  The Kaneko--Zagier conjecture describes a correspondence between finite
multiple zeta values and symmetric multiple zeta values. Its refined version
has been established by Jarossay, Rosen and Ono--Seki--Yamamoto. In this paper,
we explicate these conjectures through studies of multiple harmonic $q$-sums.
We show that the (generalized) finite/symmetric multiple zeta value are
obtained by taking an algebraic/analytic limit of multiple harmonic $q$-sums.
As applications, new proofs of reversal, duality and cyclic sum formulas for
the generalized finite/symmetric multiple zeta values are given.
