Changes of products from 1950s to 1980s, Expansion of plant size and market

Kin Hip began manufacturing in 1953 with plastic worship cups being its earliest product. Back then, worship cups were usually made of metals which were heavy and not widely available as the production volume was low. Responding to market demand, Sun Kin Chao made his own pressing machines and molds, using plastics to mass produce lighter worship cups which proved to be very popular. In those years, Kin Hip bought plastics in small quantities of around 10 lbs from material stores in Sham Shui Po and Central. Sun Kin Chao later improved the quality of the worship cups by engraving each one with three Chinese characters representing “Fortune, Prosperity and Longetivity”. He later recalled that many retired mainland army officers were left unemployed after returning to Hong Kong after World War II. He eventually employed some of these officers to engrave cups at Kin Hip. After launching his first product, Sun Kin Chao began successively developing more complicated product lines. Based on foreign products bought from department stores, he refined the design, made the mold himself and then put the prototype into production. Sun Kin Chao once modified a comb with a round-shape by a unit cost of US$5 by aluminizing it and selling it at the unbeatably low price of just $0.5! In the early 1960s, Sun Kin Chao went on an overseas study trip to Europe with a local manufacturers’ association. While there, he developed great admiration for German-made stainless steel products. Returning to Hong Kong, he developed and experimented with relevant molds. After a series of trials, he launched some square plates as Kin Hip’s first stainless steel product. In these early years, Kin Hip lacked a formal design or engineering department. As a result, Sun Kin Chao perfected each product on his own. In doing so, he endured much hardship and spent long hours at work every day. Over the years, Sun Kin Chao insisted on producing own-brand products and made sure that every product made bore Kin Hip’s logo and refusing to manufacture for other companies.
When Kin Hip’s factory was at No. 56 Soy Street, it began to produce plastic products. Due to inadequate workshop premise, the company moved to Sung Wong Toi in 1957, renting a government plot of 20,000-30,000 square feet. The new plant was sturdily constructed with I-beams and cement walls that were robust enough to withstand wind and rain. At that time, Kin Hip was the only company to set up a facility at Sung Wong Toi. The lack of utilities there meant that Mr. and Mrs. Sun had to arrange water and electricity supplies themselves. In the 1960s, Kin Hip expanded continuously, relocating initially to Shing Yip Street and then to Hung To Road, both in Kwun Tong. Originally seven storeys high, the company’s plant at Hung To Road generated immense profits when it was eventually redeveloped into a 20-storey building. Sun Kin Chao and his wife began their business by opening a factory in Portland Street with a meager capital of just $1,000-2,000. As the company was small, it was difficult to borrow from banks and any profits were generally spent on expanding the factory rather than on personal enjoyment. The Suns operated the business together in the 1950s when Kin Hip had only a few employees. Sun Kin Chao oversaw mold development, design and production, while his wife took charge of the accounts and taking orders. She also looked after the children and prepared the family meals. Not until 1953 did Kin Hip recruit its first apprentice. It was another two years after that before the company hired its first clerk.
When Kin Hip was producing worship cups, its products were mainly sold to hawkers and shops around Soy Street. In those days, worship cups were a very profitable line of business and many hawkers stocked up from Kin Hip. As most hawkers requested credit terms and only paid after the merchandise was sold, Mrs. Sun felt payment collection was not easy. At that time, some hawkers gathered on the Soy Street during the Chinese New Year eve selling cheap daily necessities on the sidewalk. Kin Hip consigned its worship cups to the hawkers so as to gather enough money to pay for worker’s wages and settle bills before the Chinese New Year. When Choi Cheung Kok’s department store later began to buy Kin Hip’s worship cups in bulk, rickshaws had to be hired to deliver the large orders. In the mid-1950s, the company began hiring clerical staff who were proficient in English to write the letters to overseas buyers. Through this, Kin Hip successfully promoted its products to potential buyers overseas. At the same time, staff joined Mrs. Sun in visiting trading firms, distributing samples and taking orders. Kin Hip had also dealt with Indian firms in Hollywood Road and Nam Pak Hong trading firms at Sheung Wan. Between the 1950s and the 1960s, Kin Hip sold its products directly to trading firms who then exported the products to the overseas markets without informing Kin Hip who or where the buyers were. In those years, trading firms tried to delay settling bills for as long as possible. As a result, Mrs. Sun felt visiting creditors asking for payment was a difficult and often fruitless job. In earlier years, Kin Hip relied on trading firms for orders. Whenever Mrs. Sun received calls about potential customers she would immediately hurry to their office so as not to miss out any business opportunities.

