Cathay Pacific was founded in Shanghai on 24 September 1946 by Australian Sydney de Kantzow and American Roy Farrell.[6] Both men were ex-air force pilots who had flown the Hump, a route over the Himalayan mountains.[7] Each man put up HK$1 to register the airline.[8] Although initially based in Shanghai, the two men moved to Hong Kong where they formally began Cathay Pacific.[6] They named it Cathay, the ancient name given to China, and Pacific because Farrell speculated that they would one day fly across the Pacific (which happened in the 1970s). The Chinese name for the company "國泰" comes from a Chinese idiom meaning "grand and peaceful state