The four major batches of arrival

From the early to mid-twentieth century, numerous Guangdong painted porcelain practitioners moved from Chinese Mainland to live in Hong Kong, founding porcelain factories and workshops to make painted porcelain. They arrived in four main batches: the first came between the Canton Merchants’ Corps Uprising in 1924 and Mukden Incident in 1931, the sales of Guangdong painted porcelain suffered greatly during this period, the Guangcai painting masters Tan Jinfang and Tan Jinpin brothers, together with Tso Wing-shu and several others came to Hong Kong in 1928 to set up Kam Wah Loong (predecessor to Yuet Tung China Works). The Tan brothers recruited a cohort of porcelain painting masters and painting workers from Guangzhou to work in Macao, but the business did not take off, they then relocated to Hong Kong seeing more business opportunities. This first batch of practitioners numbered in forty to fifty. The second phase occurred during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937 following the fall of Guangzhou, at the time a large number of Guangcai practitioners came to Hong Kong seeking livelihoods. The third phase took place around 1949, the turmoil from the Chinese Civil War and the subsequent change of government lead some major porcelain factories and many skilled workers to come to Hong Kong. The fourth batch of arrival happened around the Cultural Revolution in 1960s, when another wave of practitioners arrived from the Mainland, among them are some painting masters who moved back to Chinese Mainland from Hong Kong in 1950s, while some others were apprentices who were trained in Mainland before migrating here. In the often overlooked part of history, many in the industry moved back and forth between Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong to strive for survival against all odds, wandering with toil, a hardship not understood by others.

Catalogue of Gangcai products by Kam Wah Loong in 1936: Bilingual catalogue and price list of Kam Wah Loong in 1936. The address listed was Kak Hang Tsuen in Kowloon.(Collection of Yuet Tung China Works)

Porcelain factories relocated to Hong Kong

The earliest porcelain factories established in Hong Kong varied considerably in scale, including some small squatter factories with just a handful of workers and family-based workshops. Among these factories, besides Kam Wah Loong already mentioned, there was also the renowned Ming Kee from Guangzhou. Prior to the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Ming Kee chartered an entire express train on the Kiang-Nan Line of Kowloon Canton Railway to ferry its porcelain factory workers and materials from Chinese Mainland to Hong Kong, the workers then set up the Ah Chow Factory in Tung Tau Village. Other early arrivals include Ng Seung and Yee Shun Loong from Guangzhou, Qin Xiangxing from Shanghai, and Chenghua from Shantou. On the other hand, a ceramics company established a factory in Castle Peak that included a line for painted porcelain production. Following the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 and the subsequent embargo against imposed by USA against China, there was a growth in painted porcelain factories in Hong Kong which was under British rule, for instance, Kwong Yee Loong on Peng Chau was founded in 1953, along with Chun Loong Sing and two or three other squatter factories there around the same period.

Locations of Painted Porcelain Factories

The earliest factories were mainly located in Kowloon City, Tung Tau Estate, Sham Tseng, San Hui of Castle Peak, Shek Kip Mei, Cheung Sha Wan, Tai Hang Tung, Sham Shui Po, Lei Cheng Uk, Shau Kei Wan (around Holy Cross Path Village) and Sha Tin. Later the factories gradually expanded into places such as Tai Po, Yuen Long, North Point, West Point, Mid-levels, Cheung Chau, Peng Chau, Kwun Tong, Fo Tan, Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan, etc.