Bing Kung Tong Shrine, Seattle西雅图秉公堂神坛

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · Washington State · Seattle · Inside the Bing Kung Tong meeting hall, in the vicinity of Eighth Avenue and King Street, Chinatown-International District

First built

1917 · A new shrine was dedicated in the meeting hall in 1917

Overview

Bing Kung Tong is one of the major tongs in North America. Its Seattle branch dedicated a new shrine in 1917 in its meeting hall at Eighth Avenue and King Street; at the time, news reports called it "the finest temple in America," saying that only one Chinese Masonic temple in San Francisco could rival it. The CINARC editors have confirmed on site that most of its decorative elements survive to this day, though the overall style leans toward European and American aesthetics — a common tendency among tong shrines in North America in the early twentieth century: aligning with mainstream society in architecture and decoration in order to project a "respectable" public image, while retaining South Chinese traditions in the arrangement of deities and ritual content. The principal deity enshrined there is not recorded, and this entry makes no inference about it. This shrine belongs privately to the tong and is not open to the public.

Highlights

• Dedicated in 1917, called at the time "the finest temple in America"
• Most of its decorative elements survive to this day
• A typical example of a tong shrine whose style aligned with European and American aesthetics