KET (KWOCK) HING SOCIETY HALL
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.
What’s nearby:
KULA HOSPITAL (KULA SANATORIUM)
HOTEL WAILEA MAUI (DIAMOND RESORT OF HAWAII)
KULA LODGE (FRANK JAMES HOUSE)
Author:
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. Buildings of Hawaii.
