Chinese immigrant Kin Moi Ching (1860-1955) arrived in Honolulu aboard the Chinese steamer “Wo Chung” out of Canton, China in 1879, during the reign of King David Kalakaua, and stayed there less than two weeks before continuing on to Kaua‘i.
But, prior to leaving Honolulu, he’d borrowed a $5 gold piece to send back to his family in China from a cousin who owned a small furniture store on Nu‘uanu Avenue.
On Kaua‘i, he was rowed ashore at Nawiliwili and soon found work extracting tapioca from cassava in Hule‘ia.
Two years later, in 1881, he settled in Hanapepe, and began reclaiming swamp land and planting rice.
His rice farm at Hanapepe was located on leased Knudsen land on the east bank of the Hanapepe River near the original, wooden Hanapepe bridge, which was replaced in 1911 by the historic Hanapepe bridge still in use upriver of the present Kaumuali‘i Highway bridge.
Sometime later, Ching moved into Hanapepe Valley to continue planting rice on land he leased from Gay &Robinson.
In those days, rice paddies extended deep into Hanapepe Valley, and 23 Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Hawaiian families farmed in this rice-growing region that was called “Minehaha” as early as the 1890s.
The 3,000-plus bags of rice these farmers harvested annually were refined at rice mills owned by Ching, Morioka, Sakata, Mori and Achi, and then marketed.
Ching had established his small mill in Hanapepe Valley circa 1907-1908, a simple, water-powered mill consisting basically of a water wheel, a heavy wooden axle and two heavy stone-pounders with bowls.
The family’s home was an adjacent shack without running water or electricity.
While Ching worked the paddies, his wife, Mew Chai Ching, minded their children, did household chores, and cared for their farm animals.
With the exception of store-bought cloth, salt and the like, which were purchased through barter, they were self-sufficient.
In 1919 Ching moved to Wailua Homesteads and continued farming.
Kin Moi Ching and his wife, Mew Chai Ching, had five sons and six daughters, and their descendants must now number in the several hundreds.
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Hank Soboleski has been a resident of Kauai since the 1960s. Hank’s love of the island and its history has inspired him, in conjunction with The Garden Island Newspaper, to share the island’s history weekly. The collection of these articles can be found here: https://bit.ly/2IfbxL9 and here https://bit.ly/2STw9gi Hank can be reached at hssgms@gmail.com
