Gta 5 Chinese Mission

[Senaqua Hildreth]

TheChinese Mission School offered them an opportunity to learn the English language, a necessity if they were to work or carry on business with the Americans. The dedicated Caucasian teachers at the Mission were the first to extend the hand of friendship to the lonely and isolated Chinese. For 75 years the Mission would be a place where Chinese could live, learn English, receive religious instruction and enjoy social activities among themselves and with their Caucasian friends.

As a result of the racial turmoil in California and the West, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Between 1882 and 1924 other exclusion acts were enacted, effectively cutting off practically all entry of Chinese into the United States. The Chinese were the only people specifically named in the legislation.11

By a treaty with China in 1868 the United States had allowed Chinese to come into the country but denied them the right of citizenship.12 Since they could not hope to become American citizens, most fully intended to return to China as soon as they had saved some money. Immigrants were mostly mate, with only an occasional family. The men were faithful in sending money back to their families in China from whom they were often separated for years. After 1882 wives or family could come in oonly under a quota system which effectively reduced immigration to a trickle.

After the exclusion acts became law, Chinese were smuggled illegally into California, many crossing the border from Mexico into San Diego. The Coast Guard often searched vessels coming north from Mexican waters that were suspected of having contraband Chinese aboard. When a ship was found to be carrying illegal Chinese it was seized and later offered for sale at public auction. If Chinese were found, they were ordered deported. However, some Chinese were able to escape detection and melted into the Chinese communities.14

Because of the large influx of Chinese into San Francisco it was natural that concern for their welfare manifested itself first there. Most were illiterate and could not speak English and the need was great for schools to teach them English. The American Home Missionary Association saw this opportunity to fill a need and so it was that the teaching of English to the Chinese went along with the teaching of the Christian religion, Chinese Sunday Schools became a fad in San Francisco among the churches, and mission schools sprang up in outlying cities and towns populated by Chinese. In San Diego, the Presbyterian Church started a Sunday School for a few Chinese children in 1870, and it was said to be the first in Southern California.17 Several years later the Baptist Church began a Sunday School for Chinese. One of the teachers at the Presbyterian Church was George W. Marston who would be a staunch supporter of the Chinese Mission the rest of his life.

The Chinese Mission School in San Diego was the inspiration of a young Chinese resident by the name of Lee Hong who had conic from San Francisco and was familiar with mission schools there. In 1885 he persuaded Dr. William C. Pond of the American Home Missionary Association, whose work was with the Chinese in California, to come to San Diego and organize a Mission School. Almost all the Chinese in San Diego were men, and the need was for a school to teach them to read, write and speak English.

Dr. Pond rented a house on the corner of 13th and F for use of the new mission school. Classes were held at night and on Sunday, and were taught by dedicated men and women who devoted their time free of charge. They not only taught English but helped in solving the many problems facing the solitary and lonely men in a strange and often hostile land. Dr. Pond visited the mission school regularly, watching its progress with interest, even after 1890 when the Congregational denomination took over the work in San Diego County. His interest continued for nearly fifty years until his death at the age of 95.18

Students at the Mission numbered as many as fifty at a time, both young and old men, who received their tutoring without charge. Religious instruction was given along with the language study. But 13th and F was too far from Chinatown, which centered along Third Street, so in 1901 the Mission moved to 663 First Street, between Market and G, on the edge of Chinatown. In 1907 it moved next door into property belonging to George W. Marston, which consisted of a one story building with a gabled roof that stood in front of a long dormitory containing tiny rooms along both sides of a corridor. The rooms were rented to Chinese men. The Mission now became a home as well as a school. Kenneth Jair, who saw the Mission for the first time in 1925, has described it as being a wooden building painted a dull green surrounded by a wooden fence with a gate in front. Inside, wooden chairs faced a low platform, or stage, covered with a rug. An old upright piano stood at one side. High against the front wall was a picture of Christ with crossed American and Chinese flags underneath. The room was lit by a few electric light bulbs which hung from the ceiling.19

Tong wars were not unknown in San Diego and Mrs. Fanton would be called to give aid and comfort to grieving women who had lost a husband or son in one of the conflicts. She was also called when new babies arrived, delivered at home under primitive conditions by a Chinese doctor. Mothers asked her to give their children an American name. So, there were several named Roland, Byron, William, for members of her family, and a number of girls were named Margaret in appreciation of her help.21 If any Chinese were in financial need she sought help from the Chinese Benevolent Society, churches or voluntary service agencies. The Chinese helped one another and were often too proud to seek help from outside their own community. Mrs. Fanton was a pioneer in social service work long before public agencies came into being.

