ChungHua
CHUNG HUA, SHANGHAI
Location: [Shanghai, China]
Dispensation presented to: Howard W. Dean, August 1920.
Current Status: dispensation declined, 08/12/1930
AN INTERNATIONAL LODGE IN SHANGHAI
The story of Chung Hua Lodge scarcely receives a mention in the Proceedings of our Grand Lodge. The decision to decline the petition for dispensation is mentioned - not by name - on pages 349-350 of the 1930 Proceedings, as a part of Grand Master Dean's report on his journey to China in the spring and summer of that year.
The story is a long one, and well-documented; it ends in 1930, but begins more than three years earlier, in 1927. At that time there were eight lodges under Massachusetts jurisdiction in China, the oldest three in Shanghai. Freemasonry in China was on the rise; in the last five years, four lodges in other cities had been chartered. There were other jurisdictions operating in China, and in particular in Shanghai, including England, Scotland and IReland.
BEGINNINGS
The first evidence of interest in the establishment of a new Lodge is a letter written in May 1927 by Wor. Thurston R. Porter, Master of Shanghai Lodge, to Wor. Walter F. W. Taber, Past Master and Secretary of St. John's Lodge in Boston. "There is on foot in Shanghai a movement to establish an international lodge," he wrote. "The formation of this body is being opposed by the members of Shanghai Lodge, for which you hold the proxy . . . There are now three Massachusetts lodges in this city. Ancient Landmark and Shanghai Lodge, so far as I can ascertain, never have balloted on Chinese; Sinim Lodge has a few among its membership. For more than a year, the idea of having a Masonic organization of their own has been in the mind of some local Chinese. Last summer, when I was serving as Senior Warden of Shanghai Lodge, I was approached by Hua Chuen Mei, a member of Sinim Lodge, who spoke of this plan . . . five weeks ago, when Bro. Mei called me by telephone and asked that I attend a meeting he had arranged at which the plan was to be discussed, I told him I could not attend because the Lodge had not authorized me to do so."
According to Wor. Bro. Porter's account, the Chinese-only lodge idea had been replaced by an "international" organization for both Chinese and American Masons. Members of Shanghai Lodge had been appointed to a committee to pursue a dispensation, "without," he noted, "the consent of the Master thereof or any reference to our Lodge." With the recent "troubles" in China, he thought it unwise and thought that it had delayed the plan but felt that "the request for a dispensation and charter doubtless will be made sooner or later."
Shanghai Lodge adopted a position of opposition to the establishment of a new Lodge by formal resolution in April 1927, though at the time the idea of a purely Chinese lodge was being contemplated. Still, Porter observed that Shanghai Lodge had nearly surrendered its charter in 1924 due to a severe decline in membership; but it had raised 30 new Masons since then, and had acquired members of other Lodges. Still, he said, "Every ship leaving Shanghai at the present time is filled to capacity with people on their way home, and, of these, 75 per cent may not return." Shanghai was a "unique city in its internationalism. We have here all the races of the world" and all of the Masonic constitutions worked harmoniously. The other jurisdictions were "unalterably opposed" to admitting Chinese, and any "Chinese lodge (call it international, if you will)" would divide Massachusetts Masonry from the others.
Porter's letter continues in a rather politically incorrect way in his description of the Chinese culture and temperament, making no secret of his (and his lodge's) disdain for the idea of raising Chinese Masons, and he directs Bro. Taber, as proxy, to oppose "the granting of even a dispensation to this proposed international lodge." Copies of the letter were furnished to the District Grand Master, Rt. Wor. Bro. Irvin V. Gillis, and the Grand Secretary, Rt. Wor. Bro. Frederick Hamilton. All of this correspondence was placed before Grand Master Frank Simpson. With this information in hand, and a telegram from District Grand Master Gillis stating "strongly recommended that you deny petition(s) for new Lodge(s) in Shanghai", the Grand Master indicated his unwillingness to grant any dispensation.
Matters
