The Collective Memories of Hanford California's China Alley
Google Arts & Culture + National Trust for Historic Preservation | May 9, 2024
This May, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and 14 Chinatown organizations partnered with Google Arts & Culture to launch a storytelling hub celebrating America’s Chinatowns and their heritage and history. This collection of more than 60 stories centers and elevates the work of the communities, grassroots advocates, and institutions to sustain and support these important neighborhoods.
“Discover the memories and untold stories of Hanford California's China Alley, illuminating a forgotten community's resilience.”
Preserving China Alley: A Conversation with Arianne Wing and Steve Banister
National Trust for Historic Preservation | May 2, 2022
We caught up with Arianne Wing, President of the China Alley Preservation Society (CAPS), and Steve Banister, who is directing the Taoist Temple arson restoration project, to learn more about how China Alley is recovering and what their plans are for the future.
A national honor for Hanford’s China Alley Preservation Society recognizes efforts to save site
KVPR | November 5, 2021
After a nationwide search, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recently gave Hanford’s China Alley Preservation Society one of its most prestigious awards. The Trustees Emeritus Award for Historic Site Stewardship recognizes the all-volunteer group for its efforts to preserve the story and history of China Alley. The half-block street in downtown Hanford has 11 historic buildings that trace the roots of Chinese immigrants in the 1800’s.
“I think people, a lot of people don't know what a little jewel we have in Hanford,” says Arianne Wing, president of the China Alley Preservation Society.
Woman identified in connection to Taoist Temple fire: ‘She really wiped out a whole chunk of history’
KPGE | June 29, 2021
According to the Hanford Police Department, felony charges of arson have been submitted to the Kings County District Attorney’s Office after surveillance video showed 37-year-old Maxine Montenegro sitting on the front steps of the Taoist Temple setting items of clothing on fire.
The fire that followed in May destroyed artifacts described as “irreplaceable.”
Documents chronicling history of Chinese immigrants saved from China Alley blaze
Hanford Sentinel | May 20, 2021
When firefighters gave Arianne Wing permission to enter the Taoist Temple Museum after a devastating fire on the night of May 12, she received instructions to go down into the basement of the building to save anything of value from incoming water damage.
This included documents chronicling the history of the immigrants who came to Hanford from southern China as laborers in the 1800s.
Hanford’s China Alley
PBS | December 20, 2016
Arianne Wing from the L.T. Sue Co. gives viewers a tour of China Alley in downtown Hanford. Named one of America’s 11 most endangered historic places, China Alley’s roots date back to 1877. It’s made up of eleven historic buildings near Seventh and Green. Wing is the co-owner of a tea room located in China Alley. To learn more about China Alley visit ChinaAlley.com or LTSue.com
Moon Festival 2019
Oct 5, 2019
Cal Poly Lion Dance Team perform at China Alley’s annual Moon Festival.
The Last Temple
1972
The Last Temple was made at China Alley in 1972 by Maurice Chuck and his San Francisco Journal. Reported by Kathryn Fong, videographer Curtis Choy, and director Frank Chin. It provides a glimpse of what China Alley looked like half a century ago.
Seeing Lost Enclaves
Library of Congress | May 2024
Seeing Lost Enclaves: Relational reconstructions of erased historic neighborhoods of color is a project by Jeffrey Yoo Warren as part of the 2023 Innovator in Residence Program at the Library of Congress. China Alley is one of the five sites featured in Jeff’s final installation “Hidden Portals.”
Relational Reconstruction of Hanford, CA’s China Alley
Library of Congress | March 8, 2024
The following is a guest post by Library of Congress Innovator in Residence Jeffrey Yoo Warren in conversation with interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker Evelyn Hang Yin. ‘Relational reconstructions’ are a creative, experiential research method developed by Yoo Warren for minoritized groups to reclaim archives and access erased moments, histories, and spaces personally meaningful to them, through collectively crafted immersive 3D environments and other artistic means.
China Alley Preservation Society honored with national award
Hanford Sentinel | November 4, 2021
“We are surprised and deeply honored to receive the award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The China Alley Preservation Society is a small, all volunteer army and we dedicate this award in loving memory to Camille Wing, a tireless and dedicated Hanford historian and China Alley preservationist,” said Arianne Wing, China Alley Preservation Society president.
Camille Wing helped preserve so much of Hanford's history
Hanford Sentinel | March 30, 2021
It’s nearly impossible to characterize the contributions of preservationist Camille Wing.
“She wanted to live with purpose and intention and something that would benefit what she loved,” daughter Arianne Wing said. “She loved her community, she loved her family … and she wanted whatever she did to mean something and to have some sort of result.”
Hanford’s China Alley: A historic Chinatown in rural America
SupChina | April 6, 2021
The first time I met Camille Wing was the winter of 2018. She was in her 90s, her back hunched, but her small stature did not dim the fierceness in her eyes. She insisted on climbing up the stairs to show me the Kwan Tai Temple (关帝庙 guāndì miào, officially listed as the Taoist Temple on the National Register of Historic Places). Next to the display table full of incense burners, fortune sticks, moon blocks, and other ritual objects, we chatted for hours.
In Rural California, an Imperial Dynasty Ends
NPR | March 24, 2006
European monarchs dined there. Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek once sent ambassadors to try the famous escargot. Ronald Reagan ate there when he was governor of California. Yet this food mecca is not in the culinary cities of Paris, San Francisco or Rome.
Welcome to China Alley
March 12, 2013
This film was made in 5 days for the International Documentary Challenge from February 28 - March 4, 2013. It was made by Jes Therkelsen, Gosia Wozniacki, Tou Yang, and Matthew Vincent in Hanford, California.
Hanford’s China Alley Gains National Honor, And Concern For Future
Valley Public Radio | June 15, 2011
Hanford’s 7th Avenue looks pretty much like any other busy street in a small San Joaquin Valley town. It’s a broad avenue populated with a haphazard array of muffler shops, fast food joints and gas stations. Yet less than half a block away exists another world, seemingly frozen in time, a cultural and historic artifact, built by Chinese immigrants who came to build the railroad starting in the 1870’s, a place called China Alley.