In 1919, 15-year-old Zeng Yaoquan from Guang Dong Province, southern China, arrived at Yokohama port to work as a servant at a trading house that imported rice and other crops from China, run by one of his relatives.

Although he always hoped to return to his home country before he died, Zeng spent his whole life in Yokohama's Chinatown. He died there in 1978 at age 74.

After his death, his ashes, in accordance with his will, were separated and buried at graves at two temples, one in Yokohama and the other in Hong Kong.