From the mountains of Guangdong, China, to the railroad camps of California and Texas, to a beloved string of Austin restaurants — the story of one Chinese American family across five generations.
From 1897 to 1990, the Lung family fed Austin for three generations — through cafés, Chinese kitchens, and sandwich shops. Theirs is a story of migration, resilience, community, and cuisine that stretched from a small county in southern China to the heart of the Texas capital.
The Lung family originates in Kaiping (Hoi Ping), Guangdong Province, in southern China. Their surname in Chinese is Zhou (or Chou). When the patriarch arrived in America, "Zhou" was anglicized to "Joe" — a common transformation for Chinese immigrants navigating a new country.
Guangdong Province Zhou / Chou FamilyJoe (Zhou) Lung emigrates from China at approximately 12 years of age to help build the American railroads — joining the tens of thousands of Chinese laborers who were the backbone of the nation's rail expansion. He arrives in California before being recruited to Texas.
After laying tracks northeast of Austin for the Houston & Texas Central Railway, Joe and his brother Fong Lung settle in the city — among the very first Chinese residents of Austin. The brothers open a grocery store on Congress Avenue, beginning the family's long commercial relationship with the capital city.
Austin's First Chinese ResidentsThe U.S. government passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning Chinese laborers from entering the country and barring Chinese immigrants from citizenship. The law strips away many civil rights — restricting marriage, property ownership, and employment — and will remain in effect, in various forms, until the 1940s.
The Lung family, already established in Austin, must navigate decades of institutional discrimination while quietly building their community.
Discrimination Legal BarrierJoe Lung marries Dora Wong. Together they will raise six sons and three daughters in Austin — a family whose achievements will span education, missionary work, military service, and decades of Austin restaurant history.
Lung Family GrowsThe Lung family launches a café at the corner of East Sixth and San Jacinto Streets — the founding moment of a restaurant legacy that will span nearly a century. The café serves American-style food and quickly becomes a fixture of downtown Austin life.
1897 – Lung's Café FoundedInez Lung is born to Joe and Dora Lung in Austin — the child who will go on to become one of the most remarkable members of the family, and one of the most extraordinary Chinese American women of her era.
Generation 2Joe Lung purchases the family home at 1605 Canterbury Street, which becomes a community anchor in East Austin for decades. He is known for providing financial assistance to neighbors of all backgrounds — Chinese, African American, and Latino alike.
The same year, using remittances earned in Texas, Joe commissions a watchtower (diaolou) in Kaiping, China — a striking transpacific symbol of his success and connection to his homeland.
Lung House National Register of Historic PlacesThe American-style café relocates to 507 San Jacinto Street, where it will continue operating as a beloved Austin institution for another three decades, closing in 1948.
507 San Jacinto St.Inez Lung is admitted to the University of Texas at Austin with a full scholarship — becoming the first Chinese female student to attend the university. She earns a Master's degree in English, graduating from Saint Mary's Academy and UT. She later does graduate work at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
First Chinese Female UT Student Master's in EnglishJoe Lung (the patriarch) passes away. His son Sam Lung, who had been attending the University of Texas, drops out to take over the family restaurant business — ensuring the legacy continues into a second generation.
Generation 2: Sam LungSponsored by the First Baptist Church of Austin, Inez Lung travels to Canton (Guangzhou), China, to teach high school English at Pooi To School. In 1936 she officially becomes the first Chinese American Southern Baptist foreign missionary to China.
As wartime invasions spread, Inez and her students move from city to city, never stopping their work.
China Mission First Chinese American Southern Baptist MissionaryDuring the Second World War, Inez Lung continues her mission work behind Japanese lines in China. Her family in Austin receives no word of her fate for years.
In 1945, she escapes China with the 3rd Marine Division via the Burma Road. She returns to Texas for six months — then goes straight back to China.
Under Sam Lung's direction, the family converts their American-style café into Lung's Chinese Kitchen at 1128 Red River Street (Red River & 12th) — the first Chinese restaurant in Austin. The menu is so novel to Austinites that it includes instructions on how to use chopsticks.
For decades, it is "pretty much all that Austinites knew about locally served Asian food." A landmark of Austin's culinary history.
Austin's First Chinese Restaurant 1128 Red River St.The original Lung family café on San Jacinto Street closes after more than 50 years of continuous operation.
In China, the Communist takeover forces Inez Lung to flee — she escapes to Hong Kong, where she teaches at a girls' school until her retirement.
1948After 30 years as a missionary in China, Inez Lung retires and returns to the United States, settling back in Austin in 1958. She marries in April 1959 and lives out her remaining years in the city, traveling the country to give speeches about her extraordinary life.
30 Years in China Returns to AustinLung's Chinese Kitchen closes in 1974, a casualty of urban renewal. After nearly three decades as Austin's premier Chinese restaurant, the Red River Street location shutters. Sam Lung passes away not long after. The family's central kitchen legacy ends, but the story is not yet over.
1974 · End of an EraJoe Michael Lung Sr. — grandson of the founder — takes over the family business and launches a series of popular casual sandwich shops called Joe's. He had grown up on Canterbury Street, attended Austin High School, graduated from the Defense Language Institute in 1962, and served as a German specialist with the National Security Agency before returning to the family trade.
Joe Lung sells the final family sandwich shop. After 93 continuous years of Lung family restaurant operations in Austin (1897–1990), the era of feeding the city comes to an end.
1897 – 1990 Three GenerationsAfter suffering a heart attack in 1997 — like his father before him — Joe Lung slows down and takes a role at the Capitol Gift Shop in the Capitol Extension, where his sunny smile and spellbinding storytelling welcome visitors from around the world. He becomes as much of a landmark as the building itself.
Capitol Gift Shop Austin CharacterInez Lung Lee — UT's first Chinese female student, China missionary, wartime survivor, and lifelong Austinite — passes away at the age of 104. Her life spanned the Chinese Exclusion Act, two World Wars, the Communist Revolution, and the Civil Rights era.
1900 – 2004Joe Lung, the final restaurateur of the Lung dynasty and beloved Austin storyteller, passes away at age 77 from complications of a stroke. He is survived by his wife Diane, sons Mike and Mark, and four grandchildren.
That same year, the Austin Public Library launches the digital exhibition Pioneers from the East: Austin's First Chinese Families, featuring the Lung family story prominently.
1940 – 2018 Pioneers from the East · 2018The family home at 1605 Canterbury Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recognized for its significance in ethnic history as a symbol of the Lung family's resilience and the broader Chinese immigrant experience in Austin.
National Register of Historic Places 1605 Canterbury St.The Roots Unveiled exhibition at the Austin Public Library, organized by the Asian American Art & Culture Initiative and curated by Sylvia XuHua Zhan, features Joe Lung and Inez Lung as central figures in a 200-year chronicle of Chinese Americans in Texas. A video art installation based on Joe Lung's family and Inez's ancestral journey back to Kaiping premieres as part of the exhibition.
Roots Unveiled · 2025 Austin Public Library