Mariposa County revoked the operating permit last week for China Station because the restaurant posed an “imminent health hazard.”
The ruling, from Mariposa County Agricultural Commissioner Monica Nielsen, cited “serious and repeated health violations” throughout the last 10 years and longer and the owner Arthur Lee’s unwillingness to correct the numerous health violations.
The most recent inspection on July 24 found vermin and mouse droppings on shelving, floors and in open bags of food in a dry storage area. There were 12 sticky traps under dry storage shelving with dead and live mice.
The inspection also found improperly stored food at the wrong temperature, fire code violations and food bits scattered on walls, appliances and throughout the restaurant.
Lee agreed to voluntarily close the restaurant last month after the inspection.
At a hearing Aug. 17, Lee, whose full name is Kam Yeun Lee, claimed he had only been the manager of China Station for 10 years.
But Nielsen said Lee has been the owner and manager of China Station for the past 40 years.
The county said inspections over the last decade show reoccurring major and minor violations of more than 50 different sections of the California Health and Safe Code.
On at least three prior occasions, health officials ordered the restaurant to close.
Through a California Public Records Act request, the Mariposa Gazette obtained the most recent inspection as well as inspection reports going back 15 years.
Those records show a pattern of repeat violations, with promises from the owner to do better. During several stretches of time, the county was performing weekly inspections, paid for by the owner.
In April 2011, China Station was closed because of a cockroach infestation, which is considered an “imminent health hazard.”
The restaurant reopened a month later, May 4, 2011, after some improvements.
But a follow-up inspection later that month showed serious violations remained, including the vermin infestation, cleanliness, improper food handling and improper storage of food.
Mariposa County health officials provided the restaurant with health regulations and training guides translated in Mandarin.
In a letter to county health officials on May 25, 2011, Lee suggested that county health officials were racist.
“This restaurant has been in continuous business in Mariposa County for over 25 years,” Lee wrote.
“We are working hard to comply with your demands, but you seem to have some sort of personal vendetta against us. If you don’t like Chinese people or Chinese food, fine, DON’T EAT HERE! But don’t disallow our regular customers and huge tourist base to enjoy good Chinese food,” he wrote to a county health official.
By June 2011, Dr. Charles Mosher, the county health officer at the time, wrote that the restaurant still had problems with cockroaches, inadequate temperature control and bacterial cross contamination.
But Dr. Mosher empathized that the restaurant had difficulty training staff and that there was high staff turnover.
“There may be some cultural differences regarding activities in the kitchen,” Dr. Mosher observed.
In a June 30, 2011 letter presented at a hearing that day, Tracy Zhang, the restaurant manager, wrote, “Our restaurant has struggled to survive. We are on the verge of bankruptcy.”
She asked for the restaurant to reopen by July 4, “so that we can make some money to pay rent, utility and wages.”
The restaurant was allowed to reopen later that day.
There were nine later inspections that found critical violations.
On Oct. 26, 2011, the county ordered the restaurant closed again.
During a hearing on Nov. 3, 2011, Dr. Mosher said he could permanently revoke the restaurant’s license because of the repeated violations.
The Mariposa County Health Department reinstated the restaurant’s permit Nov. 10, 2011, with conditions that it would submit to frequent inspections and stay in compliance with health codes.
But annual inspections in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 revealed similar violations.
In 2017, inspectors found vermin problems again, as well as chicken, shrimp and beef that were kept at incorrect temperatures that inspectors warned were in the “danger zone” between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
There were kitchen surfaces, equipment and utensils that were “not clean to sight and touch.”
An April 3, 2018 inspection said, “Overall facility is not being maintained in a clean manner. Floor is sticky, had buildup of food and grease debris.” The restaurant was ordered closed immediately. It was allowed to reopen the next day after a deep cleaning.
Health officials were a regular presence at the restaurant in 2025, with follow-up inspections in March, June, July, August and October. Those inspections found some temporary improvements, but also some of the same recurring violations.
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