About the Lung Kong Association
                     
          By: Vincent  Chiu

 

The Lung Kong Association is an apolitical, non‑sectarian, charitable organization. It was founded to foster the brotherhood of four families: Lau, Kwan, Cheung and Chiu. It is a fraternal organization established in North America at the end of the nineteenth century by Chinese immigrants with those family names. Its aims were, and still are, to help fellow members, to assist newcomers to settle in the new country and to promote Chinese culture in the mainstream society.

Nowadays, there are about 150 chapters worldwide. The head office is located in Taipei, Taiwan, China, but each chapter functions independently.

According to the story of The Three Kingdoms, Lau Bei was a distant relative of the royal family of the Han Dynasty. Before Lau Bei joined the army, he met Kwan Yu and Cheung Fai. The three quickly became friends because they were patriotic and shared the same ideology. They swore to treat each other as brothers.

When Lau Bei became the leader of one of the forces against Tsao Chao, (Tsao Chao was a self‑serving, poitically‑minded general, ostensibly serving under Emperor Han), he met Chiu Wun. Lau introduced Chiu to Kwan and Cheung, and they loved each other like brothers. This is the famous story of the Lau, Kwan, Cheung and Chiu brotherhood.

Lung Kong is named after a place that literally means Dragon Hill. It is in Hoiping, in southern Guangdong, China, where there is a temple called Lung Kong Ancient Temple. It was originally built around 1661 by members of the four families to commemorate their ancestors: Lau Bei, Kwan Yu, Cheung Fai and Chiu Wun.
            The tenets of the Lung Kong Association are:       

                         
            And its guiding principle is:
          "Do good things, no matter how small they are. Don't do any bad things, even if they are small."
 
          [Top of Page]              [Quarterly Magazine Page]                   [Home Page