Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Ngan Shing-kwan
Ngan Shing-kwan, CBE, JP (Chinese: 顏成坤; December 18, 1900 – 14 April, 2001), Hong Kong entrepreneur and politician, was the founder of the China Motor Bus, or CMB, which owned the bus franchise on Hong Kong Island from June 1933 to August 1998. In addition, he was appointed by the Hong Kong Government as a non-official member of the Legislative Council in 1951, and subsequently served as the Senior Unofficial Member from 1959 to 1961 and concurrently as a non-official member of the Executive Council from 1959 to 1961.
Ngan Shing-kwan was educated at Queen's College and St. John's University in Shanghai during his early years, and took over the family's rickshaw business in 1920. Optimistic about the future of the bus business, he then joined hands with businessman Wong Yiu Nam to set up CMB in 1923, the third bus company in Kowloon. After winning the franchise in 1933, CMB moved from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. Under his leadership, the business expanded rapidly after the war, with more than 100 bus routes, a fleet of more than 1,000 buses and hundreds of millions of passenger trips per year at its peak in the 1980s, making CMB the "Kingdom of China Motor Buses". In 1981, the PALIBURG HOLDINGS LIMITED attempted to snipe at CMB's stake, but was eventually repelled by Ngan Shing-kwan.
Outside of CMB business, Ngan Shing-kwan was a keen participant in community affairs, having been elected as the first Chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals after its merger in 1931-32, and then Chairman of Po Leung Kuk in 1939-1940. After the war, he was appointed as a Non-Official Member of the Urban Council in 1946 and was promoted to Principal Non-Official Member of the Council in 1951 before resigning in 1953 due to official commitments. As a Chaozhou overseas Chinese leader in Hong Kong, Ngan Shing-kwan held a number of public offices during his tenure in the Executive and Legislative Councils, and did not leave the political arena until after the 1960s. On the other hand, he was a keen sportsman and served as the Chairman and President of the South China Athletic Association (SCAA) for eight consecutive terms before and after the World War II. He was the chief team leader of the Hong Kong delegates to the Sixth National Games of the Taiwan in 1935 and the coach of the Chinese Taipei national football team at the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany in 1936.
However, in the 1980s, Ngan Shing-kwan's family-run governance of CMB was said to be conservative and out of touch, and problems such as declining bus service standards and labor disputes aroused public criticism, prompting the Hong Kong Government to hand over 26 and 14 bus routes to Citybus Limited in 1993 and 1995 respectively. The termination of CMB's franchise was further announced in February 1998, and CMB's franchised bus service ended at the end of August of the same year, with the new franchise being taken over by the New World First Bus Services Limited. Although Ngan Shing-kwan had been the Chairman and Supervisor of CMB since 1933, he had handed over the business to his children in the mid-1990s due to old age and declining health. As a matter of fact, the Ngan family, which holds a lot of land for depots and staff quarters, has long had its sights set on real property development, so since the end of the franchise, CMB has in fact changed from a bus company to a company with purely real estate as its core business.
Ancestrally from Chaoyang, Guangdong, Ngan Shing-kwan was born in Hong Kong on December 18, 1900, the only son of Yen Wing-chi and his wife. Ngan Wing-chi originally worked as a Coolie (i.e., head of hard labor) in the Kowloon Wharves, and later as a coolie of the Jardine's Sugar Factory and the Tsim Sha Tsui Goods Warehouse, and as a foreman of a licensed rickshaw coolie in Kowloon. Apart from being responsible for hiring people from places like Chaozhou and Shantou to work in Hong Kong, he is also responsible for supervising the living of these coolies in Hong Kong, from which he also collects fees from these coolies. In 1901, the Hong Kong Government set up a committee to investigate the serious loss of manpower in sedan chair and rickshaw coolie, and Ngan Wing-chee was invited by the committee to give evidence.Ngan Wing-chee later set up his own rickshaw business in Kowloon, opening Wing Hing and Wing Lung rickshaw stores at 3 Frederick Lane and 112 Canton Road respectively, as well as a Sun Tak Lung rickshaw store at 110 Canton Road.
