Hip Sing Association

During the 1930s and 1940s, the Hip Sings were involved in drug trafficking operations with the Kuomintang (KMT) and later the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC).

It moved into New York City in the late 1800s, and soon began to compete with the On Leong Tong for local control under the guidance of its then-leader Sai Wing Mock.

[2] In the last fifty to sixty years, efforts began from within the group to clean up their public image by obfuscating their illegal activities, and in several chapters this would transform into a genuine attempt to become a purely law-abiding organization.

There were clear transfers of illegal activities to plausibly deniable associated street gangs, like in New York City where the Hip Sing Tong secretly used the Flying Dragons to carry out crimes in their stead.

[4] Since the late 1990s, branches of the group have turned their original attempts at plausible deniability into a genuine trend towards becoming fully law-abiding fraternal organizations like other Tongs.

The Hip Sing Association building in Seattle, Washington.
Hip Sing Association building (pale with red diamonds) in Chinatown, San Francisco