Post by NZBC on Feb 21, 2010 8:02:36 GMT 12
New Zealand
Chinese immigration to New Zealand commenced in 1865. The majority came from the Guangdong Province and headed for the goldfields of Otago and the west coast. Their intentions were similar to those who came to Australia for the gold rush, to seek their fortune and return to China with wealth and the prestige that would accompany it. A few went into the merchant trade, while others tilled the land as market gardeners. As the gold petered out on the various alluvial fields, including dredging an area which they pioneered, the number of Chinese occupying non-mining occupations increased exponentially. Relations between the Chinese and the Europeans were strained.
The New Zealand authorities wanted to drastically decrease the number of Chinese entering New Zealand, but at the same time they had to satisfy the wishes of the Imperial Government in Britain. New Zealand at that time was similar to Australia in that it was a colony of Britain. If the Bill was to totally exclude the Chinese, an option which the New Zealand authorities favoured, it would not receive the approval of the British, as it would have angered China and compromised Britain’s trade dealings with that country. Compromise to this vexed problem was achieved with the introduction in 1881 of a ‘poll-tax’ requiring every Chinese to pay £10 on arrival. The authorities deemed that the Chinese immigration flow was not stemmed sufficiently, so in 1896 the Chinese Immigrants Act was passed, with the poll-tax being increased to £100. The desired effect was achieved.
Wellington
It is reasonable to assume that an offshoot of the Hung Society, for example the Yee Hing Secret Society, commenced soon after the arrival of the first main influx of Chinese in the mid-1860s to Otago. By the turn of the century the Chinese had started to drift from the goldfields of Otago to the urban areas of Wellington and Auckland. It is on record that in 1907 the Yee Hing Secret Society had formed a branch at Wellington.
In an article appearing in the Chinese Times of 6 November 1909, the Wellington Yee Hing Secret Society donated £1000 towards the revolutionary activities to see the demise of the Manchu Dynasty in China. The same newspaper on 5 August 1911 reported that the Yee Hing Societies in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific donated £26,000 to assist in relieving the financial difficulties of the new regime in China after the fall of the Manchu Dynasty. This was a substantial sum of money, and would have been further enhanced by the exchange rate at the time. No doubt the euphoria of the moment assisted them in their fund-raising.
The Wellington Yee Hing formed an alliance with the Australian Yee Hing Secret Societies, with Sydney being declared the headquarters. The Society’s move towards openness and the eventual adoption of the English title ‘Chinese Masonic Society’, and later the Chinese title Chee Kung Tong, as directed by the World Headquarters in San Francisco, mirrored the other Yee Hing groups.
On 10 October 1925 the Wellington Chinese Masonic Society, or Chee Kung Tong, celebrated the opening of their New Zealand headquarters at Frederick Street, Wellington, with a gala banquet. It is worth noting that among the dignitaries were the Mayor and Archdeacon of Wellington, a cabinet minister and a ‘high office bearer of the Wellington Grand Lodge Masonic Order’. The Chinese Masonic Society was held in very high regard and participated in the raising of funds for charity.
Other Societies existed at this time, but the strongest that dominated the political scene was the Chee Kung Tong. Its main rival was the Kuomintang, which consisted mainly of the intellectual Chinese—while the Chee Kung Tong attracted the average Chinese, such as the miner, merchant and market gardener. It was inevitable that conflicts between the two should occur, as their ideologies were different. Also, the Chee Kung Tong supported Peking, which was the official government, while the Kuomintang Society supported the Kuomintang political party which governed in Canton and which claimed to be the official Chinese government.