However, after the death of Ngan Wing Chee on March 9, 1905, his widow, Ngan Chim, in her capacity as the estate's undertaker, entered into a power of attorney on May 9 of the same year, handing over her husband's rickshaw business during his lifetime to his brother, Ngan Luk, to take care of it on her behalf. Years later, Ngan Chim withdrew his power of attorney on December 10, 1917, declaring that Ngan Luk no longer had anything to do with the Wing Hing, Wing Lung and New Tak Lung. However, Ngan Luk initially continued to operate the business after the power of attorney was withdrawn, and it was not until a writ was later issued by Ngan Chim's party that Ngan Luk formally surrendered the business and separated the property from Ngan Chim's party. Ngan Chim then went further and filed a lawsuit in 1918, demanding that Ngan Luk's side hand over its business accounts for inspection, which was eventually ruled in favor of the case in 1919. In addition, the Ngan Chim family originally lived at 116 Canton Road, while Ngan Luk's family lived at 114 next door; but after the two parties split up, Ngan Luk's family moved away to live at the nearby No. 18 Haiphong Road.
Although he lost his father at a young age, Ngan Shing-kwan was sent by his family to the Queen's College to study English, and later went to St. John's University in Shanghai to further his studies. According to a book published in 1937 by the scholar Wu, Hsing-Lien, "A Brief History of Chinese Celebrities in Hong Kong", Ngan Shing-kwan had followed Dr. Sun Yat-sen's work of national salvation after he had left Queen's College in his early years; and as an ex-student of Queen's College, he was invited by Queen's College Ex-students' Association to be the Honorary Advisor in April 1971 after many years of service.
In 1920, at the age of 20, Ngan Shing-kwan returned to Hong Kong to take over the family rickshaw business. At that time, rickshaws were still an important means of land-based public transportation in Hong Kong. For example, the Police Force chose five public rickshaw stations in Kowloon and New Kowloon in 1921 to install telephones, one of which was located at the rickshaw store of Wing Lung, No. 112 Canton Road, operated by Ngan Shing Kwan. As for Ngan Luk's rickshaw store at 142 Canton Road, it is also one of the public rickshaw stops which has been granted a telephone pavement. Nevertheless, with the gradual popularization of [[car]s], coupled with the establishment of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (i.e. Kowloon Motor Buses/KMB) in 1921 and the Kai Tak Coach Company in 1923 to provide public bus services to the Kowloon area, there was increasingly obvious competition to the rickshaw business.
Hub AI
Ngan Shing-kwan AI simulator
(@Ngan Shing-kwan_simulator)
Ngan Shing-kwan
Ngan Shing-kwan, CBE, JP (Chinese: 顏成坤; December 18, 1900 – 14 April, 2001), Hong Kong entrepreneur and politician, was the founder of the China Motor Bus, or CMB, which owned the bus franchise on Hong Kong Island from June 1933 to August 1998. In addition, he was appointed by the Hong Kong Government as a non-official member of the Legislative Council in 1951, and subsequently served as the Senior Unofficial Member from 1959 to 1961 and concurrently as a non-official member of the Executive Council from 1959 to 1961.
Ngan Shing-kwan was educated at Queen's College and St. John's University in Shanghai during his early years, and took over the family's rickshaw business in 1920. Optimistic about the future of the bus business, he then joined hands with businessman Wong Yiu Nam to set up CMB in 1923, the third bus company in Kowloon. After winning the franchise in 1933, CMB moved from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. Under his leadership, the business expanded rapidly after the war, with more than 100 bus routes, a fleet of more than 1,000 buses and hundreds of millions of passenger trips per year at its peak in the 1980s, making CMB the "Kingdom of China Motor Buses". In 1981, the PALIBURG HOLDINGS LIMITED attempted to snipe at CMB's stake, but was eventually repelled by Ngan Shing-kwan.
Outside of CMB business, Ngan Shing-kwan was a keen participant in community affairs, having been elected as the first Chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals after its merger in 1931-32, and then Chairman of Po Leung Kuk in 1939-1940. After the war, he was appointed as a Non-Official Member of the Urban Council in 1946 and was promoted to Principal Non-Official Member of the Council in 1951 before resigning in 1953 due to official commitments. As a Chaozhou overseas Chinese leader in Hong Kong, Ngan Shing-kwan held a number of public offices during his tenure in the Executive and Legislative Councils, and did not leave the political arena until after the 1960s. On the other hand, he was a keen sportsman and served as the Chairman and President of the South China Athletic Association (SCAA) for eight consecutive terms before and after the World War II. He was the chief team leader of the Hong Kong delegates to the Sixth National Games of the Taiwan in 1935 and the coach of the Chinese Taipei national football team at the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany in 1936.
