'A celebration of Chinese culture': Chinese Benevolent Association celebrates 100 years Saturday
For a century, Chinese culture in Stockton has been celebrated at the Confucius Church of Stockton by the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA).
This Saturday, the association is celebrating its 100th year during the year of the dragon. The celebration is from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 25 at the Confucius Church of Stockton with an open house at 212 E. Lafayette St.
The open house is free for all and will offer entertainment, refreshments, and more, according to organizers.
"Is a celebration of Chinese culture, and how we try to promote it in the community through the Chinese school, through lion dance, dragon dance. We are giving out scholarships to some of the college students and students from the Chinese school," Valerie Lee Acoba, board member of CBA, told The Record. "It's a celebration of our local Chinese community and we're very proud to do this. We're very proud to be in existence for 100 years."
Following the open house, the community will celebrate at their sold-out banquet at China Palace Restaurant.
"The celebration is to honor all of the people that have history in this building. We have many active people that are still working and we're still on the board that have been on the board for a long time," Acoba said. "We want to honor those hard working people that do that."
A proud heritage
CBA was established in 1924, according to its website.
The association's purpose is "to promote the welfare of the Chinese community together with other organizations and for the awareness and appreciation of the Chinese Culture."
"It is amazing and exciting that this organization has survived this long," Acoba said. "I know that there are only a handful of organizations in San Joaquin County that are hosting or are having their 100th year anniversary this year."
Acoba stays involved with CBA as a board member, the English secretary, and the person in charge of outreach activities, but her familiarization with the association goes further than that.
Her father was part of the legacy.
"Although my last name is Filipino, I am Chinese," Acoba said. "My family has been connected to Confucius Church since my father."
Her father, Thomas Gong Lee, was part of the association in the 1940s and '50s, when he was president of the Lee Family Association. He also owned restaurants in town, Acoba added.
His portrait is one of the many photographs of men who contributed to the church's success that hangs in the hallway inside the former church, used now as a social space.
The decade-old nonprofit is "not like a normal 501 (c)(3)," Alcoba said.
CBA receives income through the sale of plots at the Chinese Cemetery of Stockton in French Camp, where the annual Ching Ming Festival is held.
"The Chinese Cemetery exists because, in the '20s (and) '30s, they did not want Chinese to be buried with Caucasian people," Acoba said. "Some very wise Chinese guys bought this land out in French Camp and used it for the Chinese Cemetery."
Acoba also represents the Chinese Cultural Society of Stockton, which puts on the Chinese New Year Festival, she said.
"I'm most proud of being Chinese. I'm proud of my Chinese culture. I'm proud of what the Chinese have done in the community," Acoba said. "The businesses that they have built."
Making their mark in Stockton
Chinese immigrants made their way to California during the Gold Rush. Arriving in San Francisco, they would travel through Stockton before hitting the mountainous peaks, according to Visit Stockton. Many decided to remain in the city and by 1850, Stockton had become a primary center for Chinese immigrants.
However, white residents of Stockton eventually took issue with the Chinese in Stockton.
In 1880, an anti-Chinese public meeting of 300 residents at city hall proposed creating “devilishly uncomfortable” city ordinances towards the Chinese," according to Visit Stockton.
These ordinances forced immigrants to "self-deport," and such ordinances applied such as "no open cooking, no operating laundries, no fishing, no ethnic hair styling, no firecrackers, no interracial marriage, as well as Chinese children prohibited from attending white schools and heavier taxes on Chinese miners," Visit Stockton website states.
As "the most racially diverse city in the United States," according to U.S. News & World Report, it is unclear how large the current Chinese community in Stockton and San Joaquin is in comparison to other Asian communities, and other minorities in the area.
In 2016, The Chinese Benevolent Association and the San Joaquin County Historical Museum collaborated to collect first and secondhand stories of residents who lived in "Stockton’s once-vibrant Chinatown, which was decimated by construction of the Crosstown Freeway," The Record reported in 2016.
The same freeway can now be seen through the windows of the Chinese school on the second floor of the CBA building.
Those stories and objects were used to create an exhibit “Tales of Stockton Chinatown” at the San Joaquin County Historical Museum in Lodi. Those items then would be given to the Chinese Benevolent Association to start a museum, The Record reported in 2016.
That museum is finally opening at 212 E. Lafayette St. in Stockton. Visits to the Museum of Chinese in Stockton will be available during the 100th celebration, Acoba said.
The Chinese community has been in Stockton for more than a century.
There was a population of 779,233 people living in San Joaquin County, with 320,804 in Stockton, according to the U.S. Census in 2020. In the county, 19.5% of people choose "Asian alone" as their race. In Stockton, that was 20.9% of the population.
For more information visit stocktoncba.org.
Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Chinese Benevolent Association 100th anniversary
