Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (SGX: J36 (http://info.sgx.com/serviceapp.nsf/Cpy/J36)), (LSE: JAR  (http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/pricesnews/prices/Trigger/genericsearch.htm?bsg=true&ns=JAR)), often called Jardines or Jardine's, is a multinational company that is incorporated in Bermuda and which trades on the London and Singapore stock exchanges. Singapore Exchange (SGX) is the stock exchange in Singapore. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building The London Stock Exchange (abbreviated LSE) is a stock exchange market located in London. ... A multinational corporation (MNC) or transnational corporation (TNC) is one that spans multiple nations; these corporations are often very large. ... A company in the broadest sense is an aggregation of people who stay together for a common purpose. ... Greater London and the Regions of England. ...

Currently Jardines consists of the following companies: Jardine Pacific, Jardine Motors Group, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Jardine Strategic, Dairy Farm, Hongkong Land, Mandarin Oriental, and Cycle & Carriage. Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited is a retail company in Asia, with her base in Bermuda. ... The Hongkong Land Company, Limited (SGX: H78) (branded as Hongkong Land) is the property development arm of Jardines. ... The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (MOHG) is a hotel management company that is part of Jardines. ...

History

Jardine Matheson was formed in China in 1832 by William Jardine and James Matheson (http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/people/famousfirst628.html), both British citizens from Scotland. The company played a central role in the founding and development of Hong Kong and was among the first European companies to establish itself in Shanghai, as well as the first foreign company to establish itself in Japan. 1832 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Dr. William Jardine (1784-1843) was a surgeon who went into the trading business in China, where he became a powerful merchant who was instrumental in starting the First Opium War. ... Scotland (Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a country or nation and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... Shanghai (Chinese: 上海; pinyin: ; Shanghainese IPA: ) is Chinas largest city and is situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta. ...

The companies started out as a trading company, making its vast initial fortune trading opium and heroin with China. When Chinese officials attempted to wipe out opium trading, the company became one of the primary instigators of the first Opium War in 1840, between Britain and China. By 1842, with China defeated, the lucrative trade in opium continued. There were two Opium Wars between Britain and China. ...

Jardine Matheson have diversified enormously since, becoming a large conglomerate with operations in several south-east Asian nations and in the UK. In the 1990s the holding company changed its location of incorporation from Hong Kong to Bermuda, and in addition, moved the primary listing of its shares from Hong Kong to Singapore. There are several supposed reasons for this: at the time that this happened, Hong Kong was in the run up to the handover in 1997, the Tiananmen Square events were still fresh in the conciousness of Hong Kong, plus Jardines was still very much a British company in its upper echelons, more so than other hongs. The controlling family is the Keswick family, from whom Percy Weatherall, the current tai pan comes. Conglomerate is: A large company; see conglomerate (company). ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Events and trends Technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft Windows operating system becomes virtually ubiquitous on IBM... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Reef. ... Tiananmen Square (Simplified Chinese: 天安门广场; Traditional Chinese: 天安門廣場; pinyin: ) is a very large plaza near the center of Beijing, China, named for the Tiananmen (literally, Gate of Heavenly Peace) which sits to its north, separating it from the Forbidden City. ... Hong, Chinese word meaning trading company and generally used in the west for the trading companies out of Hong Kong and Macau that did internal trade with south China during the early 19th century to 1997. ... A tai-pan (大班) was a foreign businessman doing business in China or Hong Kong in the 19th century. ...

In Japan, the company's Japanese name (ジャーディン・マセソン) is the transliteration of its English name. Due to its long history in Hong Kong, the company's Chinese corporate identity (怡和集團 pinyin yi2 he2 ji2 tuan2) uses a totally unrelated name. On the other hand, the transliteration of Jardine (渣甸 with no particular meaning) can be found as place name everywhere in Hong Kong. Pinyin (拼音, pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration to roman script) for Standard Mandarin used in the...

For years, Jardines has fired a cannon shot at every noon in Causeway Bay, by Victoria Harbour, slightly eastward of the former Kellett Island. This tradition, known as the Noon Day Gun, still continues today. Causeway Bay (銅鑼灣; Jyutping: tung4 lo4 waan1; Pinyin: tong2 luo2 wan1; Copper Gong Bay) or East Point (東角; Cantonese IPA dəʊŋ1 gɔk3) is a heavily built-up area of Hong Kong, located on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, and covering parts of Wan Chai and Eastern districts. ... Victoria Harbour is the harbour between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. ... Kellett Island (奇力島, also 燈籠洲 in Chinese) is a former island in Hong Kong. ... The Noon-day Gun is a former naval gun mounted on a small enclosed site near the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. ...

In 1876 the company built the first railway in China. 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

The Jardine Matheson holding company became publicly traded in 1961. 1961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first upside-down year—i. ...

In the early 20th century Jardine's principal offices were in Shanghai. After the Communist takeover in China, these were moved to Hong Kong. In the 1980s Jardines redomiciled to Bermuda in anticipation of the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty. Despite this move Jardines remains largely an Asian company. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... World map showing location of Asia A satellite composite image of Asia Asia is the central and eastern part of the continent of Eurasia, defined by subtracting the European peninsula from Eurasia. ...

The tai pans offices are located on the top two floors of Jardine House. A tai-pan (大班) was a foreign businessman doing business in China or Hong Kong in the 19th century. ... Jardine House is an office tower in Central, Hong Kong, which, when construction finished in 1973, was the first office tower in Hong Kong and the tallest building in the former British Crown Colony. ...

Miscellaneous

Jardines was the thinly-disguised inspiration for a series of novels written by James Clavell, including Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, and Noble House. James Clavell (Charles Edmund DuMaresq de Clavelle) (October 10, 1924 - September 7, 1994) was a novelist and screenwriter, famous for books such as Shogun and films such as The Great Escape and To Sir, with Love. ... A tai-pan (大班) was a foreign businessman doing business in China or Hong Kong in the 19th century. ... Gai-Jin (Japanese 外人, Foreigner) is a 1993 novel by James Clavell, chronologically the third book in his Asian Saga. ... Noble House is a novel by James Clavell, published in 1981 and set in Hong Kong in 1963. ...

See also: List of British companies This is a list of companies from the United Kingdom. ...

External link

• Official website (http://www.jardines.com/)