Wong Wing Man

Biography Highlights Records Photos & Documents
Wong Wing Man’s personal background. His father’s relationship with Amoy. How he moved to Hong ...

Wong Wing Man was born in Xiamen, Fujian Province in 1934 and completed his primary education in Gulangyu. In 1948 or 1949, he moved to Hong Kong. Wong Wing Man’s father was a construction worker and often carried out building works for then Amoy chairman Huang Du Xiu and his family. In addition to being the boss of Amoy, Huang Du Xiu was a fellow townsmen of Wong Wing Man’s family. After World War II, Huang Du Xiu asked Wong Wing Man’s father to come to Hong Kong to carry out building works for Amoy. In those days, many of the company’s mainland Chinese staff returned to their hometowns in Fujian during their annual one-month leaves. It was during one of these trips that Wong Wing Man’s father asked Amoy’s financial executive to bring his son to Hong Kong when he returned from his leave. While only just 14 to 15 years old when he boarded the boat to Hong Kong, Wong Wing Man had already ceased schooling. Upon his arrival in the Territory, he immediately met up with his father at the Amoy Industrial Estate. Years later, Wong Wing Man recalled that life had been very miserable when he first came to Hong Kong. He found it very difficult to communicate with others because he did not speak Cantonese. During these early days, Wong Wing Man lived with his father in the staff dormitory at the Amoy Industrial Estate. Soon, Amoy’s building department took him on as a casual handyman for various cement works. While his daily wage of $0.20 ($1.2 for six days) was supposed to be paid weekly, he had to wait 30 days or so before receiving his first wage packet. Around 3 or 4months later, Wong Wing Man became a permanent employee.




Title Wong Wing Man’s personal background. His father’s relationship with Amoy. How he moved to Hong Kong and joined the company. Moving from being a casual worker to a permanent member of staff
Date 12/08/2010
Subject Social Life
Duration 5m55s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-001
Amoy’s building department was responsible for building works large and small. Wong Wing Man’s ...

Back then, Amoy’s building department employed around two to three technicians. The department also took on casual handymen to handle non-specific assignments. Whenever there was a shortage of workers in other Amoy departments, these handymen would be sent to help out. The building department was responsible for the company’s small scale building works and repair and maintenance jobs. Their specific responsibilities covered everything from painting and the repair of broken items to building dormitories and constructing concrete drying pools. Back then, Amoy used to sun-dry its soy sauce in vats before switching to concrete pools. As Amoy Industrial Estate had lots of space near an adjoining hill, many square concrete pools were built for sun-drying soy sauce.

Wong Wing Man’s monthly salary for his first month as a permanent employee with Amoy’s building department was $32. After working there for a year, he was transferred to the engine room to learn can making. Amoy produced canned food and bought steel materials to make its own cans. Wong Wing Man learned how to operate can machines from his technician colleagues in the engine room. As this area was also home to lathes and technicians, Wong Wing Man was also taught how to maintain machinery. He subsequently began to repair machines and electrical appliances such as air-conditioners and motors.




Title Amoy’s building department was responsible for building works large and small. Wong Wing Man’s wage after becoming a permanent employee and his duties after transferring to the engine room
Date 12/08/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 4m32s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-002
Production of cans, preserved gingers and soy sauce

The iron used to make Amoy’s cans was ordered and imported from overseas with vessels divided into half-pound, one-pound and five-pound variants. The cut iron plates were fed into the machines to undergo processes known as flanging, lidding and pressure leak testing. Afterwards, empty cans were stored in warehouses. While half-pound and one-pound cans were manufactured by fully automated machines, the five-pound cans had to be processed manually. Amoy was the first company in Hong Kong to produce canned dace with salted black beans. Wong Wing Man thought that Amoy’s canned dace with salted black beans tasted delicious and gave off a mouthwatering aroma when deep-fried with lard and Amoy’s salted black beans.