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Interviewee	Sun Kin Chao
Company	Kin Hip Metal and Plastic Fy. Ltd
Date	1950s-1960s
Subject	Industry
Duration	24m53s
Language	Cantonese
Material Type	Audio
Collection	Post-war Industries
Source	Hong Kong Memory Project Oral History Interview
Repository	Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright	Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No.	LKF-SUNS-SEG-003

Kin Hip began manufacturing in 1953 with plastic worship cups being its earliest product. Back then, worship cups were usually made of metals which were heavy and not widely available as the production volume was low. Responding to market demand, Sun Kin Chao made his own pressing machines and molds, using plastics to mass produce lighter worship cups which proved to be very popular. In those years, Kin Hip bought plastics in small quantities of around 10 lbs from material stores in Sham Shui Po and Central. Sun Kin Chao later improved the quality of the worship cups by engraving each one with three Chinese characters representing “Fortune, Prosperity and Longetivity”. He later recalled that many retired mainland army officers were left unemployed after returning to Hong Kong after World War II. He eventually employed some of these officers to engrave cups at Kin Hip. After launching his first product, Sun Kin Chao began successively developing more complicated product lines. Based on foreign products bought from department stores, he refined the design, made the mold himself and then put the prototype into production. Sun Kin Chao once modified a comb with a round-shape by a unit cost of US$5 by aluminizing it and selling it at the unbeatably low price of just $0.5! In the early 1960s, Sun Kin Chao went on an overseas study trip to Europe with a local manufacturers’ association. While there, he developed great admiration for German-made stainless steel products. Returning to Hong Kong, he developed and experimented with relevant molds. After a series of trials, he launched some square plates as Kin Hip’s first stainless steel product. In these early years, Kin Hip lacked a formal design or engineering department. As a result, Sun Kin Chao perfected each product on his own. In doing so, he endured much hardship and spent long hours at work every day. Over the years, Sun Kin Chao insisted on producing own-brand products and made sure that every product made bore Kin Hip’s logo and refusing to manufacture for other companies.<BR>When Kin Hip’s factory was at No. 56 Soy Street, it began to produce plastic products. Due to inadequate workshop premise, the company moved to Sung Wong Toi in 1957, renting a government plot of 20,000-30,000 square feet. The new plant was sturdily constructed with I-beams and cement walls that were robust enough to withstand wind and rain. At that time, Kin Hip was the only company to set up a facility at Sung Wong Toi. The lack of utilities there meant that Mr. and Mrs. Sun had to arrange water and electricity supplies themselves. In the 1960s, Kin Hip expanded continuously, relocating initially to Shing Yip Street and then to Hung To Road, both in Kwun Tong. Originally seven storeys high, the company’s plant at Hung To Road generated immense profits when it was eventually redeveloped into a 20-storey building. Sun Kin Chao and his wife began their business by opening a factory in Portland Street with a meager capital of just $1,000-2,000. As the company was small, it was difficult to borrow from banks and any profits were generally spent on expanding the factory rather than on personal enjoyment. The Suns operated the business together in the 1950s when Kin Hip had only a few employees. Sun Kin Chao oversaw mold development, design and production, while his wife took charge of the accounts and taking orders. She also looked after the children and prepared the family meals. Not until 1953 did Kin Hip recruit its first apprentice. It was another two years after that before the company hired its first clerk.<BR>When Kin Hip was producing worship cups, its products were mainly sold to hawkers and shops around Soy Street. In those days, worship cups were a very profitable line of business and many hawkers stocked up from Kin Hip. As most hawkers requested credit terms and only paid after the merchandise was sold, Mrs. Sun felt payment collection was not easy. At that time, some hawkers gathered on the Soy Street during the Chinese New Year eve selling cheap daily necessities on the sidewalk. Kin Hip consigned its worship cups to the hawkers so as to gather enough money to pay for worker’s wages and settle bills before the Chinese New Year. When Choi Cheung Kok’s department store later began to buy Kin Hip’s worship cups in bulk, rickshaws had to be hired to deliver the large orders. In the mid-1950s, the company began hiring clerical staff who were proficient in English to write the letters to overseas buyers. Through this, Kin Hip successfully promoted its products to potential buyers overseas. At the same time, staff joined Mrs. Sun in visiting trading firms, distributing samples and taking orders. Kin Hip had also dealt with Indian firms in Hollywood Road and Nam Pak Hong trading firms at Sheung Wan. Between the 1950s and the 1960s, Kin Hip sold its products directly to trading firms who then exported the products to the overseas markets without informing Kin Hip who or where the buyers were. In those years, trading firms tried to delay settling bills for as long as possible. As a result, Mrs. Sun felt visiting creditors asking for payment was a difficult and often fruitless job. In earlier years, Kin Hip relied on trading firms for orders. Whenever Mrs. Sun received calls about potential customers she would immediately hurry to their office so as not to miss out any business opportunities.

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The founder of The China Paint Manufacturing Company, Lam Kwan, native of Taishan, had good academic performance in his early age. He had studied in the United States. While Lam was studying in the U.S., he not only worked in farms picking up fruits but also taught Chinese classes for Chinese-American. He graduated from Brooklyn Institute, New York, while the U.S. was hit by the Great Depression. He recommended himself to a paint manufacturing company and got accepted. Another founder of The China Paint Manufacturing Company, Lam On, the father of Paul Lam and the brother of Lam Kwan, had studied in Guangzhou Lingnan Secondary School and Pui Ching Middle School.

