One of the founders of jewellery company Chow Sang Sang Holdings International has died.
Chow Kwen Ling, who was until his passing honorary chairman and non-executive director, was 93 years old.
He served as its GM and chairman of the jewellery business from 1973 until 1986 and took on the honorary chairmanship in 1990.
Chow Sang Sang Group dates back to 1934 when Chow Kwen Ling’s father Chow Fang Pu opened Chow Sang Sang Goldsmith in Guangzhou. When the city fell to the Japanese in their invasion of China in 1938, Chow Fang Pu moved his family and the business to Macau. The three brothers soon took over the shops before opening a store in Shanghai Street, Mongkok in 1948.
Chow Kwen Ling was one of three brothers who founded Chow Sang Sang Jewellery & Goldsmith in 1957, opening the first store under the name in Yau Ma Tei. At first it primarily traded gold, but in the 1960s the chain expanded its jewellery offer.
In 1973 it became the first Hong Kong jewellery business to list on the stock exchange.
Chow Sang Sang has always owned its own shops – never franchising or licensing any of its business. Today it has grown to 377 stores in Mainland China covering more than 110 cities, 67 in Hong Kong, 24 in Taiwan and four in Macau. Some of these trade under the Emphasis Jewellery banner. With a total workforce of over 8,000, Chow Sang Sang’s turnover in 2016 exceeded HK$16 billion.
The company’s name incorporated Chow Fang Pu’s family name which also means cycles, and the characters meaning life, “to infer his blessing that the business will revitalise itself in unending cycles”.
