Quan Kai - bio info required

Submitted by mjrh on Sat, 03/21/2015 - 05:09

Could someone supply biographical information on Quan Kai who was a wealthy business man in Canton and Hong Kong in the early 1900s? He was born about 1854.

He was the owner of Kwong Hee Ying at No. 264, Des Voeux Road Central in 1907 and comprador for several firms and agent for the Portland Flouring Company and several other businesses.

"At Canton the business is carried on under the style of Quan Kai & Bros., the partners being Mr. Quan Kai, his brother, Mr. Quan Sam, and his nephew, Mr. Quan Jow." He seems to have owned other business as well.

Source: p 229-230 Wright, Arnold: Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and Other Treaty Ports of China: Their History. People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources. London: Lloyd's Greater Britain Publishing Company, Ltd., 1908.

I have checked the Carl Smith database, all the directories I can find for the region but neither Quan Kai nor his businesses are listed.