The Temple of Kwan Tai (also known as the Mendocino Joss House or Mo Dai Miu) is a Chinese Taoist temple in Mendocino, California, dedicated to Kwan Tai and built according to some sources in 1854.[1][2][3] It is California Historical Landmark #927,[1] and is one of the oldest Chinese temples in California that has been used continuously since its construction.[4] It is the only remaining joss house on the northern California coast,[5] and the only remaining building from what was once a large Chinese community in Mendocino.[3]
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The Temple of Kwan Tai is a small brightly painted red and green redwood building with two doors, three windows, and a gable roof,[5][6] located at 45160 Albion St. in Mendocino, facing south towards the Pacific Ocean.[3] The name of the temple is written over the door,[7] in Chinese characters spelling "Mo Dai Miu" or "Military God-king Temple". The main room of the temple is approximately 264 square feet (24.5 m2) in area;[6] a small room at the rear of the building, originally the temple keeper's quarters, is now used as an office.[3][6]
The temple is dedicated to the deified Han Dynasty general Kwan Tai, and holds in its main altar an image of Kwan Tai flanked by generals Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, decorated in shell and glass on a black fabric background. A table in front of the altar holds five pewter altarpieces. Signboards recording prayers and donations are displayed on the temple walls, a collection of flags, drums and baskets stands to the left of the altar, and the room also holds two wooden benches and a furnace for burning offerings. Taoist mandalas hang in the two front windows.[2][3][6]
Like the other settlers in Mendocino County, Chinese laborers came to the area to work in the lumber industry. In 1854, a Chinese junk landed at Caspar, just north of Mendocino, one of two surviving ships from a fleet of seven that had sailed to California.[3][6] One of the passengers on this ship, Joe Lee or Chong Sung, was one of the builders of the temple, and his descendants continue to maintain it and worship there.[7] Over the next few decades, Mendocino had a substantial population of 500 to 700 Chinese immigrants, who worked there as cooks, servants, and shopkeepers, as well as working in the lumber industry as water slingers (people who kept the trails wet so that the cut logs could slide more easily). Chinese farmers also grew fruit and vegetables for local consumption in gardens now located on the grounds of the Stanford Inn, and gathered and processed seaweed for export back to China.[3][6][8] Some of the descendants of these immigrants, such as Look Tin Eli and his brother Lee Eli, became successful and wealthy businessmen.[2]
An oral account by Mendocino resident George Hee (a grandson of one of its builders) states that the temple was originally built in 1854;[3] however, other sources date it to 1852[9] or 1867,[6] and the earliest record of it is an insurance company map from 1883.[3] It was enlarged in the 1870s, and at that time had a full-time priest; it was open at all hours to the Chinese population, but Caucasians were not permitted entry.[2] From 1871 until 1995, it was the property of the Hee family, who then donated it to the Temple of Kwan Tai, Inc., a nonprofit corporation formed to maintain it.[2][3]
The Temple of Kwan Tai became a state historic landmark in 1979, at which time an architectural report dated it to the early 1850s.[3][6] The building was restored beginning in 1998 and 1999, under the guidance of architect Laura Culberson and the funding of the National Trust for Historic Preservation;[3] the restorations included the replacement of the foundations, east wall, and floor of the building, the addition of insulation, and repainting, the placement of a commemorative plaque noting its status as a historic landmark, and the replacement of the original silk-screened canvas altarpiece (damaged during the restoration process) by a replica purchased in Chinatown, San Francisco.[3] The temple was rededicated in October 2001 in a ceremony featuring a parade, a lion dance, martial arts exhibitions, and attendance by local politicians.[5][6][9] It received the National Preservation Honor Award of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2002.[3][6]
The temple is used for traditional Chinese rituals in which the officiant kneels and bows at the altar, placing offerings at the table in front of the altar or burning them in the furnace. Offerings of food are made on the first and 15th day of each month and at the new moon, and incense is burned daily. Additionally, the temple may be used for divination by kau cim sticks and jiaobei blocks.[2][6]
As well as continuing to serve as a house of worship, the temple has a mission of educating members of the Mendocino community and visitors about Chinese contributions to California history.[3]