Djoen-Eng KWIK (aka KWOK Chun-Yeung / 郭春映 / The Java Sugar King) [1895-1935]
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There's a several-page write-up about Mr Kwik starting on page 469 of "Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary ...". It begins:
Owner of a large trading company dealing in sugar, rice and tea before WWII, Indonesia.
One of his plans to grow his business in the 1920s involved Hong Kong: his business would reclaim land at North Point, and build a sugar refinery there to compete with Hong Kong's existing sugar refineries. The reclamation was carried out successfully (see Marine Lots 430 & 431), but the sugar refinery was never built. The names of three of the modern roads on his reclaimed land have a connection with him:
- Java Road
- Tong Shui Road - it means "Sugar Water Road", and runs along the eastern edge of his land
- Chun Yeung Street - "Chun Yeung" is how is given names are pronounced in Cantonese. (Kwik Djoen Eng is how the name sounds in Hokkien).
This photo shows him (on the right of the photo) laying the foundation stone of the new quay on his reclaimed land in Hong Kong:
Photos that show this person
 1924 |
 1925 |
Comments
North Point Reclamation Scheme
China Mail 29 November 1924
The laying of the first stone of the first block of the quay wall at Marine Lots 430 and 431, North Point, was performed this morning by Mr. Kwik Djoen-eng at the yard of the Netherlands Harbour Works Company at Tsat Sze (Tze) Mui, near Quarry Bay.
Similar photos of the stone laying ceremony appear in the Hong Kong Telegraph dated 6 December 1924.