Friendship · History · Mutual respect
Brotherhood Across Traditions
Chee Kung Tong & Western Freemasons
Across oceans and generations, people from different fraternal traditions have found reasons to meet, offer hospitality and stand together. The wider Chee Kung Tong and Hongmen story includes such encounters—preserved in photographs, community histories and lodge records.
Respect begins with knowing one another.
Friendship deserves a place in the historical record. A shared procession, a place at a banquet or a letter between lodges can reveal the human relationships behind institutional names. Each encounter below belongs to a particular community and moment in time.
Hongmen and Western Freemasonry have distinct histories and systems of membership. That distinction leaves room for genuine friendship. These local encounters do not imply a common origin or blanket recognition of every Chee Kung Tong lodge.
01 / Australia · 1903
Walking side by side
Chinese and Western Masons joined Quong Tart’s funeral procession in Sydney in 1903. A Western Freemason and friend of Chinese Masonic leaders, he helped connect social worlds. Historian John Fitzgerald also identifies Hung League members who joined Western lodges, including Sun Johnson, W. R. G. Lee and Way Lee.
Their example gives friendship a human face: people could value another tradition while remaining grounded in their own.
02 / New Zealand · 10 October 1925
A place at the table
At the opening of Wellington’s Chee Kung Tong headquarters at 23 Frederick Street, a senior Masonic representative joined the mayor, the archdeacon and a cabinet minister at the celebrations. The Tung Jung Association’s community history records this public welcome—a memorable example of different institutions meeting through civic hospitality.
An invitation can be a meaningful gesture. Sharing an occasion creates the opportunity to listen, become acquainted and recognize a neighbor’s contribution.
03 / Mexico · 1928–1946
Connections preserved on paper
Mexico City’s Chee Kung Tong members organized Confucio No. 31, incorporated under the Gran Logia Valle de México on 24 February 1928. Its temple was consecrated on 5 March. Surviving records also document later contacts and regalia in Mexico.
Reproduced in Fredy E. Cauich Carrillo, Hongmen Chee Kung Tong (2023), pp. 217 and 216 respectively.
These objects make the story tangible. Ceremony, correspondence and a formal portrait preserve different ways in which people expressed their connections.
The San Francisco spirit
Rooted in our heritage. Open to friendship.
At Chee Kung Tong’s San Francisco Supreme Lodge, we honor this spirit of respect while preserving our own Hongmen heritage. We welcome thoughtful conversation about history, service and the responsibilities of brotherhood. Learning about another tradition is an opportunity to deepen understanding and build goodwill.
The international examples above belong to their named lodges and communities. Here in San Francisco, our invitation is simple: meet us with curiosity, share your history and help keep respectful dialogue alive.
The record behind the story
Explore the publications and collections used for this page. Photograph captions identify the people, places and documents shown.
- John Fitzgerald · Chinese Masons in Australian history · ANU Press
Quong Tart’s funeral and personal links between the two fraternal networks.
- Tung Jung Association of New Zealand · Spring 2011, pp. 16–17
Wellington lodge history and guests at the 1925 headquarters opening.
- Fredy E. Cauich Carrillo · Hongmen Chee Kung Tong · 2023
Confucio No. 31: p. 159. Archival illustrations: pp. 216–217.
- Asia Media Centre · Treasures of the Chee Kung Tong · 2020
Wellington photograph and the Doris Chung collection at the Alexander Turnbull Library.
- State Library of New South Wales · Quong Tart portrait
Collection record, ML 1346, and image credit.
- Masons of California · The Chinese Acacia Club · 2023
Context for the institutional distinction in California between Chee Kung Tong and Western Freemasonry.