East Kong Yick Building - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The East Kong Yick Building is one of two buildings erected in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

's Chinatown-International District

International District, Seattle, Washington

The Chinatown-International District of Seattle, Washington is an ethnic enclave neighborhood and is the center of Seattle's Asian American community. The neighborhood is multiethnic, consisting mainly of people who are of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino ethnicity...

("the ID") by the Kong Yick Investment Company (the other being the West Kong Yick Building). A four-story hotel in the core of the ID, with retail stores at ground level, the East Kong Yick was created by the pooled resources of 170 Chinese American

Chinese American

Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...

pioneers. Largely unoccupied in recent years, it reopened its doors as the home of the expanded Wing Luke Asian Museum

Wing Luke Asian Museum

The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is located in Seattle, Washington's Chinatown-International District. A Smithsonian Institution affiliate, it is dedicated to engaging the public to explore issues related to the culture, art and history of Asian Pacific Americans...

Kong Yick Investment Company

In 1910 Goon Dip, a prominent businessman in Seattle's Chinese American community, led a group of Chinese American pioneers to form the Kong Yick Investment Company. [The name of the company, Kong Yick (均益) loosely means "mutual benefit."] With no financial backing from a bank, the investment company pooled money from approximately 170 Chinese American community members to fund the construction of two twin buildings that would serve as the anchor of a "new" Chinatown

Chinatown

A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...

.

Members of the investment company lived not only in Seattle but throughout the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

, making the Kong Yick Buildings a landmark for the Chinese community.

Notable businesses

Chin Chun Hock

Chin Chun Hock was the first Chinese man to settle in Seattle, Washington State, United States. He arrived in 1860 and was employed as a domestic worker. By 1868, Chin Hock had founded a general merchandising store, The Wa Chong Co., at the foot of Mill Street. He owned the Eastern Hotel which...

, who arrived in Seattle in 1860, established the Wa Chong Company (華昌, "Chinese Prosperity") in 1868 with partner Woo Gen. The company recruited labor and imported goods from East Asia

East Asia

East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

. When Chinatown relocated to its current location, Wa Chong reopened at 717 King St., now (2010) the Welcome Hall in the new Wing Luke Asian Museum

Wing Luke Asian Museum

. Next door, Chin Gee Hee

Chin Gee Hee

Chin Gee Hee , courtesy name Chàngtíng , Cheun Gee Yee, was a Chinese merchant, labor contractor, and railway entrepreneur, who made his fortune in Seattle, Washington before returning to his native village in Taishan, Guangdong province, which sources variously refer to as...

operated the Quong Tuck Company, another of the multi-purpose mercantiles selling wholesale and retail import goods, as well as supplying contract labor to canneries, mills and other industrial concerns. Since 2008 the former location of Quong Tuck houses the reconstructed Yick Fung Mercantile exhibit. The Yick Fung Company (益豐號) formerly operated at 705 King St in the West Kong Yick Building from 1910 to 2008.

Freeman Hotel

In addition to the blooming Chinese population, Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

and Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

laborers migrated to Seattle in search of work. They found the most affordable and convenient places to stay in Chinatown single room occupancy

Single Room Occupancy

A single room occupancy is a multiple-tenant building that houses one or two people in individual rooms , or to the single room dwelling itself...

hotels. The top two floors of the East Kong Yick Building comprised the Freeman Hotel, home to many of these itinerant workers from the canneries, lumber mills, construction sites, farms, restaurants and hand laundries.

Family associations

Distinct balconies

Balcony

Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...

with elaborate decorations adorned with Chinese character

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

s may be found on the north side of the East Kong Yick. While some of the balconies in the ID mark business fraternities, others signify family associations. These are community organizations based on family surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

s that are derived from one's family's "home" village in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. The Kong Yick as well as other buildings in the area housed a number of family associations.

Family associations were the first social "community centers" in Chinatown/ID. The associations were not just social organizations but also provided social services, helping new immigrants adjust to their new lives in America. Many would turn to these family associations to find work, health care and a place to live.

The East Kong Yick Building housed the Gee How Oak Tin family association, the Lee Family Association and others. Since 2008, the former Gee How Oak Tin family association meeting hall is open to the public as an exhibit in the Wing Luke Asian Museum

Wing Luke Asian Museum

. Additionally, the Luke Family Association maintains meeting space in the museum.

Family apartments

Former storefronts converted to apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

s along Canton Alley (between the Kong Yick Buildings) served as home to many families in Chinatown. While outsiders often stigmatized Chinatown alleyways as mysterious and dangerous places, many current and former Chinatown residents recall childhood memories of playing in the alleyways. Some of the apartment units remained occupied until 2005. Since 2008, Canton Alley Apartment #6, restored to its 1950s

1950s

The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

appearance, serves as an exhibit in the Wing Luke Asian Museum

Wing Luke Asian Museum

Preserving the immigrant experience

In May 2008 the East Kong Yick Building reopened as the new, expanded Wing Luke Asian Museum

Wing Luke Asian Museum

. Historic apartments, stores and social clubs are preserved as lasting testament to the courage and pioneering spirit of the immigrants. Spaces in the new museum document and share the experience of the thousands of Asians and Pacific Islander

Pacific Islander

Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...

s who worked and lived in the United States.

Seattle's Chinatown-International District is the only place in the continental United States where Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

ese and other settled together and built one neighborhood. By settling in the East Kong Yick, the Wing Luke Asian Museum hopes to help spur the preservation of other historic buildings in the International District and bring thousands of visitors to support the many neighboring shops and restaurants.

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