Many of the Chinese indentured immigrants who came to Guyana, then British Guiana, became citizens and worked as shopkeepers, laundry, restaurant and supermarket owners or workers, and merchants in the import and export business. Many of their descendants became civil servants and professionals. Today, Sunday Times Magazine highlights a few ‘landmarks’ of Chinese heritage that also remind us of their invaluable contributions to the country. 
St. Saviour’s Church
St. Saviour’s Chinese Church – formerly a branch of St. Philip’s Church, St. Saviour’s Church – was raised to the status of a Parish Church of the Anglican Diocese on Jan. 1, 1939 when it was given its own priest, the Reverend E. C. Lampriere. The word “Chinese” was omitted from the church’s name to become simply St. Saviour’s Church, but it still continued to be the focal worshipping building for the Chinese community. 
The church is situated at Broad and Saffon Streets, Charlestown in Georgetown, on land formerly owned by a Frenchman named Pierre Louis de Saffon, (1724 – 1784) who had fled to Guyana to escape arrest after he killed his brother in a duel over a woman at the time when duelling was banned in France.
When Saffon died in 1784, he was buried on his La Penitence estate in what is now the churchyard of St. Saviour’s Church, with the Saffon Monument marking his grave. In his will he left his money to a fund for the upkeep of poor orphans up to the age of 16.
The cornerstone of the “old” St. Saviour’s Church was laid Aug. 14, 1874 to provide a place of worship for the Chinese community of Georgetown where services could be conducted in the Chinese language by a Chinese catechist. A chancel was added in 1911. In June 1921, on St. John’s Day, a dispensation was granted to the Freemasons of Silent Temple Lodge (Chinese) to hold its first Divine Service at St. Saviour’s Church. The present St. Saviour’s Church was dedicated by the archbishop of the West Indies, Dr John Alan Knight on Sunday, Oct.14, 1951.
The Chinese Sports Club
The Chinese Sports Club (Cosmos) started informally in 1924, and when it acquired its own sports pavilion and ground at Thomas Lands in 1931, it formally began as an off-shoot of the Chinese Association at Lot 3, Brickdam, where billiards and other indoor games and meetings were still held.
In 1932, it was decided to amalgamate with the Narcissus Tennis Club of La Penitence, which had been started in 1909 comprising Chinese lawn tennis players.
Cricket, tennis, hockey and basketball were the club’s main outdoor games, but the club shone at hockey. In 1961, eight of its members were selected to tour with the national hockey team which won the first and only Quadrangular Hockey Tournament between British Guiana, Trinidad, Jamaica and Barbados. By 1974, it had the leading hockey team in Guyana, winning all the hockey tournaments that year.
In May 1945, a larger pavilion was built and all indoor activities were now transferred from the Chinese Association to the Chinese Sports Club at Thomas Lands. In 1963, it was decided that membership of the club should no longer be restricted to Chinese but should be opened to all races. The club’s name was also changed to Cosmos Sports Club.
By 1984, most of the Chinese members of the club had migrated, and it was decided to merge Cosmos Sports Club with the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club and to rename the club the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club.
Central High School
Founded in 1927 by a Chinese immigrant’s son, Joseph Clement (J.C) Luck, Central High School was one of the best private secondary schools of its time. It became a government-aided secondary school in 1969 and it became fully government-owned in 1976 when all secondary schools were taken over by the government.
J. C. Luck served as principal of the school from 1927-1956, as did two of his children: Stella Lowe (1956-1961) and Joseph Rudolph (Rudy) Luck (1972-1974).
J. C. Luck’s youngest son, Donald Luck, was the school’s first and only Guyana Scholar in 1950, at a time when only one Guyana Scholarship per year was awarded. J. C. Luck also started the Central Book Shop next door to the school to supply its students and those of other schools, with textbooks.
The Windsor Forest Monument
The Windsor Forest Monument was erected in 1986 by the Guyana-China Friendship Society, to commemorate the coming of the first Chinese immigrants to Guyana on the Glentanner from Amoy in China. They were all assigned to work on the West Coast Demerara at Windsor Forest (105), Pouderoyen (103) and Union (1). Nine had died on the journey to Guyana. The monument still stands today. (Research done by Marlene Kwok Crawford and Rosemarie Choo-Shee-Nam
