[4] He was the youngest of five sons born to Han Siong Kong (1673 – 1743), a Chinese migrant of ancient lineage, by an unnamed woman, probably a native or of at least part-native ancestry.

[3][4] Sometime in the first half of the eighteenth century, he moved to East Java with two of his elder brothers, the Chinese-Javanese leader Soero Pernollo (1720 – 1776) and Han Hing Kong.

[4] By 1748 at the latest, Han Bwee Kong had contracted a highly advantageous marriage to the Peranakan daughter of a prominent Chinese leader in Surabaya, Tan Ho Goan (1672 – 1744).

[4][6][7] Probably as a result of his wife's family backing, Han Bwee Kong was eventually appointed Kapitein der Chinezen of Surabaya at an unknown date.

[4][6][8] Kapitein Han Bwee Kong's descendants, as part of the baba bangsawan or Cabang Atas, or the Chinese gentry of Java, would play a significant role in the political and economic life of colonial Indonesia until the end of Dutch rule in 1945.