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Our school is in its 112th year of existence, having been established on Feb. 4th of 1911.  It begins with immigrants from the southeastern coastal region of China, mainly from Guangdong or Canton Province, who left during the decadent, final era of the Qing or Manchu Dynasty.  This ended with the Rebellion led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911.

 

These immigrant families came to Hawaii, as laborers, farmers, educated merchants and businessmen to seek a better life.  Like so many immigrants, they left their worldly possessions and family, and brought with them their resilience, determination, Confucian attributes and beliefs, and their love of learning and the importance of education.

 

In 1901, two organizations – the Ching Nin Ke Lock Bo (a youth organization) and the Ching Nin Mo Hock Wui (youth engaged in study association) joined to continue the study of Chinese and Confucian Classics and formed a language school, Mo Hock Ke Lock Bo, later known as Mun Lun School with 117 members.  In 1908, the Territory of Hawaii granted them a 50-year charter for Mun Lun School.

 

The school’s first location was on 81 Kapena Lane, where we opened with two teachers and 104 students using the Ching Nin Mo Hock Ke Lock Bo clubhouse. We were situated at this location for 59 years.   Kam Put Lai, a 1929 MLS graduate and a University of Hawaii graduate who focused his master’s thesis on Mun Lun School, describes our original location as being “north of Honolulu’s Chinatown and east of the once notorious Tin Can Alley, an area of transition.” Today, it is where the Maunakea Tower and Honolulu Tower complex stand. MLS taught Cantonese and could boast, at one period in 1931, a student population of 1,200 students, which grew to 1,348 students and 28 teachers by 1936.  Chinese families firmly believed that being well-educated brought status and prestige to the student and family. Mun Lun or Ming Lun, depending on what dialect of Cantonese one is speaking, is composed of two words, “Ming” meaning bright or illuminating, and “Lun” meaning human relationships.

 

The success of our school came to an abrupt end with the 1941 attack of Pearl Harbor and our involvement in World War II.  Schools were closed for a number of years and did not re-open until 1948 with only 289 students.  It is interesting to note that from 1948 up until the 1960s, Island Paradise School rented our MLS campus in the morning, five days a week, and must have contributed to our survival, as we were mainly an afternoon 3:30 to 5:00 p.m daily Chinese language school.  A lot of this interesting information and history is found in our centennial yearbook “Hawaii’s Shining Star Mun Lun School.”

 

Due to the difficulties of starting up again after the war, our enrollment decreased because the new generation of American parents wanted their children to be more Americanized and embrace the English language more. However, from 1955 to 1965, there was a rekindling of interest at Mun Lun School and an increase in enrollment. In 1956, Mun Lun received a Charter in Perpetuity from the Hawaii government.  

 

In 1970, MLS had to relocate because the City of Honolulu initiated a major redevelopment plan to improve the neighborhood by demolishing slums and realigning the streets, which included building the present Vineyard Blvd. Our students and faculty relocated to Ka’iulani School where 12 classrooms were rented. We remained there for two years and two months during the site search, construction, and completion of our new school building.

 

It was MHKLB, led by then President Dr. David Pang (of the Chock Pang Clinic) that recommended MLS remain in Chinatown to serve our immigrant population.  At that time, 93% of Chinese lived in Honolulu.  Our present site is located on the corner of Maunakea and Kukui streets.  

 

The State of Hawaii paid MLS $325,000 for the condemned Kapena Lane property.  The land for the new school cost $226,000.  MLS had to raise additional funds to build our present school.  An executive committee was appointed to this task by MHKLB.  Honorary Chairs at that time were U.S. Senator Hiram L. Fong, and Edward Tsu-Yu Wu, Consul General of the Republic of China (Taiwan).  General Chair was Chock Tong Wong, President of Liberty Bank. Assisting him were Yum Sinn Chang (past principal of MLS for 50 years), Principal Dai Chuck Chang (principal of MLS for 20 years), Dr. Abraham Kamsat Ng, and Fredrick K. T. Chun, who were 1973 and 1974 Presidents of MHKLB, respectively. Their goal was “To help build a greater Mun Lun.” This goal was met though the support of alumni, parents, friends, foundations, trusts, and commercial firms.  

 

Steven Au, AIA of Au, Cutting, Smith and Associates, was the architect of the new school.  He designed a two-story building for 22 classrooms with a provision for an expansion to 15 classrooms, an assembly hall, principal’s office, teachers’ workroom, library, small kitchen, and restrooms.  Wah Jip Chang, MLS Class of ’39, was the contractor who built our school.  He was a diehard director and President of MHKLB from 2003-2005.  He became one of our Director Emeritus, until his passing in 2018. His son, Carlton Chang and family recently donated $50,000 in memory of his parents, and we in turn, named the assembly room in their honor.

 

During the past two and a half years of the pandemic, we again suffered a decline in enrollment, but we are thankful for the foresight of our immediate past presidents, Baldwin Au and Wil Chee, who took the initiative to completely refurbish the interior of or our 50-year-old building and spearheaded our 50th anniversary of our present location, which we celebrated in March of last year.  Past President, Dr. Kin Ming Ching is in the process of initiating an endowment program for our alumni and friends.  We are so fortunate to also have a young and energetic principal, Lily Shan, to continue spreading the language (now Mandarin) and culture of China to the children of Hawaii, with her innovative curriculum of in-person and hybrid online classes.