1918 A Chinese politician is assassinated in Victoria
Credit to Author: John Mackie| Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2019 03:00:43 +0000
On Sept. 1, 1918 one of the founders of the Republic of China was assassinated in Victoria.
Tang Hua Long was walking to the Chinese Club at 555 Fisgard St. when Chong Wong pulled out two revolvers and shot him in the abdomen. Tang crumpled to the ground and Wong shot him in the mouth, killing him.
“The assassin, probably crazed by his own deed, then started to run amok, firing wildly about the street,” reported the Victoria Times.
“He tried to kill Ho Te-Huit, a student from Seattle, who quickly flattened himself upon the ground and escaped the bullet intended for him. The gunman then rushed at Fei Lin, the secretary to the murdered man, who managed to reach safety in a doorway, the shot fired at him shattering a window.
“Wong then turned upon Lingoh Wang, the Chinese Consul at Vancouver, and pursued him along Government Street, firing as he went. Wang sought refuge in the Westholme Hotel, and the murderer did not follow him any further but, rushing madly along the street firing at some Chinese children, he headed east along Pandora Avenue.
“As he approached the corner of Broad Street in his mad career he met Deputy Fire Chief Stewart, and raised his gun as if to shoot. Then, looking back and seeing the crowd following, he shot himself and fell on his back without a cry.”
The other members of Tang’s party retreated to the Empress Hotel, where the Victoria Colonist reported “they barricaded themselves in their rooms by piling the furniture chairs against the doors.”
They were convinced that the murder was part of a bigger conspiracy by “a certain revolutionary element here,” and that “a second agent of the instigators of the crime was ready to attack the balance of the party.”
The police eventually calmed them down and no second attack was carried out. But it turned out that Wong was a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang, which was based in southern China and led by Sun Yat-Sen.
Chinese politician Tang Hua Lung, who was assassinated in Victoria on Sept. 1, 1918. (His name is misspelled at the top of the photo, which happened a lot in the 1910s.)
The Kuomintang were revolutionaries who wanted radical changes in China, while Tang was associated with the Kung-to Tong, a conservative group from the north that favoured constitutional reforms.
China became a republic in 1912, after a revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty. Tang was a big player in the republican government, serving as speaker in China’s House of Representatives as well as minister of education and minister of the interior. In the summer of 1918 he travelled around North America on what his secretary described as “a diplomatic mission.”
But there were reports he was trying to raise money or support for Chinese Premier Tuan Chi-Jui, which may have led to his assassination.
“A flutter of excitement was caused by the production of a translation of an article in The New Republic, the local Chinese newspaper, on the day of the shooting,” the Victoria Times reported Sept. 4.
“The article … states that if Mr. Tang came to this country for the purpose of raising money for the Chinese Premier, ‘traitor Tuan Chi-Jui,’ he was a hundred times more guilty than the Premier.”
The assassin Wong ran a barber shop in Victoria. His co-owner was in Vancouver at the time of the assassination, and when he returned to Victoria he found a note from Wong.
“The murderer asked his partner not to grieve for him, for his actions would be in the interests of China,” the Times reported Sept. 6.
Many people in Victoria’s Chinatown probably agreed. Most Chinese-Canadians at the time were from the south, around Canton, which was sympathetic to the Kuomintang.
“A great deal of the sentiment throughout the district is with the murderer, who is regarded by many as a hero,” the Times said Sept. 4.
“It is probable that the radical, southern or republican party to which the assassin belonged will rest content. It will remain to be seen if the northern, monarchist or conservative party, of which the murdered minister was a strong pillar, will take any action in the matter.”
Tang Hua Long was 44 when he died, while Chong Wong was 35.
A photo of Chong Long from the Sept. 3, 1918 Victoria Times. Wong assassinated Chinese politician Tang Hua Lung on Sept. 1, 1918, then killed himself.
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