The Collective Memories of Hanford California's China Alley
Discover the memories and untold stories of Hanford California's China Alley, illuminating a forgotten community's resilience.
National Trust for Historic Preservation
By Evelyn Hang Yin
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is working to support the preservation of America's Chinatowns. Sign our petition today to commit to the cultural preservation of America’s Chinatowns for future generations.
Chinese School - China Alley by China Alley Preservation SocietyNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Located in California’s Central Valley on the traditional homelands of the Yokuts people, the city of Hanford (current population: 58,000) was established in the 1870s as the Southern Pacific Company was building a railway line that would connect San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Parkling Lot in Handford, California (2018) by Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Many Chinese laborers came to Hanford to work on area farmland.
Photograph of the Interior of the Taoist Temple (1890) by China Alley Preservation Society and Photograph of Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Despite segregation and oppression, the Chinese community in Hanford flourished and developed a vibrant Chinatown known as China Alley.
China Alley boasted homes, restaurants, boarding houses, general merchandise stores, herb shops, groceries, laundries, gambling establishments, a Chinese school, and a Taoist Temple, which was built in 1882.
Around 1880, one of the earliest residents of China Alley, Gong Ting Shu (Henry Wing) of Fa Yuen, China, escaped political persecution due to his opposition to the Qing dynasty. He jumped into the Pearl River and found himself rescued by a boat en route to San Francisco.
He eventually settled in Hanford, opening a noodle house in China Alley named Mee Jan Low in 1883.
Hanford Sentinel Newsletter (2021) by Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
During World War II, the population of China Alley began to decline. Having served in the Army and traveled with General George C. Marshall as his personal chef, Gong Ting Shu’s grandson Richard Wing came back to Hanford and opened a new restaurant named Imperial Dynasty.
Until it closed its doors in 2006, the five-star restaurant occupied four buildings in the Alley.
Historic image of the Exterior of the Taoist Temple by China Alley Preservation SocietyNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Over time, the Taoist Temple and other vacant buildings in China Alley started to deteriorate. In an attempt to save the temple, in 1972, the China Alley Preservation Society (CAPS, formerly Taoist Temple Preservation Society) was formed.
The founders included Dennis Triplitt, Laurence Sue, Stan Ham, William Ying, Van Low, Charles Young, Bill Dunn, Lloyd Christensen, Robert Grunwald, George Takeda, Lawrence Alexander, Claude Hinkle, and Richard Wing.
The Taoist Temple Museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
In the same year, Richard’s sister-in-law Camille Wing was invited to join the board of CAPS. Together with the help of community members, they cleaned, researched, curated, and opened the Taoist Temple Museum in 1982.
Camille would often say that when she started, she never imagined this project to become her life-long dedication.
Portrait of Arianne Wing (2022) by Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Four generations later, the Wing family remained in the culinary business in China Alley. Camille’s daughter Arianne Wing owns the LT Sue Co. Tea Room with her husband Steve Banister. She is the current president of China Alley Preservation Society.
Taoist Temple Interior (2019) by Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
China Alley is a treasure trove: from large-scale altars and shrines, to everyday ritual objects, from household items to phonograph records, from store ledgers to the one-of-a-kind book that chronicles the tradition of bone repatriation.
China Alley Preservation Society Archives (2019) by Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
To the attentive eye, every corner of China Alley tells a story. Hear an audio clip from an old Cantonese opera vinyl record from China Alley.
In 2011, China Alley was included on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. A number of the buildings were vulnerable due to disuse, deferred maintenance, water damage, and vandalism.
Despite the challenges, however, the eleven historic buildings in China Alley remain largely intact and look just as they did over a hundred years ago.
Moon Festival at China Alley (1983) by China Alley Preservation SocietyNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Up until 2020, the Taoist Temple Museum was open to the public once a month. The CAPS consisted of a small and dedicated team of volunteer docents, who hosted the annual Moon Festival, celebrating Chinese culture and contributions to the larger San Jaoquin Valley.
The Taoist Temple after the Arson (2019) by Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
On May 12, 2021, an arsonist heavily damaged the Taoist Temple Museum. The fire tore through the stairs at the front of the building. While the building is structurally stable, the fire burned, melted, and severely charred artifacts on the second floor.
Restoration of Artifacts from China Alley (2021) by Evelyn Hang WinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Immediately following the fire, China Alley Preservation Society worked with RLA Conservation and Cooke’s Crating, who cleaned, stabilized, and transported the most damaged artifacts to Los Angeles for further conservation.
The less-damaged artifacts on the first floor were also cleaned, inventoried, packed and stored away by the Preservation Society so that Johnson Architecture of Fresno could develop a construction and restoration plan. On the ground in Hanford, Arianne and the rest of the Preservation Society remain busy, steadfast, and hopeful.
Hanford Chinese Cemetery (2020) by Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
While simultaneously grieving Camille Wing's death six weeks before the fire, Arianne Wing said, " I feel since we started restoring from the fire, I feel like I'm sitting in her place in the ashes so that we can rise from the ashes."
"My mom, when she was doing her docenting—when she was leading tours—she would greet people right here. In her later years, we had chairs here; she sat here and greeted people. And in her really really later years, where she wasn’t going up the stairs as much, she sat on these chairs, and I feel since we started restoring the fire, I feel like I’m sitting in her place so that we can rise from the ashes."
China Alley during sunset (2023) by Evelyn Hang YinNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Camille Wing on the future
"I always say what we're trying to do is save the information for the future, for the next generation so that they will know what was here. Maybe they'll carry on with the research we were trying to do."
More information about the China Alley Preservation Society.
Learn more about the National Trust for Historic Preservation's America's Chinatowns initiative.
How Chinatowns Nationwide Are Finding Ways to Thrive Into the Future (Preservation magazine)
Evelyn Hang Yin is an artist based in Los Angeles.
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.