Asian Heritage Portal

Chee Kung Tong Building National Historic Site of Canada

Chee Kung Tong Building National Historic Site.
© Parks Canada

Location: Barkerville, British Columbia

Date designated: 2008

The designation:
For the Chinese labourers who came to Canada during the 19th century, most of whom came to British Columbia for mining or to work on railroad construction, membership in some form of association offered support, companionship and a link with the cultural traditions of home in the face of an often hostile host society.

The earliest and most widely spread of these associations was the Chee Kung Tong, also known as the Hong-men or Chinese Freemasons. With deep roots in southern China, the Chee Kung Tong was a secret fraternal society that offered membership to migrant workers regardless of clan name or locality of origin.

Procession of Chinese Freemasons for the opening of the Freemasons Hall in Kamloops, B.C., 1910
© BC Archives / Call No. B-03382

It was often the first association to be established in new Chinese settlements in Canada, particularly in mining towns, which made it an integral institution in shaping the organizational life of early Chinatowns. By 1900, more than 40 Chee Kung Tong lodges had been established in British Columbia, and its overall membership was estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000.

The Chee Kung Tong Building in the goldrush town of Barkerville was built in the mid-1870s, making it one of the oldest surviving structures in the townsite. It is a simple two-storey frame building covered with board and batten, with lean-to log additions on both sides which date from the 1880s and 1908.

Externally, the building closely resembles other mining town structures of the era, distinguishable as Chinese only by the signboards above the second-storey balcony door. But inside, the building reveals itself as a rare surviving example of Chee Kung Tong architecture in Canada, with the interior divided into a hostel, kitchen and socializing space on the ground floor and a society hall and altar room on the second floor, all of which illustrate 19th century Chee Kung Tong architectural conventions.

Looking south on Main Street, Barkerville, ca. 1868
© BC Archives / Call No. F-07769

While larger examples dating from after 1900 survive in urban Chinatowns, the modest Barkerville building is the only intact example known to survive from the earliest stage of Chee Kung Tong activity in Canada.

Throughout its years of operation, which drew to a close in 1949, the Chee Kung Tong Building in Barkerville exemplified the community building and sense of belonging produced among immigrant Chinese labourers and merchants in new settlements throughout Canada. The Chee Kung Tong Building was a place of gathering for the community and for traditional Chinese and Hong-men society ceremonies and celebrations, and it provided a place for the Chinese community to maintain a connection with China. It also served as a venue for dealing with the affairs of the Chinese community in the Cariboo District, exerting control over business and personal relationships between members.