After relocating its plant from Ngau Tau Kok to Tsuen Wan, Amoy began buying cans from Singapore rather than making the containers itself. As a result, the company eventually ceased production of cans for dace with salted black beans. From the 1950s to the 1960s, Amoy produced a wide variety of canned foods including pigs’ trotters with ginger, shark’s fin, minced fish, longans, lychees, pickled shallots, bamboo shoots, mixed vegetables, dace with salted black beans, salted black beans, miso and pickled cucumbers. The white cucumbers used to make this last delicacy were imported from China before being preserved by male and female casual staff working overtime shifts. Different kinds of food were either canned manually or by machines in the pickle room and then sent to another department for vacuum sterilisation and capping by machines. Female workers in the pickle room canned the food while their male colleagues transported the goods. Amoy’s canned food was not only sold locally but also exported overseas.

Amoy’s preserved gingers were very expensive and so tended to be exported. Preserved gingers were made of ginger cubes which were divided into wet and dry piles and graded according to size. All gingers used were imported from China. After the raw gingers were peeled manually by the female workers, they were preserved in a big pool with salt. Technicians had their own secret recipe for making preserved gingers, often testing the temperature of the sugar being heated with their bare hands before adding the ginger cubes.

Employees’ first step in making soy sauce was to soak soya beans in water during the day and then pick them up and leave them in the hall before clocking off and heading home. At around 5 to 6 a.m. the next morning, the beans would be steamed in an oven. The cooked beans were then placed on the floor to cool, ploughed loose, mixed with flour, fermented and then left to get mildewed. The male workers took charge of these steps while their female colleagues hard-pressed the remains of the beans to help them dehydrate. The technicians making soy sauce also had their secret techniques. To this end, they often sprayed the beans with fluid to reduce the temperature or turned up the oven to increase the heat according to the demands of the fermentation process.

Between the 1940s and the 1950s, Amoy’s boss was a native of Fujian. As a result most of the company’s male workforce was predominantly made up of Fujianese people mixed with a few locals or migrants from Chaozhou. Surprisingly, there were very few female workers from Fujian.




Title Production of cans, preserved gingers and soy sauce
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 19m38s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-003
Wong Wing Man’s career in Amoy’s engineering department. He experienced Amoy’s ownership chang...

Wong Wing Man’s initial duties in the engineering department included can making and maintenance work. After producing a specific number of cans by using the can making machines, he would assist in maintenance work, repairing machines and water pipes for any department where his skills were needed. Later, Amoy acquired the Singaporean-owned Green Spot soft drinks factory and began producing sodas and pops. In 1960, Wong Wing Man was sent to British Oxygen Co. Ltd. (the present-day Hong Kong and China Gas Co. Ltd.) to learn the aluminum welding skills needed to repair soft drinks delivery lorries. Around this time, Amoy was sold to Sime Darby and Wong Wing Man was promoted to deputy head of the engineering department. In 1978, Sime Darby sold Amoy to Hang Lung.

In 1977, Amoy Industrial Estate began the first stage of its move to Tsuen Wan and hired a new manager to manage the Tsuen Wan plant. Half of the can making and maintenance staff and machinery from the Ngau Tze Wan plant were moved to Tsuen Wan at this time. The new manager relocated Wong Wing Man to Tsuen Wan and put him in charge of overall supervision of the engineering department’s can making and maintenance work there. While Amoy was based in Tsuen Wan, it acquired Royal Dragon Dim Sum. As a result, Wong Wing Man was also in charge of managing maintenance work for the dim sum machines at Tai Po. In 1987, the entire Amoy plant was relocated to Tai Po.

In 2000, Wong Wing Man reached the age of 66 and finally retired from his post in charge of the engineering department. In his half-century career with Amoy, he had served between seven and eight managers and had earned the wholehearted trust of each and every one. Though Amoy experienced a few ownership changes, Wong Wing Man retained his deep sense of loyalty to the company.




Title Wong Wing Man’s career in Amoy’s engineering department. He experienced Amoy’s ownership changes and plant relocations while continuing to maintain a good relationship with the company’s management.
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 13m49s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-004
How male and female workers joined Amoy and their opportunities for career advancement.
Wong Wing Man often remarked on how hard it was to find jobs in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s. In those years, immigrant workers tended not have any skills. As a result, men usually joined Amoy as handymen before transferring to various departments as permanent staff. The men learned as they worked and could eventually be promoted to become technicians. Wong Wing Man recalled that all soy sauce department technicians started off as handymen and only achieved technician status after gaining some 10 years’ experience. Around 30 to 40 male workers joined Amoy at the same time as Wong Wing Man and Amoy provided them all with bed and board. Female workers were usually introduced by people connected with the company and were often permanent workers’ family members. Female employees tended to carry out work such as cutting cucumbers, sorting beans and gluing can labels in the pickle room. In those times, women had no promotion prospects and were paid just $0.60-0.70 each day.


Title How male and female workers joined Amoy and their opportunities for career advancement.
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 5m11s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-005
Conditions for admission into Amoy’s dormitory and facilities available to residents

Amoy Industrial Estate had its own staff dormitory, nicknamed the “Bachelors’ Dormitory”, which was situated near its hillside area. The two-storey high facility had 13 to 15 rooms on each level with around four iron beds to each room. While workers did not have to pay rent, they were required to bring along their own bed sheets and mats. Amoy’s unmarried senior permanent employees were eligible for admission to the dormitory but had to move out after they got married.

In the early 1960s, Amoy built a welfare building where married senior permanent employees could apply for family flats. The welfare building was situated in the area now known as Amoy Garden Phase 4. Each small flat had an area of around 300 sq. ft. There were also larger flats which had their own store room available for a monthly rent of $10 more. When the welfare building was first completed, department heads and management grade staff were given first choice on which flats to occupy. At that time, Wong Wing Man was a deputy head and married with a child. He chose a small flat on the fifth floor facing east, later applying to move to a larger unit. After Hang Lung acquired Amoy, the welfare building was demolished and all residents received compensation. As the tenant of a larger flat, the compensation Wong Wing Man and his family received was $20,000 more than that given to residents of smaller units. The welfare building also once housed facilities such as a clinic, a nursery and a co-operative association.
 




Title Conditions for admission into Amoy’s dormitory and facilities available to residents
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 9m25s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-006
Living and entertainment in Amoy Industrial Estate. Family burdens and how Amoy cared for its sta...

When Amoy Industrial Estate was located at Ngau Tze Wan between the 1950s and 1960s, workers led a simple and happy life. Three meals were served, with congee for breakfast and rice for lunch and dinner. After dinner, workers often relaxed by playing basketball or ping pong or enjoying a night out in Kowloon City. To get to Kowloon City, staff either had to walk for an hour or take a bus and pay for a $0.10 ticket. At that time, the No. 5 bus route went to Kowloon City and the nearest bus stop was near what is now Ping Shek Estate. By far the most popular form of entertainment in those days was fishing for clams and crabs. The seaside was just across the road opposite the main entrance of Amoy Industrial Estate. Many workers took buckets to catch the clams and crabs and returned home with full loads almost every time. Wong Wing Man liked basketball and always tried to play during lunch breaks and after work. At that time, Amoy’s workers tended to be simple and modest and only a handful of them gambled. During the period when the plant began operating at Tai Po, more workers started to place wagers. Wong Wing Man recalled a story of how one thrifty male worker from the pickle room bought gold after receiving his annual double pay at Chinese New Year.

As Wong Wing Man had nine brothers and sisters and was the eldest son of a poor family, he tended to give all his wages to his parents. Because he lived and had meals in Amoy during work days and holidays and had no other entertainment, Wong Wing Man had very few outgoings.

Wong Wing Man enjoyed Amoy’s good welfare, as free meals were provided to male workers every day. On every Sunday, staff took their families to dine in the estate canteen and brought home any leftovers. Children could also play on the Amoy basketball court. The company even had a laundry room and hired three female workers for washing. It cost only $4 a month to have the entire family’s clothes and bed sheets cleaned! Despite Amoy’s several changes of ownership during Wong Wing Man’s career, the company continued to offer excellent welfare benefits.




Title Living and entertainment in Amoy Industrial Estate. Family burdens and how Amoy cared for its staff’s welfare.
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 7m24s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-007
Amoy’s basketball team played in open matches. Workers composed the Amoy song and celebrated fes...

