Founder of Oldest Weaving Factory and Inventor of Continous Dyeing
Being one of the oldest weaving factory in Hong Kong, Lee Wah Weaving Factory Limited has its survivial history for the past 50 years. Every chapter of its history has reflected, if not all, the evolution of Hong Kong industries.
Founder of Lee Wah Weaving Factor, Mr Cheong Ying-Chan impressed many people with his nimble mind and his optimistic character. At the age of 71, Mr Cheong is still an energetic man. "I believe the way to success is never stop thinking how to make things better." This is Mr Cheong's motto. It is this motto of his that drove him to become the inventor of the Continous Dyeing Process without even getting an engineering degree. Without taking any less beforehand, he showed his talent on caligraphy by writing the company's signboard which stands still for decades. It is the diligence that counts, he said.
Early Days of Cheong Ying-Chan
Mr Cheong was born in Nanhai County, Guangdong Province in 1920. When he reached the age of 15, he went to Guangzhou with his father and worked as an apprentice in a tea shop. At that time, his mother, then, had already set up a weaving factory in Hong Kong with only six sets of wooden-made and manual driven looms.
In 1938, political stability in Guangzhou was shaken by the Japanese invasion in North China. Being the only son of the family, Mr Cheong has left Guangzhou and joined his mother in Hong Kong. After three years of hardworking, the weaving factory expanded with new replacements for looms and also opened up the market for checked, striped and plain cloth in Southeast Asia. However, Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941 had forced most industries to close down. Mr Cheong was amongst the many who had to give up his business and returned to the Mainland China.
How did Mr Cheong re-establish his business after WW II?
Although the war brought many factories to ruin, Mr Cheong determined to revive his business in Hong Kong after the war ended in 1945. By a lucky coincidence, he met Mr Shum Choy Wah, an old time friend of the family, who wanted to resume business in Hong Kong. Owing to the lack of skilled labour, Mr Shum invited him to manage the factory. Mr Cheong grasped this opportunity and proposed to Mr Shum that he would trade his expertise by free rent of four machines in the factory. A relative offered a helping hand by lending 200 pounds of yarn became the starter of Mr Cheong's business in the territory.
It was not luck that Mr Cheong was granted a factory licence from the Government in those days, it was not by fortune that he was given a contract by the Government to process cloth in his factory with supplied materials. It was, however, his determination and keen sense of opportunities that led him through the rocky road.
The Re-Opening of Lee Wah Weaving Factory Ltd
Lee Wah Weaving Factory Ltd was formally re-opened in 1946 and export cloth was its prime line of production. With a smile on his face, Mr Cheong revealed the secrets of his success: "Be flexible in terms of contingency, be bold with your creativity".
Competition in the manufacturing industry has always been keen. In the early 50s, many capitalists from Shanghai established textile factories in Hong Kong. Stimulating effect aside, this also exerted pressure to many Cantonese manufacturers in the territory. Mr Cheong made use of his flexibility to cope with the situation and showed his talent as an innovative industrialist to the local textile competitors.
At that era of textile inustry, his new products included:
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Water-proof canvas for tents of the Thai army
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Heavy duty water-proof canvas to Indonesia
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Sheared cotton bed-covers, gowns and toilet rugs shipped to Britain, and
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8-ounce canvas for local rubber shoe factories.
Mr Cheong's contribution to Hong Kong's textile industry
Mr Cheong has also made valuable contributions to the development of Hong Kong's textile industry. Its idea originated from the canvas for rubber shoes. At that time, rubber shoes could not enjoy Commonwealth Preferential Tariff, unless the canvas cloth which forms a major component of the shoe has an Empre content of 50%. Hong Kong could reach only 25% Empre Content in those days. Hence, rubber shoes factories in Hong Kong had to order 8-ounce canvas from Britain to fulfill the Empire Content requirement if they wanted to have British clients. The local manufacturers were forced to stock large quantities of Britain canvas to control the quality of production.
With his knowledge of the textile field and his meticulous calculations of the production procuedure, he concluded that Hong Kong could produce canvas with 50% Empre Content. Through the Smiths CPA & Co, he succeeded in obtaining approval for his calculation formula of canvas production from the British Customs Office.
What happened in the 1950s and 1960s?
In the mid-50's, Lee Wah Weaving Factory Ltd specially supplied canvas products for the local rubber shoe factories. Other than contribution much to the profit margin of the industry, the new formula benefited the Hong Kong manufacturing sector as a whole.
Into the 1960's, the garment industry started to prosper. Jeans were especially in great demand. However, the production of denim has brought limitations to the suppliers. Unlike ordinary cloth, denim could not be produced in large quantity and thus hindered the regular supplies of jeans factories. Mr Cheong tried to simplify the denim production process by introducing an active colourizing method. After numerous trials and experiments, he found out that the Continuous Dyeing Process was the best prodcution process of all. Several months later, he succeeded in designing the first machine adopting the Continuous Dyeing Process. The original manpower involved in producing 4,000 yards of denim beams has been reduced from 37 workers with 40 man-hours to 2 workers with 6 man-hours under the new dyeing process.
The invention was granted a patent both by the British Government and the Portuguese Government for 16 years. The Certificate of Patent, which was issued by the Queen of Britain, is still hanging on the wall of his office. His contibution to streamline denim production has uplift the major role of Hong Kong garment factories in the world market.
During the period of water rationing, Mr Cheong was amongst the first to make use of well water for the dyeing process in his factory. It proves his ability to map out contingency measures in difficult times.
Finale
The contribution of Mr Cheong to the garment industry in Hong Kong has not been overlooked. He was appointed by the Government as a member of the Textile Advisory Board, before then the Cotton Advisory Board, for over a decade.
Regarding the future development of Hong Kong, Mr Cheong Ying-chan maintains the importance of mutual understanding and co-operation between employers and employees. He believes the prosperity of Hong Kong in the future is much depends on the spirit of solidarity of the community.
Although Mr Cheong has left us, his story, his motto, his determination to success and his contribution to the Hong Kong textile and garmant industry will be well remembered, especially by his decendents.
A newsclipping in the 1960s where Mr Cheong Ying-chan was mentioned.
An interview of Mr Cheong Ying-chan
