Zing Yuen was a Chinese-American crime boss who led the Fung Hai Tong from 1878, succeeding Pai Hon-ping.
Biography[]
Zing Yuen was born in Qing China, and he later immigrated to the United States with the Fung Hai Tong. He became the chief lieutenant of Pai Hon-ping, and, in 1878, he secretly conspired with Long Zii Tong lieutenant Mai Ling to assassinate Pai and replace him as the tong's leader. After Pai was poisoned at a banquet with the Long Zii, Zing forged an alliance with Mai Ling. As boss, Zing dealt with the indebted, corrupt SFPD sergeant Bill O'Hara and later employed him as an enforcer, involved his tong in the opium business, and massacred the Suey Sing Tong and its leader Lao Tze. Zing's relationship with Mai Ling deteriorated due to his insistence that they were merely partners, and that Fung Hai was its own organization, and Mai Ling's lover Li Yong later framed Zing for the "Swordsman" murders with the help of Wang Chao and had him arrested by O'Hara. Zing was sentenced to death by hanging for the murders of several white men, but he escaped from San Quentin Prison after finding that the bars on his cell window were loose. When he returned to San Francisco by train, he confronted Wang Chao at the platform and stabbed him several times before leaving him for dead.