Lui Seng Chun - Historical Background

Historical Background

Mr. Lui Leung (雷亮) (alias Lui Hung Wai 雷鴻維), the owner of Lui Seng Chun, was born in Taishan County of Guangdong Province. Upon his arrival in Hong Kong, he became actively engaged in transport and trading businesses. He was one of the founders of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited.

In 1929, Mr. Lui purchased a piece of land at 119 Lai Chi Kok Road from the Government of Hong Kong and appointed W. H. Bourne, a local architect who specialized in designing shophouses to construct Lui Seng Chun. The construction work was completed in around 1931. The ground floor of the building was occupied by a Chinese bone-setting medicine shop named "Lui Seng Chun", while the upper floors became living quarters for the members of Lui's family. The name "Lui Seng Chun" was derived from a pair of rhymed couplets, implying Lui's medicine could bring a patient back to life. The medicine enjoyed a good reputation locally and overseas.

Mr. Lui Leung died in 1944 and the shop was closed down a few years later. The building was subsequently used as accommodation and let out as tailor shops. In 2000, the Lui's family proposed to the Antiquities and Monuments Office to donate the building to the Government of Hong Kong. The transfer of the building was accomplished in October 2003.

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