Ching Ming loses driving force
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Without the Royal Hawaiian Band, dignitaries, a helicopter hovering overhead dropping flowers —and of course George Chew Kai Young — the annual Ching Ming Celebration yesterday at Manoa Chinese Cemetery was a simple ceremony rather than the major cultural event of years past.
Bruce Asato • Honolulu Advertiser
Instead of hundreds of people, there were only two dozen. Most were board members of the Ling Yee Chung Association, which manages the cemetery.
Kenneth Hu, left, and Richard Wong yesterday made offerings at a monument in the Manoa Chinese Cemetery.
"I feel sad," said James C.F. Chong, a trustee and superintendent with the managing group. "We have 75-80 veterans and seven unknowns at the cemetery and no 21-gun salute for them this year."
Young, president of the association, had revived the Ching Ming tradition, in which families honor their ancestors on April 5. Food, drink and other gifts are placed at gravesites for the spirits of ancestors visiting the living world that day.
Young died in November.
Until his death, Young's push for elaborate Ching Ming celebrations prevailed.
"It could have continued," Chong said. "But (the new board president and officers) didn't have the know-how to do it because George did everything in the past. When George passed away, all of a sudden it's lights out (for Ching Ming)."
With respect for Young's contributions to the cemetery, Ling Yee Chung Association President Dr. Herbert Y.H. Chinn said the celebration would have been scaled down this year anyway because of needed repair and maintenance work at the cemetery.
"We need to renovate the pavilion and memorial hall and cut down the termite-eaten trees threatening property," Chinn said. "Big money was being spent on Ching Ming, and our trustees felt we had to cut back. It was very costly.
"It was our biggest budget item," he added. "It comes down to between fixing a leaking roof (at the memorial hall) or not."
Winfred Lum, the association's first vice president, said more than $10,000 was being spent annually for the celebration. "We just can't wait any longer to do the repairs," he added. "It was getting harder and harder to maintain the (Ching Ming) program."
Eighty-eight-year-old Chang Lum Chun, who was recognized yesterday with three others for donations of decorative monuments to the cemetery, said Ching Ming at Manoa Chinese Cemetery isn't the same without Young.
"You know like something is missing," said Chun, who donated $9,500 for two unicorn statues.