However, in the 1980s, Ngan Shing-kwan's family-run governance of CMB was said to be conservative and out of touch, and problems such as declining bus service standards and labor disputes aroused public criticism, prompting the Hong Kong Government to hand over 26 and 14 bus routes to Citybus Limited in 1993 and 1995 respectively. The termination of CMB's franchise was further announced in February 1998, and CMB's franchised bus service ended at the end of August of the same year, with the new franchise being taken over by the New World First Bus Services Limited. Although Ngan Shing-kwan had been the Chairman and Supervisor of CMB since 1933, he had handed over the business to his children in the mid-1990s due to old age and declining health. As a matter of fact, the Ngan family, which holds a lot of land for depots and staff quarters, has long had its sights set on real property development, so since the end of the franchise, CMB has in fact changed from a bus company to a company with purely real estate as its core business.
Ancestrally from Chaoyang, Guangdong, Ngan Shing-kwan was born in Hong Kong on December 18, 1900, the only son of Yen Wing-chi and his wife. Ngan Wing-chi originally worked as a Coolie (i.e., head of hard labor) in the Kowloon Wharves, and later as a coolie of the Jardine's Sugar Factory and the Tsim Sha Tsui Goods Warehouse, and as a foreman of a licensed rickshaw coolie in Kowloon. Apart from being responsible for hiring people from places like Chaozhou and Shantou to work in Hong Kong, he is also responsible for supervising the living of these coolies in Hong Kong, from which he also collects fees from these coolies. In 1901, the Hong Kong Government set up a committee to investigate the serious loss of manpower in sedan chair and rickshaw coolie, and Ngan Wing-chee was invited by the committee to give evidence.Ngan Wing-chee later set up his own rickshaw business in Kowloon, opening Wing Hing and Wing Lung rickshaw stores at 3 Frederick Lane and 112 Canton Road respectively, as well as a Sun Tak Lung rickshaw store at 110 Canton Road.
However, after the death of Ngan Wing Chee on March 9, 1905, his widow, Ngan Chim, in her capacity as the estate's undertaker, entered into a power of attorney on May 9 of the same year, handing over her husband's rickshaw business during his lifetime to his brother, Ngan Luk, to take care of it on her behalf. Years later, Ngan Chim withdrew his power of attorney on December 10, 1917, declaring that Ngan Luk no longer had anything to do with the Wing Hing, Wing Lung and New Tak Lung. However, Ngan Luk initially continued to operate the business after the power of attorney was withdrawn, and it was not until a writ was later issued by Ngan Chim's party that Ngan Luk formally surrendered the business and separated the property from Ngan Chim's party. Ngan Chim then went further and filed a lawsuit in 1918, demanding that Ngan Luk's side hand over its business accounts for inspection, which was eventually ruled in favor of the case in 1919. In addition, the Ngan Chim family originally lived at 116 Canton Road, while Ngan Luk's family lived at 114 next door; but after the two parties split up, Ngan Luk's family moved away to live at the nearby No. 18 Haiphong Road.
Although he lost his father at a young age, Ngan Shing-kwan was sent by his family to the Queen's College to study English, and later went to St. John's University in Shanghai to further his studies. According to a book published in 1937 by the scholar Wu, Hsing-Lien, "A Brief History of Chinese Celebrities in Hong Kong", Ngan Shing-kwan had followed Dr. Sun Yat-sen's work of national salvation after he had left Queen's College in his early years; and as an ex-student of Queen's College, he was invited by Queen's College Ex-students' Association to be the Honorary Advisor in April 1971 after many years of service.
In 1920, at the age of 20, Ngan Shing-kwan returned to Hong Kong to take over the family rickshaw business. At that time, rickshaws were still an important means of land-based public transportation in Hong Kong. For example, the Police Force chose five public rickshaw stations in Kowloon and New Kowloon in 1921 to install telephones, one of which was located at the rickshaw store of Wing Lung, No. 112 Canton Road, operated by Ngan Shing Kwan. As for Ngan Luk's rickshaw store at 142 Canton Road, it is also one of the public rickshaw stops which has been granted a telephone pavement. Nevertheless, with the gradual popularization of [[car]s], coupled with the establishment of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (i.e. Kowloon Motor Buses/KMB) in 1921 and the Kai Tak Coach Company in 1923 to provide public bus services to the Kowloon area, there was increasingly obvious competition to the rickshaw business.
.jpg)