chinese american church celebrates 100th birthday

This is a pretty cool New York Times story on the First Chinese Presbyterian Church, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this week -- a certified part of Chinatown's history: Chinese Church Turns 100, and Memories Float By. The church's oldest, most long-lasting member is 102-year-old May Fun Lee:

Mrs. Lee, one of the longest-lasting members of the First Chinese Presbyterian Church, showed up at its doorstep in 1936. That was a little more than two decades after the revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen studied at the church’s dormitory. There, he drafted a constitution for China and spoke late into the night with the church’s first pastor, Huie Kin.

Mrs. Lee became a loyal congregant and took the train every Sunday morning from Brooklyn with her mother, who hobbled because her feet had been bound. (Back then, Mrs. Lee wore heels.)

On Sunday, more than 70 years after her arrival, Mrs. Lee was among 500 people who celebrated the church’s 100th anniversary. Twenty-six of Huie Kin’s descendants traveled from places across the United States to attend, as well.

In the morning, they gathered at the church, a historic brick building on the corner of Market and Henry Streets. The church, built in 1817 for a Dutch Reformed congregation, was quiet inside, an oasis apart from the honking horns and food smells that help define Chinatown.

Pretty impressive, considering that the church's membership dates back to the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which severely limited immigration to the United States. Yet the church grew and gave way to multiple generations. It's pretty fascinating.