When the Kuomintang defeated the Peking government in 1928, thus unifying China, it heralded the commencement of a slow decline in membership for the Chee Kung Tong. New members were going to the Kuomintang or the Nationalist New Zealand Chinese Association, as the Chinese (like all of us) prefer to be on the winning side. The Chee Kung Tong in New Zealand continued with the support of its older members until 1975, when it was formally disbanded.
www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/chinese-masonic-society.html
Chinese immigration to New Zealand commenced in 1865. The majority came from the Guangdong Province and headed for the goldfields of Otago and the west coast. Their intentions were similar to those who came to Australia for the gold rush, to seek their fortune and return to China with wealth and the prestige that would accompany it. A few went into the merchant trade, while others tilled the land as market gardeners. As the gold petered out on the various alluvial fields, including dredging an area which they pioneered, the number of Chinese occupying non-mining occupations increased exponentially. Relations between the Chinese and the Europeans were strained.
The New Zealand authorities wanted to drastically decrease the number of Chinese entering New Zealand, but at the same time they had to satisfy the wishes of the Imperial Government in Britain. New Zealand at that time was similar to Australia in that it was a colony of Britain. If the Bill was to totally exclude the Chinese, an option which the New Zealand authorities favoured, it would not receive the approval of the British, as it would have angered China and compromised Britain’s trade dealings with that country. Compromise to this vexed problem was achieved with the introduction in 1881 of a ‘poll-tax’ requiring every Chinese to pay £10 on arrival. The authorities deemed that the Chinese immigration flow was not stemmed sufficiently, so in 1896 the Chinese Immigrants Act was passed, with the poll-tax being increased to £100. The desired effect was achieved.
Wellington
It is reasonable to assume that an offshoot of the Hung Society, for example the Yee Hing Secret Society, commenced soon after the arrival of the first main influx of Chinese in the mid-1860s to Otago. By the turn of the century the Chinese had started to drift from the goldfields of Otago to the urban areas of Wellington and Auckland. It is on record that in 1907 the Yee Hing Secret Society had formed a branch at Wellington.
In an article appearing in the Chinese Times of 6 November 1909, the Wellington Yee Hing Secret Society donated £1000 towards the revolutionary activities to see the demise of the Manchu Dynasty in China. The same newspaper on 5 August 1911 reported that the Yee Hing Societies in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific donated £26,000 to assist in relieving the financial difficulties of the new regime in China after the fall of the Manchu Dynasty. This was a substantial sum of money, and would have been further enhanced by the exchange rate at the time. No doubt the euphoria of the moment assisted them in their fund-raising.
The Wellington Yee Hing formed an alliance with the Australian Yee Hing Secret Societies, with Sydney being declared the headquarters. The Society’s move towards openness and the eventual adoption of the English title ‘Chinese Masonic Society’, and later the Chinese title Chee Kung Tong, as directed by the World Headquarters in San Francisco, mirrored the other Yee Hing groups.
On 10 October 1925 the Wellington Chinese Masonic Society, or Chee Kung Tong, celebrated the opening of their New Zealand headquarters at Frederick Street, Wellington, with a gala banquet. It is worth noting that among the dignitaries were the Mayor and Archdeacon of Wellington, a cabinet minister and a ‘high office bearer of the Wellington Grand Lodge Masonic Order’. The Chinese Masonic Society was held in very high regard and participated in the raising of funds for charity.
Other Societies existed at this time, but the strongest that dominated the political scene was the Chee Kung Tong. Its main rival was the Kuomintang, which consisted mainly of the intellectual Chinese—while the Chee Kung Tong attracted the average Chinese, such as the miner, merchant and market gardener. It was inevitable that conflicts between the two should occur, as their ideologies were different. Also, the Chee Kung Tong supported Peking, which was the official government, while the Kuomintang Society supported the Kuomintang political party which governed in Canton and which claimed to be the official Chinese government.
When the Kuomintang defeated the Peking government in 1928, thus unifying China, it heralded the commencement of a slow decline in membership for the Chee Kung Tong. New members were going to the Kuomintang or the Nationalist New Zealand Chinese Association, as the Chinese (like all of us) prefer to be on the winning side. The Chee Kung Tong in New Zealand continued with the support of its older members until 1975, when it was formally disbanded.
www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/chinese-masonic-society.html