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WO HING TEMPLE

In 1788, Captain John Meares' ships, the Felice and the Iphigenia were in Hawaiian waters. Accompanying them was a small schooner, North West American, which had been built for the Captain by fifty carpenters and smiths from Canton who had accompanied him to Nootka Sound on the American northwest coast. These were probably the first Chinese to see Hawaii.

The Iphigenia and the North West American wintered for four months in the islands. Kamehameha visited the ships and was so impressed with them that he asked that two of the Chinese carpenters be allowed to remain with him to build a schooner similar to the North West American. This request was denied, but the Chinese carpenters did build a mounting for a swivel gun, which they attached to one of the chief's double-hulled canoes.

In 1791, a British schooner captain landed a couple of Chinese adventurers on Maui. They were looking for stands of sandalwood. Less than fifty years later, larger waves of Chinese were imported as sugar plantation laborers. By that time Chinese merchants and sugar masters had already established themselves in the islands.

On Maui, the first contract field laborers arrived from Hong Kong in 1852. There were 175 men on five-year contracts to the sugar plantations in this first group. Most of them were Hakka from Kwantung Province. For $3 a month per man plus passage, room and board, the plantations gained crews of hard-working men who came with dreams of a better life for themselves and their families. Successive waves of workers arrived over the next few decades, and while most of the men were determined to return home, many of them remained until they died.

As the population of Chinese people grew, fraternal Tong societies were formed for religious and political purposes as well as for reasons of friendship and financial assistance. When members died in the islands they had made their homes, they were assured of a proper funeral and burial.

At one time there were six of these Chinese fraternal societies on Maui: the Chee Kung Tong Society, with memberships in Kipahulu and in Wailuku, the Kwock Hing Society Kula, the Lin Hing Society in Keanae, the Tow Yee Kwock Society in Wailuku, and the Wo Hing Society in Lahaina. Each of these groups had their own buildings. Most of these buildings are now gone, but the Kwock Hing and Wo Hung buildings survive as reminders of the many contributions of these Chinese immigrants to our island life-style.

Of the two, the Lahaina building is better known. The Wo Hing Society and Social Hall was originally built in 1912. It became the social center for the hundreds of Chinese laborers who were working in the sugarcane fields. An altar room on the second floor of the building was used for religious services.

Beginning in the 1940's, business opportunities in Honolulu lured away many of Maui's Chinese and the building fell into disrepair. The temple was faithfully renovated in 1983 by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. A fascinating display of the history of the Chinese in Lahaina was installed after the renovation was completed and the building opened to the public as the Wo Hing Museum.

The separate cookhouse became the Cookhouse Theater, which offers movies of Hawaii taken by Thomas Edison in 1898 and 1903. (The cookhouse was a separate structure from the main building for fire safety reasons.)


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Standard English: Harold, that joke is not funny!
Braddah-Nics:  Harold, some dry the joke!

Standard English: Please quiet down. Your chattering is really disturbing me.
Braddah-Nics: Eh, you guys! Shaddup, okay? Your t'rowing me off!

Standard English: Oh, dear, are you feeling stressed?
Braddah-Nics: What? Snapping?

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Pickled Mango
Yield: 2 Gallons

2 cups Cider vinegar
1/2 cup Hawaiian salt
4 1/2 cup Brown sugar
6 cup Water
1/2 tsp 5 spices
2 Tb Red coloring
5 cups Sliced green mangoes

Combine ingredients. Boil, cool, and pour over sliced mangoes.
Yield: 2 gallons

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Wailea

Just south of Kihei, Wailea stands as a spacious, meticulously laid out resort, built in the early 70's by A & B (Alexander and Baldwin). There are five separate beaches along a mile and a half of shore with views of Lanai, Kahoolawe and Molokini. Winter whale-watching, good from vantage points down the length of the leeward shore, are exceptional off the Wailea beaches, where, sometimes, whales play just 100 yards from the shore.

The artfully designed hotels, condominiums, and exclusive residential communities set amid well-planned streets, a couple of world-class golf courses, a tennis club and a shopping center have been joined by newer and more densely clustered low-rise condo villas, but there is still the feeling of green, manicured lushness.

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