After Lam Kwan returned to Hong Kong from the United States, he founded a small paint factory (The China Paint Manufacturing Company) with his brother, Lam On. Since Lam Kwan had received education on chemical engineering, he brought related skills and knowledge to the factory. At the beginning, the factory produced metal paint and wood paint. The National Lacquer and Paint Products Company were separately founded in the same year (1931).
The China Paint Manufacturing Company had a limited capital to start with; the founders collected the capital from their family while there were only 6 employees. During the Japanese Occupation, the production of The China Manufacturing Company stopped. Lam Kwan turned to produce and sell peanut candy in Liuzhou, Guangxi to sustain his living. In 1946, The China Paint Manufacturing Company was re-registered and the founders raised more fund by selling shares. However, the company scale remained relatively small.

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Other than Paul Lam, Lam Mo Bill (The son of Lam Kwan), was also the second-generation successor of The China Paint Manufacturing Company. Paul Lam graduated from the University of California, Berlekey with Chemistry major. Lam Mo Bill graduated from Stanford University with Chemistry major too. Since there was no specialized discipline on paint technology in the universities, the only way for people to learn about paint was to study chemistry and to take courses that had contents of paint, such as polymer chemistry. Usually, paint companies would obtain knowledge of paint technology by setting up licensing arrangements with foreign companies. In 1965, The China Paint Manufacturing Company employed the first chemist.
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After Paul Lam graduated from university, he had worked oversea for seven years. During that period of time, The China Paint Manufacturing Company had planned to take over a joint venture in Singapore, to improve the unsatisfactory performance of the company. Lam Kwan and Lam On invited Paul Lam to manage the company in Singapore. In arriving at Singapore, he found that the business was not a good investment, he decided to forgo the take-over and returned to Hong Kong. Although paint industry is one kind of chemical industry, Paul Lam considered himself know little about paint. Initially he had no intention to stay and work for the company. Not long afterwards, Lam Kwan died of heart disease. Paul Lam had worked in Hong Kong for less than a year and then returned to his previous employer in the United States. Under the urge of the family, he eventually returned to Hong Kong to help with the family business.

The Lam’s family used to respect the individual interests and initiatives of the younger generation and seldom imposed pressure to the descendants to inherit the family business. For example, all the children of Paul Lam did not major in science specialties and he didn’t plan to arrange his children to be successors.

Paul Lam had studied in La Salle College and then changed to Diocesan Boys' School at Form 2, where he studied until graduation. Since his parents had little knowledge about studying abroad, Paul Lam himself gathered information from his teacher and sent out an application to The University of California, Berkeley. He was admitted and left for Berkeley in early 1962. There were a good number of graduates from Diocesan Boys’ School to study abroad.

Paul Lam did not have particular expectation about his future after graduation. He had a lot of interests and activities and work was only one of his concerns. At that time it was not difficult for one to find a living in the United States. Therefore, Paul Lam did not worry about his career future. Upon graduation, he joined the Specialty Gas industry, which was a challenging industry that provided him with great satisfaction. He witnessed the rapid growth of the electronics industry in the 1970s. At that time, electronic companies like Pioneer and Dupin applied a special poisonous gas rather than atomic particles to produce chips for the brands’ circuit boards.

The company he worked for was a material supplier for electronic companies. In 1969, his company supplied the disinfection gas to the American astronaut Armstrong when he returned to the Earth after landing on the Moon. It was common for the American hospitals to use the same disinfection gas. In 1970s, he was relocated to Los Angeles, a city which was faced with serious air pollution. His company provided gas for General Motor to detect the gas exhaustion level. His company also produced heavy water, a material for producing atomic bomb. The production of atomic bomb was a dangerous industry as carbon monoxide was emitted as a by-product. When he was the Chemist of the company, Paul Lam had witnessed explosion in the company. Therefore Paul Lam was experienced in managing accidents and hazards in the paint industry. Back in the U.S., Pau Lam was promoted to branch manager since he showed good performance in handling an accident caused by hydrogen chloride in the Intel Corporation. He was then the youngest and the only expatriate branch manager of the company.

The Lam’s family had urged Paul Lam to return to Hong Kong several times. He made such move after he had obtained the resident identity (literally called Green Card) after marriage. To maintain his resident status in the U.S., he returned to the U.S. after he had worked in Hong Kong for around one year. To make good use of his mobility, the Lam’s family arranged Paul Lam to for Sherwin Williams, which engaged in a partnership of technology transfer with China Paint. Sherwin Williams was the largest paint company in the United States. Paul Lam was employed as a salaried technician for 9 months. He was there to learn the skills necessary for producing the brand name products under China Paint. The two companies signed a 10-year partnership agreement for technology transfer. China Paint was allowed to use the technology and the brand name of Sherwin Williams to produce paints in Hong Kong. Because of this partnership, the production technology of China Paint was improved. Paint companies needed chemists to produce paint and made adjustment according to client’s request. However, Paul Lam believed the company could not rely on the paint manufacturing formula only. Fulfilling the need of customers and providing quality customer service would also be important. The marketability of paint products relied on proper chemical formula, sale network, adequate combination of materials and the skill knowledge of technicians. Therefore, instead of focusing on chemical formulas, China Paint employed consultants to teach its staff with the chemical knowledge and properties of paint materials.

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