Kong Chow Temple, San Francisco旧金山冈州古庙

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · California · San Francisco · 855 Stockton St (at the corner of Stockton and Clay Streets); original site at 520 Pine St

Coordinates

37.7938, -122.4081 Map ↗

First built

1849 · Managed by the Kong Chow Clan Association (renamed as such in 1854); rebuilt at its original site after the 1906 earthquake, and moved to its present site on Stockton Street in 1977

Overview

Kong Chow Temple was founded in 1849, dedicated chiefly to Guandi, and is one of the earliest Chinese temples in the United States — its founding coincided almost exactly with the California Gold Rush, making it a foundational surviving site for the arrival of Chinese religious life in North America. The temple is managed by the Kong Chow Clan Association (renamed as such in 1854). It was rebuilt at its original site on 520 Pine Street after the 1906 earthquake, and moved in 1977 to its present location within the association building on Stockton Street. In 1948 Mrs. Truman visited the temple to draw an oracle slip, which proved auspicious, and Truman went on to win the presidential election — an episode that became a well-known anecdote associated with the temple. Between 1968 and 1969, Charlotte Ah Tye Chang led a protest that halted a planned demolition, an important episode in Chinatown's defense of its own religious space. Today the temple provides community services such as elder care, scholarships, and religious ceremonies. It should be noted: "Lit Sing Gong" ("Temple of the Sages") is a generic name shared by at least ten Chinese temples across North America (in San Francisco, Oroville, Marysville, Weaverville, Victoria, Lewiston, and elsewhere), rather than the proper name of any single temple, and is unrelated to San Francisco's two temples discussed here.

Highlights

• One of the earliest Chinese temples in the United States (1849)
• The 1948 anecdote of Mrs. Truman drawing an oracle slip
• 1968–69 protest that saved the temple from demolition
• Managed by the Kong Chow Clan Association