Chee Kung Tong Guandi Temple, Boise博伊西致公堂关帝庙（已不存）

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · Idaho · Boise · Second floor of the three-story brick Chee Kung Tong building, Boise.

First built

1902 · Established in 1902 with the completion of the new Chee Kung Tong building.

Overview

In 1902 the Chee Kung Tong (Chinese Freemasons) of Boise completed a three-story brick building, with its second floor converted into a Guandi Temple, lavishly furnished and dedicated principally to Guandi. CINARC notes that this temple marks a fundamental shift in who built Chinese temples in the interior Northwest: nineteenth-century temples were built with funds raised by the entire immigrant community and open to all Chinese, whereas after 1900 temple construction was funded instead by secret societies, and religious space accordingly withdrew from the public realm into the interior of these societies. The social background of this shift was the sharp decline in the Chinese population following the enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the collapse of geographically based immigrant communities, leaving the tong, with its cross-regional organizational networks and financial strength, as the only capable religious patron. This temple no longer stands.

Highlights

• Established in 1902 with the completion of the new Chee Kung Tong building, dedicated principally to Guandi
• Marks the shift of temple patronage from the immigrant community to secret societies
• Reflects the restructuring of immigrant communities after the Chinese Exclusion Act