This is one of four Christian churches that minister to the social and religious needs of Chinatown and other Oakland and East Bay Chinese residents. The others are the Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. There is also a Buddhist temple on the edges of Chinatown. The Christian churches have played a role in Chinatown life for more than a century.

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William Wong was born and grew up in Oakland’s Chinatown. He went on to a distinguished journalism career (The Wall Street Journal, Oakland Tribune, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer). He is the author of Yellow Journalist: Dispatches from Asian America (Temple University Press, 2001) and Images of America: Oakland’s Chinatown (Arcadia Publishing Co., 2004).

Visit his web sites, http://www.yellowjournalist.com and http://www.oaklandchinatownhistory.org.