The Oroville Chinese Temple (列聖宮) is a Chinese folk religious temple built in 1863 in Oroville, California. The temple is now owned by the City of Oroville and open to the public as a museum, and it also continues to be used occasionally for worship.
History
In the latter half of the 19th century there were as many as 10,000 Chinese in the Oroville, California area. Just as with many of those that arrived in the area, they came primarily in search of gold. Starting with the California Gold Rush ca. 1849, the Chinese arrivals in Oroville for the first 20 years were only men since they were not allowed to bring their families. Most of these were from the Canton and Shanghai provinces. They brought little with them except their rich heritage, the will to succeed and the desire to return home wealthy.
Shortly after arriving in Oroville around 1850, the Chinese population pooled existing resources and built the first Chinese temple in the area. This temple, constructed of wood, burned down as did a second rebuilt structure. The third structure and furnishings, funded by the Tongzhi Emperor and Empress of China, was built of red brick acquired from Palermo, California and was completed in September 1863. This is the same structure that exists on the site today.
Over the years the structure withstood many fires and floods. However, in 1907 a massive flood caused damage affecting not only the temple but the entire Oroville area. This disaster combined with a concurrent economic depression in the United States resulted in a large exodus of Chinese from the area to other larger U.S. cities and back to China. Remaining Chinese continued to maintain the Chinese Temple complex (especially the Chan family) until the 1930s. During the 1930s a decision was made among these families to deed the complex to the City of Oroville and in 1937 the city officially took ownership of the complex. Three stipulations were guaranteed to the Chinese families for their contribution. The first was an agreement that the city would build a museum to house artifacts that the former complex did not have room to display. The second was to ensure that all three temples would remain available to the community to use for worship. The third and final was to teach volunteers at the center about the Chinese culture, beliefs and artifacts so that visitors could better understand these in context with their visit to the center. After construction of the promised structure was completed, the center reopened to visitors in July 1949. The temple was originally composed of three parts: the Chan Room for Confucian meditation, the Moon Temple, for Buddhist rites, and the Council Room, for community functions. Afterwards a number of modern additions have been made, including a Chinese tapestry hall, a display hall and a Chinese garden.
On the 10 April 2021, the Chinese Temple museum re-opened to the public following a one-year closure due to COVID-19 restrictions. The museum is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Original temple and rooms
Main temple
The oldest of the brick temples was completed in 1863 and is named Liet Sheng Kong which translated means "Temple of Many Gods and Goddesses". In this temple visitors were allowed to worship any deity that they wishes to. The interior ceiling and walls of this building are covered with hanging boards with carvings or script to honored or thanking the Chinese deities for answering prayers. The room houses three altars. One teak altar at the front of the temple, brought to the temple from China, shows an elaborately carved courtyard scene, The second altar is used for supporting incense burners and the third (also from China) sits at the back wall of the temple. This altar support three carved, wooden statues representing Chinese deities. On the top sides of this altar there are 2 papier-mâché Southern lion heads employed by the Chinese to ward away evil spirits. These heads were also employed during Chinese festival parades in the area. Just inside of the temple there is a gong and just outside the temple's entry point there is a very large ceremonial urn which also originated from China.