Story of a plastic box manufacturer : documenting Hong Kong's intangible industrial heritage : the case of Tin Shing, a Hong Kong cottage industry

Abstract

In 1980, the plastic-box manufacturer “Shun Wo Company Limited.” (順和公司) was established in a flatted factory in the industrial estate of Kwun Tong. Seven years before, from 1973 to 1979, the company began as a home-based cottage industry, known as Tin Shing (天成) in a public housing unit in the Choi Hung Estate. This cottage industry was founded by Mr. Ho Chi Wo, who is the author’s father.

The story behind the family cottage industry is a typical case that illustrates Hong Kong’s early process of industrialization, and it is essential in the understanding of Hong Kong’s industrial heritage. Hong Kong’s cottage industry is not a well-documented topic, and there is limited written literature on it.

Given the benefit of having the first-hand experience of involving in a cottage industry, the author seizes the opportunity to document his family business in order to provide an in-depth case study that can help broaden the present knowledge of how individual families have contributed to Hong Kong’s industrialization effort. The objective is to provide a case that illustrates the tangible and intangible aspects of Hong Kong’s early industrial heritage.

The focus of this dissertation is to investigate the history of the cottage industry Tin Shing during its five years of existence before it transformed into a proper manufacturing company. In particular, the research focuses on the relationship between a cottage industry and the greater society, of how a traditional family-owned cottage industry business responded to Hong Kong’s changing social and economic circumstances in the early 1970s.