Charles Gesner van der Voort worked for Holland-China Trading Company (HCHC) in Shanghai; it also had offices in Hong Kong and Tientsin (Tianjin). One of its first directors, Mr. Willem Kien, worked in China from 1898. After HCHC was founded in 1903, he worked for the company in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In 1921, he left China and worked for the head office in Rotterdam, at Diergaardelaan 36, until 1948, when the company was obtained by Internatio.
In the 1930s, Mr. Willem Kien made at least one voyage to the East. The Hong Kong photo wrapper still has the images of one of these voyages. They appear to show an Arab stop along the way (Aden?), a city along the Chinese coast (Chefoo?) and a harbour with buildings which make me think of Hong Kong. There is also a photo of a dredging project, a photo of European style grave stones and a photo of Chinese style grave stone. There is a photo of a mansion with a Chinese style walking path across water in front of the mansion.
Your help is requested to identify these photos, please leave a comment.
The complete range of photos can be seen on Flickr, search: Charles in Shanghai gwulo unknown
Courtesy Kien family archives