The basketball team formed by Amoy’s employees participated in matches for the annual Factory Cup tournament. Organised by the Hong Kong Basketball Association, this challenge was open to all factories in Hong Kong. Later, Amoy’s management hired top local basketball stars to form a professional team and participate in open matches in Hong Kong and Singapore for promotional purposes. The professional team was coached by Shek Chun Tat and had famous players like Ng Yet Ang, Joachim H. L. Poon and Yung Pi Hock. When not playing in open matches, the pros played against teams of employees in order to allow the staff players to sharpen their skills. Called the Lucky Team, the Amoy employees’ team played in two or three open matches and was rated as being a dark horse by the press. The staff team was organised by Amoy’s senior accountant Wong Ching Hang. In those years, Radio Hong Kong visited factories and interviewed people there for broadcast every Saturday. Amoy was among the companies whose staff was interviewed. Wong Ching Hang composed the Amoy company song “The One Family of Amoy” and Radio Hong Kong recorded and broadcast it. Wong Wing Man still remembers a few lines of the song he and his colleagues would sing together during festival celebrations! Wong Ching Hang was later promoted as the manager of Amoy’s paper products factory.

During traditional celebrations such as Chinese New Year and Mid Autumn Festival, Amoy either added more dishes to its usual menu or threw parties in the canteen so its employees could celebrate.




Title Amoy’s basketball team played in open matches. Workers composed the Amoy song and celebrated festivals with their colleagues.
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 9m36s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-008
Memories of Amoy’s stall at Hong Kong Product Expo in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Wong Wing Man also helped out Amoy’s stalls at the Hong Kong Products Expos (HKPE) held in Tsim Sha Tsui, taking charge of operating the machines for transporting cans and for launching flying saucers. Flying saucers were ejected once every half an hour and attracted big audiences. A few Expos were held in Tsim Sha Tsui in the 1950s and Wong Wing Man worked on Amoy’s stalls at around this time. Many people liked to buy Amoy’s soy sauce here and the company also gave away tens of thousands of small souvenir bottles free of charge each day. People also liked to buy canned dace with salted black beans and pig’s trotters with gingers. At that time, no other company in Hong Kong produced canned dace with salted black beans. In those years, Amoy was a very big name locally and its boss Huang Du Xiu had served as Chairman of the Chinese Manufacturers Association. As a result, he always demanded the staff manning Amoy’s stall do their very best.


Title Memories of Amoy’s stall at Hong Kong Product Expo in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 8m7s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-009
Principles of managing Amoy’s engineering department. Examples of maintaining his excellent rela...

When Wong Wing Man was head of Amoy’s engineering department, he hired and promoted people based on their talent, also appraising their performance to determine salary increases. When assessing annual pay increases, he used different methods to fight for increases for the subordinates whose had good performances
There were several subordinates had most impressed him. One worker called Tse was familiar with electrical appliances and was very good at resolving problems. Another colleague called Li had majored in chemistry at university was a very hard worker in the air-conditioning maintenance team. A third man called Tsui operated the shumai dumpling machines. He had also fine-tuned the Japan-made spring roll wrapper machine so Amoy’s mainland plant could make thin wrappers.

Wong Wing Man took pride in being impartial when it came to business and was not greedy for the company’s praise or property. When offered kickbacks by outside suppliers of metals and iron materials, he refused or referred their offers to Amoy’s management.

Wong Wing Man enjoyed an excellent relationship with his bosses. Indeed, so close were the ties that even those retiring or moving to other companies tended to stay in touch with him in later years.

Wong Wing Man felt lucky to work for Amoy as the company made it possible for him to raise and bring up his son and daughter by offering scholarships to its employees’ children.




Title Principles of managing Amoy’s engineering department. Examples of maintaining his excellent relationship with the company’s management. Working for Amoy helped his children with their education opportunities
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 12m27s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-010
The relocation of Amoy’s plant from Ngau Tze Wan to Tsuen Wan and then Tai Po.

Between the 1970s and 1980s, Amoy’s ownership changed hands several times. After the Amoy Industrial Estate at Ngau Tse Wan was sold to Hang Lung, the buyer decided to demolish it and redevelop the site into today’s Amoy Gardens. They then gradually moved the production departments and the paper products factory to Tsuen Wan, leaving the sauce and soy sauce departments in Ngau Tze Wan. The Tsuen Wan plant was originally the South Sea Textile factory and apart from land and buildings was also home to pier. As Amoy only bought part of the plant there for temporary use, there was no dormitory in Tsuen Wan. That said, the factory did have a canteen and bus service. Some workers left Amoy around this time blaming the long distance involved in travelling to work causing the Tsuen Wan plant to recruit replacements.

