Cheng Yum Kwai

Biography

Cheng Yum Kwai was born in 1947 in Xiamen. When he moved to Hong Kong with his family the following year, his father was working in Amoy Canning Corporation Ltd’s (Amoy’s) building department. The family subsequently lived in an Amoy-own Ngau Tau Kok village house. Cheng Yum Kwai was educated at Amoy Workers’ Children School and Bethel High School, dropping out in 1966 after completing Form Four to take a summer job at Amoy. A year later, he became a permanent employee when he was appointed as a clerk in the company’s general affairs department. Having obtained his driver’s licence the same year, he subsequently took charge of managing the general affairs department’s drivers. From 1969 on, Cheng Yum Kwai served as a foreman at Amoy’s machinery factory. In 1975, he became the head of warehouse, managing raw materials and products. When Amoy set up its frozen dim sum business in 1982, Cheng Yum Kwai was assigned as warehouse and transportation manager. He subsequently became personnel department manager in 1984 and began handling labour litigation arising from the demolition of staff quarters. He was then assigned to Amoy’s Tsuen Wan plant as administration manager, taking responsibility for three divisions – pickling, bottling and soy sauce. In 1987, he took charge of production management, initially assuming responsibility for overseeing Amoy’s sauce business and later also running the soy sauce business from 1989. He then became the head of the engineering department in 2004, holding the same post on the day this interview was conducted.