The Bing Kong Tong () was one of the powerful

Tongs Tongs are a type of tool used to grip and lift objects instead of holding them directly with hands. There are many forms of tongs adapted to their specific use. The first pair of tongs belongs to the Egyptians. Tongs likely started off as b ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

during the early 20th century. Since most, if not all, Chinatowns founded in the 19th-century United States were founded by migrants from the province of Canton (known as Guangdong today), many place names were transliterated from the Cantonese dialect. The word 堂, "tong" or "tong4", means "hall". Known as the Bing Kong Tong Society (or Bing Kung Association in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

), the organization was one of the largest in California when the Hop Sing and

Suey Sing Tong The Suey Sing Association () is a historical Chinese American association that was established in 1867. Formerly known as the Suey Sing Tong (), this was changed to its current name in 1920. In early 1994, the Suey Sing Association became the firs ...

s allied against the Bing Kongs, instigating one of the most violent

Tong wars The Tong Wars were a series of violent disputes beginning in the late 19th century among rival Chinese Tong factions centered in the Chinatowns of various American cities, in particular San Francisco. Tong wars could be triggered by a variety of ...

in the United States. As the gang war continued, the numerous murders caught the attention of the press as the often gruesome slayings were detailed. Eventually an investigation headed by

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area ...

, attorney Wallace L. Ware,Street, Richard Steven
''Beasts of the Field: A Narrative History of California Farmworkers, 1769-1913''
Stanford University Press, 2004. , . p398. in cooperation with the district attorney's office, exposed the extent of the Bing Kongs' influence throughout the

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

populations along the west coast and southwestern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(as far as the conviction of four members for a Tong murder in

Kingman, Arizona Kingman is a city in, and the county seat of, Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It is located southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and northwest of Arizona's ...

). Weakened by the decade long war against the rival Tongs as well as state authorities, the Bing Kongs would eventually emerge as a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

, although it is suspected by federal and local law enforcement officials to still have remaining ties to

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

References

*Devito, Carlo. ''Encyclopedia of International Organized Crime'', Facts On File, Inc.: New York, 2005.

External links

Bing Kong Tong website
(in Traditional Chinese)
History of Chinese Associations in Fresno
(in Simplified Chinese) {{Chinese American organizations Chinatown, San Francisco Chinese-American culture in San Francisco Gangs in San Francisco Tongs (organizations)