Portrait of Willem Kien (1877, Arnhem - 1970, The Hague), who was educated in Dresden and lived there with his family.
Ca. 1898 he went to China to work. In 1903 he became representative of Holland-China Trading Company (HCHC) in Shanghai, when the company was founded. Charles would join the company in 1938, first as a trainee in the Rotterdam head office and then in Shanghai, in 1939.
Half a decade later, HCHC colleague Phil Beekmeijer, who would become manager of the HCHC Tientsin (Tianjin) branch after WWII, made an escape from a prisoner of war camp in Dresden, being captured at the Battle of Arnhem in 1944). Please see <a href="https://old.gwulo.com/%3Ca%20href%3D"https://www.flickr.com/photos/161392673">https://www.flickr.com/photos/161392673@N02/42491765995/in/album-72157701564654785/">www.flickr.com/photos/161392673@N02/42491765995/in/album-...</a>
Courtesy Kien family archives
