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Ket (Kwock) Hing Society Hall

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Kwock
1907. Middle Rd., Keokea
  • (Photograph by Augie Salbosa)
  • (Photograph by Augie Salbosa)

High above the highway off Cross Road, the Ket, or Kwock, Hing Society Hall sits on a level rise with a panoramic view of west Maui. The pronunciation of the organization's name depends upon which Cantonese dialect is spoken. Similar to other Chinese Tong houses, this society hall is a symmetrical, single-wall, two-story building with a public hall on the first floor and a members-only, more spiritual, second floor. This rural building is more modest than some of its counterparts, with the red and gold Chinese panels flanking the centered double-door entrance providing the only ornamentation. Its pent-roofed, balustraded lanai simply crosses the facade rather than wrapping around the sides.

At one point six Chinese Tong houses stood on Maui; today only this one and Lahaina's Wo Hing (MA31) remain. The Ket, or Kwock, Hing Society was founded with seventy-one members in 1900, and was one of the more politically active tongs in the Islands. In 1903 Dr. Sun Yat-Sen joined its membership, as he frequently visited his brother Sun Mi, who resided in Kula.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Don J. Hibbard
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Citation

Don J. Hibbard, "Ket (Kwock) Hing Society Hall", [Kula, Hawaii], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/HI-01-MA60.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Hawaii

Buildings of Hawaii, Don J. Hibbard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011, 219-219.

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