TEMPLE A REMINDER OF CHINESE ROLE IN GOLD RUSH.

Byline: Jennifer Kerr Associated Press 

The Temple Amongst the Forest Beneath the Clouds sits serenely next to a busy state highway, a gracefully preserved reminder of the Chinese role in gold rush history.

The Weaverville Joss House is a working Taoist temple, the oldest continuously used Chinese temple in California. It is also a state park and a monument to a very different time in California history.

Tourists, backpackers and loggers flock to remote, mountainous Trinity County now. But a century ago, Chinese immigrants were among the thousands who rushed to Gum Shun, ``the land of the golden mountains,'' seeking their fortune.

In July 1848, Maj. Pierson Reading found gold on a Trinity River sandbar, 205 miles north of San Francisco and 170 miles northwest of Coloma, where the more famous discovery months before launched the Gold Rush.

Thousands of Chinese - almost all men and most from the southern province of Kwangtung - arrived in California with other gold seekers. Twenty thousand Chinese arrived in the state during 1852.

Many headed for the creeks and mountain cuts around Weaverville; an estimated 2,500 Chinese men were living and working around the town that year.

The predominantly white society did not welcome the Chinese miners. The immigrants were forced to pay a $4-a-month ``foreign miner's tax,'' were denied citizenship and were forced to work inferior claims.

``They were not treated well,'' says state parks ranger Diane Mercier, who leads tours of the temple.

The growing Chinese community in Weaverville built its first Taoist temple in 1852 or 1853. Taoism is one of China's major religions and aims for serenity through harmony with nature. It has many influences from Buddhism, Confucianism and ancient animism, including eight gods.

The temple burned in 1873. A new one, the present building, was finished in 1874. The names of the more than 1,000 people who contributed to the rebuilding effort are written in Chinese characters on a board hanging in the temple.

Weaverville's Chinese residents were divided among five family groups that did not always get along - two groups battled with spears in 1854 at Five-Cent Gulch east of town.

But the temple was different.

``This was their unifying place,'' Mercier said.

The characters above the door call it ``the Temple Amongst the Forest Beneath the Clouds,'' but it became known as the Joss House. The term ``joss'' is believed to come from the Portuguese word ``deos'' for ``god'' and dates from the earliest days of Portuguese trade with China.

As the gold rush waned, many Chinese left Weaverville for farms, fishing and railroad jobs. By 1931, the town's Chinese population was 16.

Today, Trinity County, with a population of 13,063, has only 69 Asian or Pacific Island residents, according to the 1990 census.

A 1934 robbery at the temple convinced town officials it should be preserved. Trinity County Superior Court appointed Moon Lee trustee of the Joss House in 1938. Lee, a descendent of one of the pioneer settlers, preserved the temple and worked to include it in the state park system, which happened in 1956.

A wooden building with dragon fish and jagged corners on the roof peak, the temple sits today in a wooded area next to a stream. The building is just off Highway 299, Weaverville's main street.

An offset gate, a front porch and a large screen are barriers designed to prevent evil spirits - believed to travel only in straight lines - from getting inside the temple.

Inside it is dark and cool. The ornate wooden altars and exhibits along the walls are much as they would have been a century ago. Just inside the door is the statue of bearded Dai Tze, the god who guards the door. It is missing its nose; legend says a boy long ago stole the nose as a souvenir, then later became delirious and died.

Along the walls are banners and other items carried in parades and local celebrations, drums and cymbals, and an old stove once used to burn money offerings.

At the back of the temple are three large, hand-carved, intricate teak altars. The one on the left, the Altar of Health, contains three gods: Cling Loy Goon for fortune or gambling, Toy Sing Goon for herbs, and Uah Poe for medicine.

The one in the center is the Altar of Wealth; it has Kuan Ti, the god of knowledge and courage; and Bok Ai, the god who wards off disasters.

The altar on the right is the Altar of Mercy. Its goddesses are Leong Mar for child birth and Kuan Yin for mercy.

In front of the altars are a stone urn and a teak table where visitors may leave offerings. Liquid offerings, like tea, rice wine or whiskey, go into the urn. Offerings like grapefruit or oranges, candy or money are put on the table.

The Taoist religion does not have services; practitioners visit the temple and pray on their own. Before the state park system took over, the temple was managed by a caretaker or priest, chosen by the Chinese community for a year's service at a time.

The caretaker lived in small quarters next to the temple.

``He was the person in the community who settled disputes,'' Mercier said. ``The Chinese had no standing in the (U.S.) courts.''

On the side of the caretaker's door is an old red paper with Chinese characters. They say, ``May you find your fortunes quickly and return home safely.''

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Photo: Visitors to the Weaverville Joss House pause duringa tour that features the oldest continuously used Chinese Temple in California.

Associated Press