The Tsuen Wan factory occupied a smaller area than the Ngau Tze Wan plant and therefore did not have the space needed to build large pools to sun-dry the soy sauce and pickle cucumbers. Instead, the Ngau Tze Wan plant prepared large quantities of both products and then transported them in batches to Tsuen Wan for packing and canning. Such a division meant the work atmosphere and habits at Amoy changed radically. As the new manager at the Tsuen Wan plant was not familiar with the mechanical operation of the canning and soy sauce machines, he often had to ask Wong Wing Man for advice. This made Wong Wing Man feel that his work was much more valued.

Amoy later acquired Royal Dragon Dim Sum, the production for which was carried out at Tai Po. Amoy first purchased an old plant at Tai Po Industrial Estate and then built a factory building which remains an Amoy plant to this day. The company later built pools to store the materials from the Tsuen Wan plant. The old plant in Tai Po (originally the Royal Dragon Dim Sum factory) was situated at No. 7 Dai Fu Street which is now occupied by Convenience Foods International Ltd. In the short term, Amoy made its main sauces here before gradually moving operations to its newly constructed factory building. During the relocation, the pickles department stopped production gradually until all materials had been used up and the company ceased producing canned foods. The paper products factory was also initially moved to Tsuen Wan and subsequently sold after Amoy’s move to Tai Po.




Title The relocation of Amoy’s plant from Ngau Tze Wan to Tsuen Wan and then Tai Po.
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 11m56s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-011
Increased responsibility for maintaining machinery from Royal Dragon. Dim Sum. Amoy’s maintenanc...
As the Ngau Tze Wan plant did not make dim sum, Amoy’s acquisition of Royal Dragon Dim Sum meant Wong Wing Man was given increased responsibility for overseeing the management of machine maintenance workers at Royal Dragon Dim Sum. Wong Wing Man and a subordinate named Lam subsequently took charge of the machinery maintenance work at the dim sum department. Lam was an engineer from the mainland and could design and assemble equipment such as tape machines. In the 1970s, many mainland immigrants possessed high educational qualification or professional knowledge, but Amoy’s engineering department seldom employed men with such talents. Repair work involved general equipment and techniques that workers usually learned on the job. It was in such a way that Wong Wing Man learned his machinery maintenance skills. Before Amoy moved to Tsuen Wan, most of the 30 people in the engineering department had begun their careers as handymen before being trained up. In the 1970s, Amoy did not hire any school-trained graduates. At that time, the monthly salary for a typical engineering department worker ranged from $6,000 to $10,000.



Title Increased responsibility for maintaining machinery from Royal Dragon. Dim Sum. Amoy’s maintenance technicians started off as handymen.
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 4m5s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-012
The work atmosphere at Tai Po plant and how it changed after Amoy was sold to foreign-invested co...

Staff who had worked with Amoy at Ngau Tze Wan plant found the atmosphere at the new Tai Po Industrial Estate plant to be a real change. Following the relocation, only a few employees with over 10 years’ seniority continued working at Tai Po. Newly-joined employees were understandably simply not as close as before. Without possessing particularly good skills, some new employees earned an average wage. As a result, they were not as committed to their work and had no sense of loyalty to Amoy. Such staff often left shortly after joining. Whether or not loyal employees would stay or leave ultimately depended on whether or not they could communicate and get along with the new management.

In the 1980s, Amoy was sold to several foreign-owned companies. As management and policies were different to those of the past, employees needed time to adapt. Happily, Wong Wing Man’s work was not seriously affected by these changes.

In the past, the Tai Po plant produced frozen dim sum. When machines broke down, raw ingredients would pile up and decay very quickly. As a result, speedy repair work was vital. Nowadays, all frozen dim sum such as prawn and shaomai dumplings are produced in a mainland plant equipped with advanced cold storage warehouse to keep the raw materials fresh. As a result, when machines break down, there is no longer any real urgency involved in repair work.




Title The work atmosphere at Tai Po plant and how it changed after Amoy was sold to foreign-invested companies. The impact of the ownership transfer on the engineering department
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 6m8s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-013
Assigning subordinates according to their capabilities. The wide ranging scope of duties of engin...

