9th Kwan Family Reunion · Portland 2026
A family that shaped
Hong Kong — and the world.
Over 1,500 descendants of Kwan Yuen Cheung (關元昌) and Lai Amui — across eight branches, four continents, and five generations of history.
Notable members · 傑出成員
Nancy Kwan
Actress · Cultural Icon
Star of The World of Suzie Wong (1960) and Flower Drum Song (1961), Nancy Kwan was among the first Asian actresses to achieve international Hollywood stardom — a trailblazer whose influence on Asian representation in cinema endures to this day.
Kevin Kwan
Author
Author of Crazy Rich Asians (2013), the novel that became a global phenomenon and a landmark 2018 film — the first Hollywood studio production with a majority-Asian cast in twenty-five years. His satirical trilogy sold millions of copies worldwide.
James K.M. Cheng
Architect · Vancouverism
Vancouver architect whose residential tower designs helped define Vancouverism — a globally studied urban planning model integrating density, livability, and views. His work shaped the downtown skylines of Vancouver and cities around the Pacific Rim.
A remarkable ancestor · 傑出先祖
Daniel Richard Caldwell
1816 – 1875 · Registrar General of Hong Kong
The great-great-grandmother of this family was adopted by Daniel Richard Francis Caldwell — one of the most consequential and controversial figures in Hong Kong's colonial history. Born in St Helena in 1816, Caldwell became the colony's indispensable intermediary between the British administration and the Chinese population.
Fluent in Cantonese, Hakka, Mandarin, Malay, and Portuguese, he served as court interpreter, assistant superintendent of police, and ultimately as Registrar General and Protector of Chinese from 1856 to 1862 — a role that gave him sweeping authority over the lives of Hong Kong's Chinese community during its most formative years.
Caldwell married Mary Chan Ayow in a traditional Chinese ceremony around 1845, later solemnised at St John's Cathedral in 1851. She became a member of the London Missionary Society congregation — the same mission that would shape the Kwan family's faith and education. Together they had twelve children and adopted over twenty children of Chinese descent.
After Caldwell's death in 1875, Mary Chan Ayow donated the family's Hollywood Road property — at half its market value — to the London Missionary Society. On that site rose Alice Memorial Hospital and the Hong Kong College of Medicine, where a young Sun Yat-sen studied and worshipped.
Content adapted from Wikipedia: Daniel Richard Caldwell, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born
19 September 1816
St Helena, South Atlantic
Died
2 October 1875
Hong Kong
Role
Registrar General
and Protector of Chinese, 1856–1862
Family connection
Adoptive great-great-grandfather
of this family line
Legacy
Mary Chan Ayow's land gift founded
Alice Memorial Hospital, 1887
KFR 2026
Portland, Oregon
July 30 – August 2
Ninth Kwan Family Reunion
Venue
Hilton Portland Downtown
921 SW 6th Ave, Portland, OR 97204
Organized by
Andrew Kwan · Debbie Jiang · Terry Lee · Sara Lin
Expected attendance
90+ family members
Contact
kwanfamily15@gmail.comPortland's Kwan Roots
Portland holds special significance for the Kwan family. Archival research and interviews with elders — the late Uncles Kenneth (6-6-1), Jack (6-5-1), and Auntie Vivian (6-6-2) — reveal deep Chinese-American roots in this city going back to their grandparents who arrived from China as early as 1872.
Members only · 家庭成員
香港開埠與關家
The Opening of Hong Kong and the Kwan Family
Written in 1997 by Yung Ying-yue and Kwan Siu Shek to mark the centenary of the Kwan family's presence in Hong Kong, and translated into English for the 9th Family Reunion. Four chapters tracing five generations of history.
Available to family members. Sign in to read →
The Opening of Hong Kong and the Kwan Family
Founder of Chinese Dentistry and the Father of the Republic
A Collection of Memories
Yung Wing and the Reform Movement