Profile: Camille Wing, Community Pioneer

Hapa Mag - December 9, 2020

By Sam Tanabe

As I continually participate in race-related roundtable discussions, meetups, and socialize with my mixed-race friends, more and more I find millennial and Gen Z mixed kids seeking to rediscover and proclaim their heritage. Healing and confidence are found through embracing themselves, their uniqueness, their unchangeable traits — as well as their families’ histories, societal struggles, and stories.

I don’t often have the opportunity to meet mixed elders from the generations before me. This is not so much the case in Hawaii, but over on the mainland, many of us find ourselves in a unique position where these role models seem not as accessible. Even our parents, whom we may revere, cannot completely relate. As a mixed kid, your parents often aren’t. They’re usually one or the other, and you’re classified as a completely different “other.” There’s a reason we see younger mixed folks today and have fewer mentors to aspire to. It goes without saying the United States has had its fair share of anti-Asian expressions: the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese American internment, the criminalization of interracial marriage, and far more. It wasn’t until 1967 that we saw the Supreme Court famously rule on Loving v. Virginia. It’s under these circumstances that Camille Wing’s parents met, wed, and started their family.

I was lucky enough to be put in contact with Camille through her daughter, Arianne Wing. Camille is a mixed-Chinese woman in her 90s. She is a pioneering historian and community expert on the Chinese in Central California. She’s played a vital role in preserving the landmark Taoist Temple, which serves as a museum about Central California Chinese. Arianne has also been instrumental in revitalizing Hanford's small Chinatown into a historic landmark. I could go on about Camille’s generous, honorable work, but instead, learn about her legacy through our interview, facilitated by Arianne.

Where did you grow up, and what was the community around you like? Were there many Asian, Asian American, or mixed-Asian influences in your childhood?

I was born in Bakersfield, California. I lived on a ranch in Hanford, California, with my parents until I was 6 years old. From the ages of 6 to 17 I lived in Los Angeles, then I moved back to Hanford. After living on the ranch for a year, I moved into town and had a job with the telephone company as an operator. I worked there for four years, the last two years of which I also attended a community college. How fortunate I was to work a schedule that allowed me to attend school and still be paid for a full-time job. My environment during my childhood was pretty much equal between Chinese and Caucasian influences. There were relatively few, if any, Chinese in school throughout the day. I spent time with my Chinese friends after school whenever we lived in a Chinese neighborhood. I felt comfortable with either ethnic group as long as they spoke English.

How did your parents meet? Will you share some of their story with me?

My father was born in San Francisco; my mother was born in St. Louis. My mother had one younger brother. Their single-parent father raised them after their mother died. He took them to San Francisco and then he returned to St. Louis, leaving the young people in San Francisco alone. I don’t know the circumstance of why he did that and by the time I was old enough to ask questions, the people with the answers were gone.

Anyway I’m guessing that my mother had to make a living for herself and little brother. I’ve been told that she gave elocution lessons and my father wanted to speak English better so he took lessons from her and that is all I know of how they met. I wish I knew more details, such as where did she teach — in a school, in her own studio, or in Chinatown, etc.

Because of the miscegenation law my parents went to Mexico to be married. We lived on the ranch. My mother was accepted in the Chinese community. I can remember in the afternoon I would be cleaned up and we went to Chinatown to a building called “The Mission,” when Sunday school was held. Classes were held there to teach English to the Chinese adults. My mother taught English and my father helped with translation. The parents of my playmates took the lessons so everyone knew my mother.

You and your family have played a big part in preserving Hanford’s historic China Alley. What significance does China Alley hold for you, and what role does it play in the community?

The Wing family has had a business in China Alley since the 1880s and throughout the years has remained on the Alley as other businesses closed up.

The Imperial Dynasty restaurant was a draw for the public and helped to bring visitors to Hanford and in its heyday provided financial gain for the city.

With the preservation of the Taoist Temple, more tourists have come to the Alley to take the tours and learn of the Chinese participation in Hanford’s history. We became a cultural resource.

Can you tell me about your work specifically with the Taoist Temple?

The China Alley Preservation Society was organized in 1973 and composed of a small group of local business and professional men with equal numbers of Asians to Caucasians. There were no women on the board of directors. The board decided to have an “open house” event to bring people to China Alley to see what restoration the Society was working on. By this time a few women were on the board and one of them asked me to help with the event. The men saw that they needed women in the organization to do the work. I was invited to join, which I did gladly.

I was very involved, at the time, with the “Save the Courthouse Committee,” and the development of the Historic District in downtown Hanford. Saving Chinatown buildings and gathering and preserving Chinatown history before it’s lost was an activity that was near and dear to my heart.

I’ve spent the last 40 years working with a small group of dedicated people who are raising funds to preserve the brick and mortar by giving tours to visitors, writing grant proposals, working in our Taoist Temple Museum gift shop, and planning and working on events such as our annual Moon Festival. 

All these activities have kept me busy and kept clutter in my house.

As a big tea drinker myself, I must ask Arianne about L.T. Sue Co. (The shop looks so cute!) Perhaps you can tell us about the tea room and emporium in China Alley.

CAMILLE: On the site of the L.T. Sue Tea Room was originally the Chee Gung Tong, which was built in the 1880s. In 1938 the Chee Gung Tong temple was torn down and a two-story building was built. It housed the Cherry Blossom restaurant upstairs and the Valley Mart Grocery Store downstairs. The Almond Blossom lunch room was also opened on the corner piece of that property. Y.T. Sue bought the Chee Gung Tong property and created this commercial complex. The Chee Gung Tong was no longer an entity in our area.

Throughout the years the Almond Blossom space has had many uses besides the restaurant uses, such as a sign making shop, political offices, costume shop, and beauty shops. Arianne and her husband, Steve Banister, decided to open a tea shop on the site and have been there since.

ARIANNE: In 2011, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated China Alley as one of “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.” Steve and I wanted to do something to help keep the Alley alive. Hanford didn’t have a tea shop, and, being avid tea drinkers, it felt like a tea shop would be the perfect fit for China Alley. We opened the L.T. Sue Tea Room and Emporium in March of 2012.

We named our shop after one of the first Chinese herbalists who had his practice in China Alley. The China Alley Preservation Society owns the original L.T. Sue Herb Co. building and is trying to raise funds to restore the 112-year-old, two-story building. The first stage of structural stabilization is complete.

Twenty percent of our profits from the Tea Room go towards this restoration project, as well as the other four buildings the Society is preserving and restoring.

Steve and I have been members of the China Alley Preservation Society for many years. I am the current president (this apple did not fall too far from the tree!).

Last year Steve and I purchased the Imperial Dynasty buildings from my family. We plan to turn the building back into the five original China Alley buildings, and hopefully have vibrant businesses in them. We want to see China Alley revitalized and thriving.

Finally, Camille, do you have any advice to our readers when it comes to navigating this world or addressing any frustrations as a mixed-race individual?

I have no frustrations on being a mixed-race individual. In fact, I’ve always liked having more than one culture in my blood. It made my world more interesting.

I have no advice except to learn all that you can about various cultures and to be kind to one another.