science

Taikoo Sugar Refinery

Taikoo Sugar Refinery is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Taikoo Sugar Refinery rather than just read about it. In short: Taikoo Sugar Refinery is a sugar importer and former sugar refinery in Hong Kong. History Taikoo Sugar Refinery was established by John Samuel Swire in June 1881 after a thorough investigation into the feasibility and openings for a new refinery in China.

Key takeaways

Taikoo Sugar Refinery belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Taikoo Sugar Refinery to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Taikoo Sugar Refinery from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Taikoo Sugar Refinery is a sugar importer and former sugar refinery in Hong Kong.

History Taikoo Sugar Refinery was established by John Samuel Swire in June 1881 after a thorough investigation into the feasibility and openings for a new refinery in China. His determination to build the largest and most up-to-date plant was initially stimulated by a period of intense rivalry with Jardine, Matheson & Company who already owned a refinery. A site for the refinery was selected at Quarry Bay, Hong Kong and the capital for the venture was put up chiefly by John Samuel Swire himself, Holt's James Barrow, H J Butterfield, Messrs. Ismay and Imrie, W J Thompson and R N Dale. Taikoo Sugar Refinery at Quarry Bay began operations in 1884. John Swire & Sons were appointed Managers and Butterfield and Swire, Hong Kong, were responsible for the overall management and, as General Agents, for the purchase of raw sugars and the selling and distribution of the finished products. China was always the chief market but Australia, Japan and India were also important at different times. The Taikoo Sugar Refinery (TSR) faced stiff competition from Jardine Matheson & Company in its early years but, by the 1920s, the Japanese had become their greatest competitors. An up-country marketing system was established to counter this and to expand TSR markets in inland China, as well as efforts to widen the Far Eastern areas served by TSR. The 1920s was a period of constant difficulties - a strike in 1923, poor markets in 1924 and a three-month boycott in 1925. 1925, however, also saw the expansion of the Taikoo Sugar Refinery into the largest single unit refinery in the world. In December 1941, Hong Kong fell to the Japanese and production was halted until the plant was returned to John Swire & Sons in the autumn of 1945.

Modern times Taikoo's sugar refining activity appears to have ceased around 1970 and the company is now a major sugar importer. The site of the refinery has redeveloped into Taikoo Place, a commercial building complex.

See also Mount Parker Cable Car Taikoo Place

References

External links

History of Taikoo Sugar Refinery, Hong Kong Memory Taikoo Sugar Website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Taikoo Sugar Refinery

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Taikoo Sugar Refinery claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Taikoo Sugar Refinery before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Taikoo Sugar Refinery ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Taikoo Sugar Refinery

In research: Taikoo Sugar Refinery appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Taikoo Sugar Refinery in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Taikoo Sugar Refinery is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics History of Hong Kong, Manufacturing in Hong Kong, Sugar companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Taikoo Sugar Refinery outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Taikoo Sugar Refinery in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Taikoo Sugar Refinery means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Taikoo Sugar Refinery out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Taikoo Sugar Refinery in simple terms?

Taikoo Sugar Refinery is a sugar importer and former sugar refinery in Hong Kong. History Taikoo Sugar Refinery was established by John Samuel Swire in June 1881 after a thorough investigation into the feasibility and openings for a new refinery in China.

Why does Taikoo Sugar Refinery matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Taikoo Sugar Refinery?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Taikoo Sugar Refinery.