Hawaii’s first Chinese Christian organization is marking its 137th anniversary this month.
Chartered in 1877 by the kingdom of Hawaii’s royal decree, the Chinese Christian Association of Hawaii was born from necessity because "in the early days we were a minority and we had to stick together," said member Cyril Wong.
In the 1850s large numbers of immigrants from China came to work on Hawaii’s sugar plantations with the intention of returning to their ancestral villages to live in comfort from saved wages. Ties to their homeland were woven from the tenets of an ideology that put the highest value on filial piety, especially duty to one’s parents.
But after their plantation contracts ended, many Chinese workers had little to show for years of back-breaking labor and austerity. So, they left plantations seeking ways to make enough money for the trip home.
Their entrepreneurial spirit then gave birth to a profusion of small shops, stores and restaurants — sometimes tightly packed alongside dismal living quarters — in the district that became Honolulu’s Chinatown.
When many learned English to do business with other ethnic groups, they also learned about Christian churches, according to a history written by the Chinese Christian Association of Hawaii.
The association will hold an anniversary celebration, which will also serve as an annual officer recognition dinner, on Nov. 8 at the Golden Palace Restaurant.
Gertrude Hara, the CCAH’s first female president, said the event’s keynote speaker, the Rev. Franklin Chun, will reflect on the group’s pioneers and historical moments. Proclamations will be presented by state Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland and Rep. Takashi Ohno. In addition, the occasion will give members of different churches, many of whom are descendants of the original immigrants, another opportunity to bond, Hara said.
Wong, who serves as a co-chairman for the event, said the CCAH’s membership comes mainly from four churches on Oahu, three of which are older than 100 years old. They include the First Chinese Church of Christ (1879), St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (1886), St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church (1902) and the United Church of Christ, Judd Street (1915).
According to the association’s Centennial Yearbook, as early Chinese immigrants switched their focus from returning to their ancestral roots to surviving in a strange land, churches took on the mantle of teaching them English.
"In gratitude the Chinese gave the church their wholehearted support," particularly the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) of Honolulu, which served as a welfare agency at a time when none existed, according the Centennial Yearbook. The YMCA also provided Chinese-language Bibles and Sunday schools. The immigrants went on to form their own Chinese YMCA organization.
In some cases Chinese plantation workers had been converted to Christianity by missionaries in China before coming to Hawaii. They formed the First Chinese Christian Church, which Wong has belonged to since the 1940s. The Chinese-language church took shape two years after the CCAH was formed, he added.
Wong said the association’s "main mission is scholarship," helping students become pastors by putting them through college and seminary school. It also pays tuition for pastors taking refresher courses.
Hara said CCAH has also established two cemeteries in Makiki and Pauoa. The association has always been involved in community service projects, but building membership among the younger generations is also a priority, she said.
CCAH members may register for the 5:30 p.m. dinner Nov. 8 by calling Hara at 391-3312 or Wong at 946-6195.
