History

Monmouth Fidelity Chinese School, tracing its roots back to the founding of Holmdel Chinese School in 1971 and Freehold Chinese School in 1973, was established as an educational institution to allow youth to become fluent in the Chinese language while learning different aspects of Chinese culture.

Set amongst the backdrop of only a few dozen Chinese families in Monmouth County, no Chinese grocery stores, and with Route 520 but a stone-and-dirt road, Holmdel Chinese School was founded as a one-class school teaching Mandarin. Similarly founded in 1973, Freehold Chinese school was founded in a founding family’s basement, later moving to Barkalow Elementary School. In 1979, Holmdel Chinese School and Freehold Chinese School merged to become Monmouth Chinese School.

Around 1985, the school decreased to only 44 students and was at serious risk of closure. However, the school was prevented from closure in large part due to the rapid growth of Monmouth County’s Chinese population coupled with the instituting of a new Cantonese program, thus becoming the first dual-language Chinese school in New Jersey. 

In 1993, talks began surfacing of dividing the school into two, and in 1994 parents founded a Mandarin-teaching school called Fidelity Chinese School, with Monmouth Chinese School staying dual-language. During the mid 2010s after successive years of declining enrollment in Monmouth Chinese School and Fidelity Chinese School, the two schools decided to merge and were reunited in 2018, operating under the name Fidelity Chinese School dba Monmouth Fidelity Chinese School, 維德孟華中文學校.

In early 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Monmouth Fidelity Chinese School became among the first schools to institute online classes, and all events including the annual Chinese New Year performances were held remotely. In 2021, Monmouth Fidelity Chinese School started to phase in in-person classes. The 2024-2025 school year saw a continued increase in student enrollment. Additionally, in 2025 after six and a half years of running as one school, all operations were consolidated, and the school name was officially changed to Monmouth Fidelity Chinese School.