[
    {
        "id": 211723,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 138,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "113\n\nFactory Location\n\n40\n\nThe location of the joss stick industry has experienced a lot of changes throughout its history. In the early days when incense trees were grown, the industry was strongly affected by physical factors. As the incense trees require a balance between sand and alluvium for successful growth, the joss stick industry, so dependent on local supply of incense wood, evolved around Lik Yuen and Sha Lo Wan where soils were well aerated. However, after Hong Kong began to process these incense woods before they were exported, the location pattern of the industry became more widespread. From 1911 onwards, incense wood milling was concentrated in Taikoktsui and particularly in Tsuen Wan, making use of the presence of a large, fast flowing river to power the wheels used to pound the incense powder. Other concentrations were found in Victoria, Yaumati, Mongkok and Sham Shui Po. Nevertheless, nowhere was able to assume a higher importance than Taikoktsui in the joss stick industry, especially in the period immediately after 1945. Indeed, Taikoktsui immediately after 1945 had a unique concentration of joss stick manufacturers unequalled by any other location. Because of its industrial peripheral situation, “for over a century or more, Taikoktsui had a sort of fringe status in Kowloon, and much of it was rather isolated”, the area was considered to be an ideal place for the business of the joss stick industry. According to local manufacturers, post-war concentration in Taikoktsui was prominent because the acquisition of factory buildings was so easy as 60% of them had been left empty since the War. These factory buildings were only tenements, one- or two-storey workshop or storage buildings, and some of them were no more than sheds.43\n\nDespite the importance of Taikoktsui in the period immediately after the War, the industry began to disperse after about 1950. The trend became especially marked as Hong Kong became more and more urbanized. The industry was pushed further northward into the New Territories as the city sprawled, using large pieces of unoccupied land. By the 1960s, the industry clustered in Yau Yat Tsuen; slightly later it was further pushed into Sha Tin, Fanling and Yuen Long.\n\nLocation of the industry today is closely tied to the needs of the manufacturing method. Generally speaking, the location of joss stick fabrication is more economically determined than physically determined. Indeed, the only physical factor considered essential is the availability",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 211724,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1989",
        "page_number": 139,
        "title": "RAS-1989",
        "content_text": "114\n\nof a large piece of cheap land for the drying of the joss sticks. Thirty-nine out of the 60 factories interviewed in 1987 explicitly declared that the availability of a drying place was of prime importance as a determinant of factory location. In general, the space needed for drying is twice the size of the workshed. Space is essential for drying as joss sticks have to be spread widely apart to allow an even drying speed. An outstanding example can be provided by a factory which is operated by a single man. The total area consumed is only around 70 m2 and two-thirds of the land has to be devoted for drying purposes. The remaining one-third of the land has to accommodate the use of working place and storage shed as well as the residence of the man. However, for a typical factory employing 1-3 workers, 200-300 m2 of land is the norm. To quote the other extreme, 3 factories which produce a variety of incense products extend to well over 3,000 m2 in area, the largest being approximately 3,782 m2. As a result of this space requirement, the joss stick industry tends to be on the outskirts of the urbanized area, where the rent is lower.\n\nAs a result of the high land price in Hong Kong, factories of the joss stick industry make use of every possible location in the territory. Joss stick factories can be found in Shaukiwan, Wanchai and Western District. They can also be found in Yaumati, Mongkok, Taikoktsui, Sham Shui Po, Ngau Chi Wan, Diamond Hill and Tsz Wan Shan. But the majority of the factories are located in the New Territories, in Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Kam Tin, Shek Kong, Sha Tin, Tai Po, Fanling, Sheung Shui and even Ta Kwu Ling.\n\nGenerally speaking, a pattern can be discerned on the basis of the method of operation. The majority (61.4%) of the factories in the New Territories are devoted to the Lin-hsiang Method and the Winding Method, though a number of them are also engaged in the production by Nuo-hsiang Method or Winding Method at the same time. This is usually the case as the mass production strategy in Lin-hsiang Method produces joss sticks bucket by bucket, so a proportionately larger piece of drying area, available only in the New Territories, is needed. In contrast, most of the Nuo-hsiang and Moulding processes are done within residential districts. In the interview, all the 13 factories specializing in Nuo-hsiang Method are located in residential tenements. They are tolerated in domestic premises as Nuo-hsiang, unlike Lin-hsiang which produces a very dusty atmosphere, is much neater and tidier, and demands a small drying area. However, similar to the marginal situation of the other factories, these Nuo-hsiang factories have tended to move to the",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h",
        "rank": 0
    }
]