a deal was called off because the hong tried to suppress the selling price. A sales agent under Lam passed this product sample to another factory, which put this design into production as promoted by the hong to the importer client. When this action was finally revealed, Lam decided not to work with the hong again and demanded the hong to settle the dispute by:

1) Calling off the transaction with the importer client;
2) Arranging placing the order with Lam’s factory again;
3) Destroying the sample products that were leaked out.

The hong accepted the terms, as Lam pledged to take this case to the court if they did not do so. Lam never hired that salesperson again because he breached the rules. Even though there were no legislations regulating trademark patent, Lam thought he had a strong ground to bring an indictment against that hong. Lam also told his fellow industrialists about this inappropriate act which the hong used to work with. Lam believed that manufacturers at the early stage of post-war industrialization were not well educated and therefore were easily manipulated by the hongs. They encountered difficulty prosecuting for the hong’s liability when an ‘order transfer’ happened. A Jewish client had said heavy words to a factory owner, accusing the owner for asking unreasonable prices. Lam mobilized his industrial partners to boycott this Jewish hong. Lam could not tolerate any breach of copyright. He once turned his collaborative partners in to the authorities for counterfeiting two trademarked products, setting a precedent in the toy industry. As of result of Lam’s impartiality, he was well respected by his clients. Up till now, he had trained more than 30 of his staff to start their own businesses.

Title	The Hongs Controlled the Plastic Manufacturing Industry in the 1950s and 1960s
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	16m32s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-035

The toy and plastic factory owners used to show solidarity in the old days, and they would always get together to share information. The first industrial association was the The Hong Kong Plastics Manufacturers Association (HKPMA). It composed of the more successful, larger factories. They organised mah-jong meetings and dinner gatherings every month. The smaller factories, which were not invited to join HKMPA, formed the Hong Kong & Kowloon Plastic Products Merchants United Association Limited (HKA) and The Chiu Chau Plastic Manufacturers Association Co., Ltd (CCA). Members of HKA shared a lot in common as they came from more grassroots background. The way larger and smaller factories received orders was different. Firstly, smaller factory owners went to the hong to meet clients collectively, and brought with them a range of product options. They coordinated with each other as to how the orders received for different products could be distributed among themselves. In those days, competition was not keen as the demand was sufficient enough to keep everyone afloat. On the other hand, larger factories went straight to the clients’ office or even invited the client to dine out to maintain customer relationship.

Secondly, some small factory owners ran around with samples of their products every day to introduce their products to potential customers. After meetings , the owners would meet up for tea. On the contrary, large factory owners sent sales representatives to visit their customers and seldom socialized with small factory owners. In this way, two different business circles were formed. Overseas buyers usually gave larger orders to larger factories. Sometimes, however, if the buyers intended to give a chance to certain small factory, they would place large orders as well. Small factories had lower production cost, and could offer more attractive prices to buyers. Lam was both the honorary chairman of HKPMA and HKA, while being a friend of CCA. That was why he was familiar with different styles of business operation. The leading companies in the HKA were Tai Nam, Shun Kwong, Sun Motor and Chun Yip. HKA had gatherings at Kin Kwok Restaurant in the Central. In 1996, Lam also joined the new Toys Manufacturers Association of Hong Kong.

Title	The Emergence of Various Chambers of Plastic Factory Owners in the1950s and 60s as Venues for Information Exchange
Date	12/11/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	12m54s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-036

In 1958/59, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries set up the Chau Sik-nin Foundation with an endowment of HK$500,000. A hundred industrialists sponsored HK$5,000 each by invitation. The fund was used for training talents for the plastic manufacturing industry and sending young workers to learn about mechanical and material knowledge through internship. In 1960, Yuen Hing Hong Co. Ltd’s supplier in Britain, Distiller Plastics Group, invited Lam to the UK to undertake training. The Federation subsequently set up a quality control centre and a science management association. Lam regarded these as landmarking steps taken by the government to boost industrial development.

Title	Support offered by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries to the Plastic Manufacturers
Date	19/10/2010
Subject	Industry
Duration	3m33s
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.	LKF-LT-SEG-037