Bok Kai Temple (for appointment) — Attraction in Marysville

This review is long overdue. I’ve been visiting this temple once a year since the 1980s, and it has always held a special place in my heart. Back then, it was a quiet, unassuming gem, truly a diamond in the rough. In recent years, the younger generation of the family who cares for this temple has breathed new life into it. Their dedication is evident in the thoughtful renovations, the digital and social media updates, the careful preservation of its history, and the creation of a beautiful museum that now showcases the incredible artifacts that were once tucked away in back rooms.

Now that I have a family of my own, it is now a cherished tradition to visit the temple together every year during parade weekend. I am deeply grateful to the family who continues to care for this place with such devotion and pride. Over the years, I have brought many extended family members and friends here, and many of them have made it part of their own annual traditions as well.

As a Chinese immigrant, I feel an immense sense of pride seeing our heritage so lovingly preserved in this city. I hope one day my grandchildren will bring their children here too, continuing the legacy and passing down the stories that connect us to this sacred place and to all the immigrants that came before us.

If you are in the area, please plan on a visit by making an appointment on non-parade weekend. It is most definitely worth visiting as this is a great place to learn about an important piece of California’s history. If you want to see this temple come alive with worshipers and cultural traditions, plan a visit on parade day. The date is usually posted on their website so you can plan accordingly.

As this temple operates mainly on donations, please consider donating to keep our...

Last month, when I went to visit the temple with a group of friends. I purchased a batch of incents from the temple out of convenience. However, upon opening the package, the quality of the incents was so thin and fragile that it was close to snapping in half. Once I had lit two incents to pay my respect, I walked out of the temple to place them in the jug, a gust of wind blew towards my direction, and the top part of the incent where I had lit it flew into my eyes. Fortunately, I had shut my eyes in time to have my eyelid catch it but because I had shut my eyelids tight while the top part of the incents was still lit, I had a first-degree burn. From this experience, I would hope the owners/managers of the temple could take consideration of changing out the incents to better and sturdier incents to prevent another incident from happening. It would be VERY devastating for this incident to happen to others. Especially if it were to happen to an elder...

I didn’t take the photo inside the temple room to show respect, and one kind reminder that you have to make appointment ahead of time for a visit. The gentle lady (Mable? not sure if I correctly spelled the name) was very friendly and knowledgeable. She can speak Cantonese. However, I speak Mandarin. Luckily, I really adore TVB dramas, so that I have been trained a little bit to understand and pronounce Cantonese. The temple is very decent and they have a museum room next to the temple room, which was donated by the Chinese community. I have been detailed introduced to all the exhibitions, and I really appreciate the time of the Madame Mable. I will definitely pay a visit again next year when my family come to visit me. This place is very peaceful, and I feel so touched and moved with all the stories the gentle lady shared with me! Again, appreciation and...