Wong Wing Man appointed his team members according to their different capabilities. One colleague named Cheung was skilled at lathe and other maintenance work. Wong Wing Man sent him to different departments to repair machines so he might add to his knowledge. After Wong Wing Man retired, Cheung took over the management of the engineering department. Wong Wing Man also assigned another subordinate nicknamed Ah Ko to make the most of his aptitude for cold storage. Ah Ko eventually went on to manage the machines in the cold store. When recruiting new employees, Wong Wing Man attached great importance to capabilities. He subsequently tested applicants’ skills on machine operation such as lathes. Over the years, he was never influenced by introductions or referrals from people with whom he was acquainted.

Amoy’s engineering department’s key duties included the repair and maintenance of machines, electrical appliances and lathes. Where different products were involved, the team’s duties would vary accordingly. For example, the department was at first responsible for can making, then cold storage work. After relocating to Tai Po, Wong Wing Man and his engineering colleagues had to focus on overseeing wood and cement works, wall painting, repair and mending projects of all sizes.




Title Assigning subordinates according to their capabilities. The wide ranging scope of duties of engineering department
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 5m47s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-014
Wong Wing Man’s lasting impression of his 50-years Amoy career.

From starting out as a new arrival in Hong Kong who did not know how to speak Cantonese, Wong Wing Man worked with Amoy right through until his retirement. The company’s attractive remuneration and benefits meant he saw Amoy as his second home and gave him a strong sense of loyalty that sustained him for more than 50 years. Amoy’s employer-employee relations were very good, with both bosses and workers getting along very well. Wong Wing Man never encountered any problems in his half century with the company. Determined to take good care of its employees, Amoy offered excellent welfare benefits and was one of the first companies in Hong Kong to set up a provident fund and retirement pension scheme for its staff. Wong Wing Man is now close to 80 and is living on his provident fund and retirement scheme. He looks back on his career at Amoy with great fondness.

Wong Wing Man felt sad about Amoy’s sale to Sime Darby as the company had a long and distinguished history and the offspring of his old boss remained in constant contact with him. Though he has long retired, the former and current managers, old colleagues and past workers at Amoy continue to meet Wong Wing Man in teahouses to this day. Wong Wing Man enjoyed many happy moments when working at Amoy, learning several valuable lessons there. He played basketball after work and joined company picnics with fellow workers. In the past, Hung Mui Kuk in Sha Tin was the favourite destination for Amoy company outings. Workers brought along rattan cases filled with peanut butter sandwiches for lunch to these days out. They also went swimming. Every Sunday, Wong Wing Man took to the waters in Clear Water Bay with his fellow workers, colleagues and friends from various departments. Everyone’s happiest moment came in the last half hour of each year’s last working day (Lunar calendar) when Amoy’s general manager passed everyone their annual bonus. Amoy’s bonus came in the form of $10 bank notes, some of which Wong Wing Man still treasures nearly half a century on.

In the past, everyone at Amoy, from the boss to the workers, were like one big family. As a result, there was never any problem in maintaining good working relationships. During the 1967 riots in Hong Kong, some looters wanted to break into the Amoy plant but found employees there were so united that they took turns to guard and stop intruders at the factory gates! While some Amoy workers did join the canning workers’ union, there were never any labour disputes or industrial actions. Like Wong Wing Man, most Amoy employees treated the company as a second home.

When Amoy was acquired by Sime Darby, the outgoing boss rewarded employees with Sime Darby shares Amoy had asked for in the sale price. In subsequent sales by Sime Darby to Hang Lung, then onto French company Danone, and eventually to Japanese company Ajinomoto Co. Ltd., Amoy employees were never again granted such rewards. Wong Wing Man said that while different managers had different styles of dealing with things, he always missed his earliest bosses most.

Wong Wing Man wound up working for Amoy for over 50 years and chartered his course of life peacefully through different stages—getting married, raising a family and above all, living happily every day, both now and then.




Title Wong Wing Man’s lasting impression of his 50-years Amoy career.
Date 05/10/2010
Subject Industry
Duration 13m30s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. AY-WWM-SEG-015