Lee? Your party is here - Hundreds from around the country who share the Chinese surname descend on L.A. to celebrate their heritage and ponder their future.

Hundreds of Lees from Boston, Oakland, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York, to name a few places, marched down Broadway and officially commenced the 19th national convention of the Lee Family Assn.

Formed nearly a century and a half ago in San Francisco, the group flourished for more than 100 years, like many other Chinese family and village associations, by providing members a place of refuge in a country that long shunned and discriminated against the Chinese. They anchored the Chinatowns across the United States by offering members loans, securing burial plots and helping settle business disputes for a community denied access to most mainstream institutions.

But in modern times, with their aging ranks and challenges from newer and more prosperous Chinese communities in the suburbs, family associations such as the Lees face an uncertain future.

Elders say many younger Chinese Americans are either too Americanized or have too many ties to the rapidly improving modern China to consider the associations relevant. Almost all the attendees Sunday were senior citizens uniformly dressed in dark suits and red ties.

"It's a real problem," said Cesar Lee, 70, a member of the Los Angeles chapter. "You don't want the younger generation to lose their roots."

What can't be denied is the groups' place in history. Buildings belonging to associations such as the Lees and the Wongs line the main thoroughfares of L.A.'s Chinatown and often bustle during the day with the sound of shuffling mah-jongg tiles.

Portraits of past association presidents hang on the walls, and red-and-gold shrines sit front and center for members to place offerings. The buildings are like relics of a bygone era when Chinese transplants needed to hang on to their customs and sought comfort in the company of their countrymen.

The Lee association, which has thousands of members and is rivaled in size by the Wong group, boasts one feature that other groups cannot: a credit union. Each of the roughly 20 Lee chapters across the U.S. offers its members mortgages or car loans at competitive interest rates.

When combined nationally, the Lee Federal Credit Union is said to have $30 million in funds. The San Francisco branch alone takes in $30,000 a month.