The Mission was far more than a place to go for language instruction or to attend church services. It was a social gathering place for Chinese of all ages and a place for the wives to meet and socialize. When a few wives wanted to learn English, classes in the daytime were started for them.

The dormitory rooms were always filled to capacity with young men, mostly newcomers to San Diego and those recently arrived from China who had no other place to go. It was an opportunity to meet other Chinese and to find employment. Some entered the country as students to study in the public schools or to learn American business practices and then returned to China. The teachers at the school were especially anxious to help the students with their school work and to see they were given good instruction in the American way of life and in the Christian religion. It was hoped this education would be taken back with them to China to be passed on to others.

In 1925 Mrs. Fanton went to China, fulfilling a long time dream. She took with her a long list of families of her Mission friends to visit while there, most of whom were in the Canton area. She was accompanied by a young Chinese girl, Agnes Lee, who had been living with her and whom she treated as a daughter. Agnes was going back to China to visit her family and intended to return. However, while in China she disappeared, never to be heard from again. Mrs. Fanton was gone several months, visiting Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong, and was appalled and saddened by the poverty she found everywhere. Upon her return she resumed work at the Mission as a teacher and social worker.27

The first pastor of the Mission was Reverend C. C. Hung who came from Honolulu to minister to the small congregation in 1925. His salary was paid by the Southern California Conference of Congregational Churches. Church services were then held in both Chinese and English. At that time there were about forty Chinese living in crowded conditions in the dormitory. About twenty teachers, most of whom were Caucasian, taught the language classes and Sunday School. By that time the Mission buildings were in a sad state of repair. The roof leaked and there were never enough buckets to catch the rain.

Reverend Hung, with the aid of Mrs. Fanton and Reverend Paul B. Waterhouse of the Congregational Conference, began a fund raising campaign for a new building. W. H. Porterfield, Editor of the San Diego Sun and brother of Mrs. Fanton, opened the campaign with a showing of a motion picture about China at the First Congregational Church on December 28, 1926. George W. Marston donated the land on which the Mission was located, and other substantial donations were made by prominent San Diegans including Miss Mary Marston and M.C. Pfefferkorn. One popular means of fund raising was having the little girls of the Mission Sunday School, dressed in their Chinese costumes, sing for church and fraternal organizations. This proved to be a lucrative way of raising funds from San Diegans anxious to help in the cause.28 The Savoy Theatre, a legitimate theatre with a stock company presenting a different play each week, held a benefit performance for the Mission donating 25c from each ticket sold. These and other fund raising methods were so successful that within six months ten thousand dollars was raised by the Chinese people and their friends. The total cost of the building was about twenty thousand dollars, the balance being provided by the Congregational Conference.29

The architect chosen for the new buildings was Louis J. Gill, nephew, protege and partner of Irving Gill, noted California architect. The new Mission consisted of a large meeting hall with a stage, two small offices at the front, and a parlor and kitchen in the rear. Screens were used to partition the meeting hall into classrooms. A two story dormitory containing 18 rooms was built on the back of the lot.

A dedication ceremony for the Mission and dormitory was held on November 22, 1927, with all the ministers of the local Congregational churches assisting. Reverend Lawrence Wilson, Pastor of the Mission Hills Congregational Church, presided. The Service of Dedication was given by Reverend Wm. W. Scudder of the La Mesa Congregational Church, the Prayer of Dedication by Dr. Roy Campbell of the First Congregational Church, and the Benediction by Reverend William Forshaw of the Plymouth Church. Music was provided by the choir of the Mission Hills Congregational Church.

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