ChinLing

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CHIN-LING LODGE (CHINA)

Location: Nanking, China

Chartered By: Dudley H. Ferrell

Charter Date: 12/12/1923 tbd

Precedence Date: 10/25/1922

Current Status: Revoked 1928 after the loss of the lodge's records and charter and dispersal of its members due to unrest in Nanking and elsewhere in China.


PAST MASTERS

  • John Ker Davis, 1922
  • J. S. Stubblefield, 1923, 1924
  • Harry L. Holden, 1925
  • Faison C. Jordan, 1926
  • Donald W. Richardson, 1927, 1928

REFERENCES IN GRAND LODGE PROCEEDINGS

  • Petition for Dispensation: 1922 not in Proceedings
  • Petition for Charter: 1923
  • Vacation of Charter: 1928

HISTORY

  • 1924 (A sketch of the beginning of Chin Ling Lodge, 1924-577, in Grand Master's Address)
  • 1928 (Notes on lodge; see below)

NOTES ON CHIN LING LODGE, 1928

From Proceedings, Page 1928-254, September Quarterly Communication, Grand Master Simpson's Address:

I have received a communication, under date of July 12th, from our District Grand Master for the China District, Right Worshipful Brother Gillis, in which he recommends that the Charter of Chin Ling Dodge, of Nanking, be recalled. I have also a petition under dale of June 9, 1928, signed by three Brothers of Chin Ling Lodge, praying for an extension of the Dispensation heretofore granted this Lodge for an indefinite suspension of its meetings, and I that said extension be until March 31, 1929, unless the Lodge finds it possible to resume its meetings prior to that date.

At the time of the capture of Nanking by the Nationalist forces in the latter part of March 1927, Chin Ling Lodge was dispersed, the meeting place of the Lodge was seized and looted of its contents, and the Lodge lost all its property. Its Charter is reported to have been destroyed. Subsequently, on recommendation of the District Grand Master, I issued a Dispensation permitting a suspension of the meetings of the Lodge. In reporting the circumstances to Grand Lodge at the Annual Communication of December, 1927, I stated that there were expectations that upon the restoration of order in Nanking and the return of foreigners to that city, there would follow a renewal of the activities of Chin Ling Lodge. It now appears that the prospect of the renewal of the activities of the Lodge are so indistinct and remote that, rather than further extending the suspension of meetings, it would be the wiser course to vacate and recall the Charter of the Lodge, leaving the question of the revival of the Lodge, if that becomes advisable, to the development of future events.

In the petition of the Brethren of the Lodge, above referred to, it is stated that from the time of the Nanking incident to the date of the petition, "there have never been, so far as we could learn, as many as seven members of the Lodge in one place, and most of the time there have been less than five that we could locate at any one time in Shanghai." While these Brethren are optimistic that order will be restored in Nanking, and that foreigners will be permitted to return to that city, they frankly state that they cannot undertake to guarantee when meetings of the Lodge can be resumed.

In his report to me, the District Grand Master states: "The Brethren composing the Lodge are scattered in all directions; some are no longer in China, and very few of them will go back to Nanking even if Chin Ling Lodge resumed its activities there. Moreover, the Lodge has no Charter, records, regalia, or property of any kind, — all has been destroyed."

In the light of the foregoing and all the facts, I have denied the petition for further extension of time for the suspension of the meetings of the Lodge, and approve of the recommendations of the District Grand Master. I recommend that the Charter of Chin Ling Lodge be vacated and recalled, and that, if it shall appear thai the Charter is not destroyed, it he returned to Grand Lodge, if and when recovered.

From Proceedings, Page 1928-348, December Quarterly Communication, Grand Master Simpson's Address:

Distressing political conditions in China have continued through the greater part of the year. Latterly, however, the establishment of the Nationalist Government in general control of the whole country has relieved a situation which at times was so trying. As previously reported, the permanent dispersion of the members of Chin Ling Lodge, of Nanking, compelled the recall of its charter. It remains to be seen whether the establishment of Nanking as the seat of the Nationalist Government, and the probable consequent return of Americans to that city in considerable number, will make it advisable either to reissue the charter or to establish a new Lodge in that city. This will have to wait upon events and future recommendation from the District Grand Master.

In accordance with the recommendation of the District Grand Master dispensation has been issued for Sungari Lodge in Harbin, North Manchuria. The field in this city seems to be promising, and there is every evidence so far as we can now see that the new Lodge will have a successful future.

Our Lodges in Shanghai have now a Temple of their own which was dedicated October 23 by R.W. Brother Gillis at a Special Communication of the District Grand Lodge.

R.W. Brother Gillis deserves high praise for his courage and faithfulness in conducting our Masonic affairs through extremely trying conditions which have prevailed in his District for several years.

OTHER

  • 1924 (Constitution of lodge, 1924-550, in Grand Master's Address)
  • 1927 ("Dispersal of lodge due to unrest", 1927-292, in Grand Master's Address)

DISTRICTS

1922: China District


LINKS

Massachusetts Lodges