Chinese Benevolent Association, Kingston金斯敦中华会馆关帝坛

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Jamaica · Kingston Parish · Kingston · The association hall is a two-story building with stone lions at its entrance; the ground floor houses the Chinese Jamaican Historical Society Museum

First built

1891 · The old association hall once housed an altar to Guandi; the ground floor now houses the Chinese Jamaican Historical Society Museum

Overview

The Chinese Benevolent Association of Jamaica was founded in 1891 and is the core institution of Jamaica's Chinese community; it went on to establish a Chinese sanatorium, a Chinese school, a Chinese cemetery and a Chinese old people's home, and published newspapers. The association hall is a two-story building with a pair of stone lions at its entrance, and the ground floor now houses the Chinese Jamaican Historical Society Museum. Jamaica's Chinese are mostly Hakka, from the Dongguan–Bao'an area, and the first arrived as indentured laborers in 1854 (one batch transferred from Panama), bound by five-year contracts to designated estates. The early immigrants brought Chinese popular religion with them, and the old association hall housed an altar to Guandi. It must be noted honestly that the religious affiliation of Jamaica's Chinese descendants today is predominantly Catholic (unlike the Protestant mainstream locally), and the sacrificial function of the Guandi altar has greatly diminished; the Chinese cemetery remains a site for Qingming tomb-sweeping, though this custom too has gradually declined as large numbers of the community have emigrated to North America.

Highlights

• Founded in 1891, the core institution of Jamaica's Chinese community
• Established a sanatorium, a school, a cemetery and an old people's home
• The old association hall housed an altar to Guandi
• The ground floor now houses the Chinese Jamaican Historical Society Museum
• Religious affiliation of Chinese descendants today is predominantly Catholic