Freemason

Free Masonry first saw Light in China in the province of Guangzhou during the late 1700’s with
the establishment of Amity Lodge No. 407, under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England,
in 1767; and met regularly for 46 years until going into darkness in 1813; when for some
unknown reason it’s charter was not renewed when the two Grand English Lodges united in
London. Upon the departure of Bro. R.F. Gould from China, In 1886, he says that there were in
existence at Victoria (Hong Kong), and in the Chinese treaty ports : 13 English Lodges, 4 Scottish
Lodges, 1 American Lodge and 1 Irish Lodge.
It should be mentioned that membership of Foregoing Lodges in China, had been mainly confined
to specific Foreign Nationals by the Manchu Government and suc eding Govemments, and it
was not until 1930, when a group of American and Chinese Master Masons, all of whom had
bccn raised abroad, decided to form a Lodge in Shanghai, for the purposc to bring Free Masonry
to Chinese aspirants.
Charter Members of the first Chinese Lodge included Brothers George A. Fitch (later G.M. of the
G.L.O.C, in Taiwan), Judge N.F. Allman, Alfred T.C. Kao, Mei Hua-Chuan. I.J. Rawlinson and
James L.E. Chow, all of whom had been members of Lodges in the U.S.A. with the exception of
Bro. Chow who was raised in an English Lodge in Jamaica.
The group first petitioned the Grand Lodge of Massachusctts for a Dispensation, but this was
denied. They then successfully applied to the Grand Lodge of the Philippines who looked upon
their request favourably and granted a Dispensation.
The new Lodge 106 was chartered on 27th January 1931, at Peking and by coincidence also
named Amity Lodge, as had been the first Masonic Lodge in China, nearly 200 years carlier.
The creation of Amity Lodge No. 106 was followed by the creation of Nanking Lodge No. 108
(Nanking), Pearl River Lodge No. 109 (Canton), Szechwan Lodge No. 112 (Cheng-tu), West
Lake Lodge No. 113 (Hanzou) and Sun Lodge No. 114 (Shanghai).
During the Japanese invasion of China and for the duration of the Second World War, a small but
courageous group of Master Masons of many nationalities gathered together in the uncon nquered
Free Chinese town of Chungking, in the province of Szechwan, and initially formed a Square and
Compasses Club.
By carly 1943, the Square and Compasscs Club, had despite the many hardships of a town under
constant aerial bombardment, developed a nucleus of Brothers who felt the need to establish a
recognised Lodge. A Dispensation to forma Lodge was subnitted to the Grand Lodge of
California, who in due course granted this, and fortitude Lodge U.D. was established during
1943. Fortitude Lodge was indeed an appropriate name, as the Lodge met regularly despite the
inclement weather, unceasing air raids and almost every conceivable difficulty. In 1945, whit the
cessation of the hostilities, the personnel were dispersed, and inevitably this led to the closure of
the Lodge, therefore, it’s dispensation was returned to the Grand Lodge of California. It is
interesting to note that Fortitude Lodge in it’s somewhat brief existence was to provide in the
future four Grand Master for the Grand Lodge Of China : M. W. Brothers William H. T. Wei, Ting
Chien, Theodore L. Way and George W. Chen.
Whit the return of the Brethren to their respective abodes, Masonic activity was resumed
throughout China. The six Lodges which were Chartered under the Grand Lodge Of Philippine,
held discussions concerning the future of free Masonry in China, and it was proposed that a grand
Lodge Of China, should be established. These labours came to fruition on 18th March 1949, when
the Grand Lodge Of China was consecrated at the Masonic Hall in Shanghai. The six Lodges
were transferred and re-chartered with their original names, but were re-numbered as follow:
ㆍAmity Lodge No. 1
ㆍNanking Lodge No, 2
ㆍPearl River Lodge No. 3
ㆍSzechwan Lodge No. 4
ㆍWest Lake Lodge No. 5
ㆍSun Lodge No. 6
Unfortunately, within a short time great problems were to beset the newly established Grand
Lodge, when the communist Government came to power, and by 1951 the Grand Lodge of China
had ccased to function in Shanghai, and the sccond Grand Master M.W. Bro. T.F. Wei decided to
declare darkness had fallen upon the Grand Lodge Of china.
The Grand Lodge was then temporally moved to Hong Kong, with little more than a few files and,
through the effort of the first Grand Master M. W. bro. David K Au, the grand Lodge regalia.
Following the fall of the Mainland China to communism, a number of the Chinese and other
Nationalities followed the Government of the Republic of China, to Taiwan. Early in 1951 those
Brcthren discusscd the formation of a Square and Compasscs Club. Brother Olivier Todd, Past
Senior Warden of the International Lodge in Peking was elected as President.
Such was the success of the first < Club > in Taipei, that later Square and Compasses were formed
in Tainan in 1956, and Taichung in 1965.
Back in 1951, a petition was submitted to the Grand Lodge of China, in Hong Kong, for the
creation of a new Lodge, appropriately named Liberty Lodge. In August 1952, M. W. Bro. T. F.
Wei travelled from Hong Kong with an escort of several Brethren, and duly consecrated the
Liberty Lodge No. 7. In 1953, after several diffeulties to obtain permission to conduct Masonic
Business, from the Authorities, Bro. T. T. Tuan has the honour, of being the first Mason, ever to be
raised in Taiwan.
The Grand Lodge of China was reactivated on Taiwan in 1955, as was Amity Lodge No. 1 in the
same year, followed by Pearl River Lodge No. 3 at Tainan in 1956, Sun Lodge No. 6 at Taipei in
1956 too, and Szechwan Lodge No. 4 in Taichung in 1957.
In 1961, the Deputy Grand Master George W. Chen, accepted the position of Chairman of a
Committee, to translate the Masonic Ritual and Monitor into the Chinese Language. Without
further delay and not knowing that it would be a decade of hard labours before the task was
completed.
The Brethren of Han Lodge, applied for a dispensation in 1971 and Han Lodge No. 8 was granted
it’s Charter on 28th October 1972 and has the distinction of being the first Lodge to conduct it’s
entire business in the Chinese language.
In the eve of Christmas 1985, Tang Lodge No. 9 was chartered.
In 1997, Harmony Lodge No. 10 was chartered in Taipei and was followed 3 years later by High
Sun Lodge No. 11, chartered in Taipei County.