The Wah Ching is a well known, and long standing Asian gang that was founded in San Francisco during the 1960’s. The gang was known for its ruthless ways and they put a chokehold on the businesses in the area.

Asian gangs and Asians in general, had a lot to prove back in those times, and the Wah Ching were cut throat when it came down to doing dirt.

History and Early Days

Chinese and Hong Kong immigrants first started coming to America due to lack of economy in China back in the day. They started flocking to America due to the gold rush at first.

A lot of these Chinese and Hong Kong immigrants ended up in San Francisco.

San Franciscos China Town is one of the oldest Chinatowns in the United States.

With the amount of Chinese immigrants there you would think that the Chinese youth would fit in and were able to find a place right? This wasn’t the case, Hong Kong and Chinese teenagers were getting bullied by other kids at school.

Due to this bullying, and to keep other Asian teen Immigrants safe, these teens decided to start a new Asian Street Gang called the Wah Ching, which means Asian Youth.

When the Wah Ching first emerged on the scene back in the 60s they were very brash and cocky.

Back in the day, Chinatown ran a certain way, they were very organized when it came to doing business there. The Tongs reigned supreme when it came to the food chain there. Nothing moved in Chinatown without the Tongs approval first.

Wah Ching vs the Tongs

Since the Wah Ching wanted to make a name for themselves they went over the Tongs approval, and in that time the Tong that was in charge was the Hop Sing Tong.

Hop Sing Tong decided to reach out to the Wah Ching to form a relationship between the established Tong and the newer street gang. The Hop Sing Tong wanted to tax the Wah Ching for them to walk freely in Chinatown.

This was a pivotal moment in the Wah Chings history, as half the gang wanted to take the Tongs deal, but the other half wanted to fend for themselves.

This split the gang in half, the half that wanted to fend for themselves were spear headed by 2 brother, the Fong Brothers.

These 2 brothers split off from the rest of the Wah Ching and created another Chinese street gang, the Joe Boys, which would change the Gang scene in San Francisco forever.

This decision led to years of fighting and it got really bloody. The Joe Boys mission was to take out the Wah Ching and become the deadliest Chinese Gang in Chinatown.

From this point the Wah Ching continued to work in Chinatown doing dirt for the Tongs. They became hired guns and worked closely with the Hop Sing Tong.

Expansion

The Wah Ching formed a newer faction in Los Angeles’ Chinatown in 1969. This move would make former Wah Ching members to start other gangs like the Yao Le and the Chung Ching Yee(Joe Boys).

Members would constantly travel from LA to San Francisco to conduct business on behalf of the gang.

During the 1970s the Wah Chings influence started spreading towards the San Gabriel Valley as many Chinese began opening businesses and moving to the area.

The Takeover