Here are a few tidbits from this week’s story ‘A Treasure,’ that hit the cutting room floor…
(continuing from a quote from the National Register report) “… Members would meet to exchange news of China with people form other islands, and read or have read to them Chinese newspapers… Other activities probably included gambling and smoking opium,” which it is later noted that, at the Wailuku property, was restricted to the upper, members-only level, as the firs floor was made public. Early-twentieth century articles published in The Maui News reported of the beginnings of construction in 1904 (though at the close of the century, in 1996, wrote of differing opinions between sources, citing county records indicate erection in 1897), and of ornate celebratory functions that included its dedication on January 14th and 15th of 1905, and ancestor worship for “Ghost Week” in August of 1916.
Though, given the distance between the motherland and the members’ newfound island home, political interest and affiliations with the societies they derived of waned over the passing years. Yet still, “financial contributions (were made) to the 1911 revolution conducted by Sun Yat-Sen,” as the connections between the father of the Republic of China and Hawai’i run deep, Yat-Sen’s elder brother having made prosperous home on a ranch in Kula (the Ket Hing building being one of the remaining two historical structures) and, according to an article by the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Hawaii Foundation, Yat-Sen’s induction to Honolulu’s Ket Society in 1904.
FO’ MO’:
An “Anu in Da Field” blog post re: an ‘Iao adventure last Thursday.
And, join me tonight as I check out the Chinese knotting demonstration at the Wo Hing Museum (then read the stories on the Wo Hing and Ket Hing buildings in early February).
*Special thanks to Sean Hower for meeting me on MLK day and taking the beautiful shots for the article and this post.
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