Wo Hing Society Hall, Lahaina拉海纳和兴会馆（关帝庙）

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · Hawaii State · Lahaina (Maui) · 848 Front Street, Lahaina, Maui; no longer standing after the 2023 fire

Coordinates

20.87639, -156.680444 Map ↗

First built

1912 · The society was organized around 1909 as a branch of the Chee Kung Tong; a two-story building combining Chinese and Western styles was completed in 1912

Heritage status

U.S. National Register of Historic Places, NRHP #82000173 (15 November 1982)Hawaii State Register of Historic Places (30 July 1982)

Overview

The Wo Hing Society was founded by Chinese laborers of the Lahaina sugarcane plantations, the association organized around 1909, belonging to the Chee Kung Tong branch of the Hongmen; a two-story building was completed in 1912, its form combining Chinese and Victorian timber construction. The upper-floor shrine venerates Guandi and various Chinese deities, and is the only publicly accessible Daoist/folk-religion temple on Maui; the ground floor served as space for members' activities and mutual-aid affairs. The name 'Wo Hing' carries the meaning of harmony and prosperity. It was restored by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation in 1983, and has been open since 1984 as the Wo Hing Museum; the courtyard also contains a freestanding cookhouse, one of the few surviving Chinese cookhouses in the state. In the Lahaina wildfire of 8 August 2023, the association hall and cookhouse burned along with it, and most artifacts were lost, with only digitized archives preserved. This is the most severe single loss of Chinese religious heritage in North America in recent years.

Highlights

• A Chee Kung Tong branch of the Hongmen, its building completed in 1912
• Its upper floor was the only publicly accessible Daoist temple on Maui
• Principal deity Guandi
• Operated as the Wo Hing Museum from 1984
• Completely destroyed in the 2023 Lahaina wildfire