Freemasons in Hong Kong have been active in the community for over 170 years, enabling character development, creating lasting friendships, and supporting the community. Our Story
Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest non-religious, non-political, fraternal and charitable organisations. The District Grand Lodge of Hong Kong and the Far East is responsible for administering Freemasons' Lodges u
nder the United Grand Lodge of England that meet in the Hong Kong and the Far East. The District Grand Lodge of Hong Kong and the Far East started off as the Provincial Grand Lodge of China in 1847 and initially comprised two Lodges in Hong Kong: Royal Sussex and Zetland. Subsequent Lodges were established in Shanghai and other ‘Treaty Ports’ in China and given the distances involved and the difficulty of travel, it was decided to divide the District of China into two Grand Lodges: the District Grand Lodge of South China (1875) headquartered in Hong Kong and the District Grand Lodge of Northern China (1877), based in Shanghai. By the early 20th century the number of treaty ports in China had grown to more than fifty and there were some twenty Lodges in the two Districts, with a combined membership of around 1,000. In 1937 the Japanese army invaded China and in 1941 occupied the British and American concessions in the treaty ports and interned their citizens. After the World War, the policies in Mainland China made it difficult for foreigners to remain, so that membership rapidly dwindled. A few of the former treaty port Lodges moved to Hong Kong in the late 1940s/early 1950s and a couple moved to the UK, where they are still going strong, but the rest had to close. Before World War Two there were five English Lodges in Japan, but only one, the Rising Sun Lodge No. 1401 in Kobe, was revived after the war. The District Grand Lodge of Japan was officially dissolved in 1954. However, freemasonry rapidly recovered in post-war Hong Kong. In 1958 the District Grand Lodge of Hong Kong and South China became the District Grand Lodge of Hong Kong and the Far East with the addition of the Rising Sun Lodge. Today the DGLHKFE comprises 19 Lodges in Hong Kong plus the Rising Sun Lodge in Japan. Seven new Lodges have been consecrated in the past two decades, while total membership has remained fairly stable at around 1,000 members.
