Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Wongs' Benevolent Association
Parallel form(s) of name
- 黃氏宗親總會
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The origins of the Wongs’ Benevolent Association in Canada date back to 1912; the Wong Wun Sun Society and the Wong Kung Har Tong Society 黃江夏堂 were founded among numerous Chinese societies providing support to early Chinese immigrants within a racist white society. The Wongs' Association was formed in 1970 when the two founding Wongs' societies merged.
Overseas Chinese formed membership-based social service and mutual aid societies organized by surname/clan and home villages/districts. They provided support in the areas of housing, employment, banking and loans, immigration and legal services, political organizing, English language services and education, and burials.
Membership within the Wongs’ Benevolent Association is bound by the surname Wong 黃 (and 王 to a lesser extent). Members share ancestral roots in the districts of Toisan 台山 and Hoiping 開平 in the southern province of Guangdong 廣東 in China.
In Vancouver, the Association’s legacies include the Mon Keang Chinese School 文彊學校 and Hon Hsing Athletic Club 漢升體育會, both founded in the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act. In the post-war period, the Association is known for playing a significant role in the founding of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver.