Address
3430 East Manoa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822
3430 East Manoa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822
TMK
(1) 2-9-043:001
SHPD Historic Site Number
80-14-9809
Abstract
The Manoa Chinese Cemetery is sited on a knoll nestled on the interior slopes of Manoa Valley, an amphitheater shaped valley in Honolulu. The area included in the boundaries is approximately 10,753 acres in size, with about 10,000 individual burials and defined by a low, rock wall. the head stones, mostly made of granite, stand upright in crowded rows along the sloping land facing the ocean. Founded in 1852, Lin Yee Chung (a.k.a Manoa Chinese) Cemetery is the oldest and largest Chinese cemetery on the Hawaiian Islands. Is is significant for two major reasons: 1) Under Criterion C, the cemetery has all the design elements of a “classic” Chinese cemetery, and 2) As a traditional cultural property, each year in April, the “Three Presentations Ceremony,” (a traditional graveyard ritual) is performed during “Ching Ming,” the Chinese memorial season. No other Chinese cemetery in Hawaii has both of these features, thus possessing integrity of relationship and condition, and maintaining a significant practice to the Chinese community in Hawaii.
The Manoa Chinese Cemetery is sited on a knoll nestled on the interior slopes of Manoa Valley, an amphitheater shaped valley in Honolulu. The area included in the boundaries is approximately 10,753 acres in size, with about 10,000 individual burials and defined by a low, rock wall. the head stones, mostly made of granite, stand upright in crowded rows along the sloping land facing the ocean. Founded in 1852, Lin Yee Chung (a.k.a Manoa Chinese) Cemetery is the oldest and largest Chinese cemetery on the Hawaiian Islands. Is is significant for two major reasons: 1) Under Criterion C, the cemetery has all the design elements of a “classic” Chinese cemetery, and 2) As a traditional cultural property, each year in April, the “Three Presentations Ceremony,” (a traditional graveyard ritual) is performed during “Ching Ming,” the Chinese memorial season. No other Chinese cemetery in Hawaii has both of these features, thus possessing integrity of relationship and condition, and maintaining a significant practice to the Chinese community in Hawaii.
This list of Hawaii’s historic properties is provided as a public service by Historic Hawaii Foundation. It is not the official list of properties designated on the Hawaii State Register of Historic Places. For official designations and determinations of eligibility, contact the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources of the State of Hawaii at 808-692-8015.