Wise Elder's Project

Bing Ong Remembered
By Nancy & Leonard Becker

We first met Bing Ong, a Chinese community leader, in the summer of 2002. He was involved with trying to save the seriously endangered Bok Kai Temple in Marysville, California. Bing wore a black T-shirt with the following imprinted upon it, “ Demolition is forever.” His family had owned several businesses in Marysville’s Chinese district. They had operated the King’s Inn during the 1920s and 1930s at Second and C Streets before taking over another historic building, which dated to the 1870s. Ong ran the Lotus Inn Restaurant for 29 years building it into one of the region’s most loved restaurants. In 1976, the city of Marysville decided to exercise eminent domain and raze most of the historic buildings in Marysville’s Chinese neighborhoods. They called it urban re-development, but Bing called it simply, “demolition.” Friends of the Bok Kai Temple President, Billie Single, said the city referred to it as a progressive move, however, she went on to say that she felt Bing never forgot or forgave the City of Marysville for destroying his business.

Ong cared deeply about preserving not only buildings, but also, Chinese culture. He was an executive member of the Suey Sing Society, one of the two major tongs, or mutual aid societies, in Marysville. He was also on the Board of Directors of the Marysville Chinese Community, Inc, The Friends of Marysville Bok Kai Temple, and on the Sister City Council where he helped oversee ties to Peikang, Taiwan.

Bing Ong was born in the Cantonese village of Woo Lung in 1924, later moving with his family to Yuba City in 1933. Upon arriving, he attended the Chinese School in Marysville’s Chinatown, later attending public school in a special class for Chinese and Japanese immigrants. He joined the U.S. Army Corps during World War II rather than finishing High School; he was finally awarded his diploma in 2002. In 1947 he went to China to claim his wife, Ellen Ong, in an arranged marriage that lasted 60 years.

When we met Bing Ong, he took us on a tour of the diminutive Bok Kai Temple and explained its history to the Sacred Sites International group. He also took us out to the Chinese Cemetery to show us the graves of some of Marysville’s, traditional Chinese graves. Bing did not want the Bok Kai Temple to perish, as had his business. Ong served as the official “gong master” for the temple and for its internationally acclaimed, Bok Kai Festival held each spring. He also was granted a special license by the Fire Marshall to create the large firecrackers that are ignited on the second day of the Bok Kai Festival.

Bing Ong passed away in July of 2008,; at age 84, after spending much of his life preserving his culture.

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