Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (15 page)

Aside from the change in physical appearance, Chinatown was also
socially transformed by life under Exclusion. Internal economic and political strife mounted as the Chinese community-kept out of the pro fessions and trades, and isolated within a fifteen-block area of the citydeveloped its own economic infrastructure, political parties, and social
institutions. Merchant associations, trade guilds, and tongs fought over
control of the distribution and commercial use of Chinatown's limited
space and economic resources, often engaging in bloody warfare in the
period from the 188os to the 19 20S. At the same time, strife developed
among political factions that disagreed on the best strategy to save China.
The Zhigongtang (the American counterpart of the Triad Society in
China) favored restoring the Ming emperor; the Baohuanghui advocated
a constitutional monarchy; and the Tongmenghui (forerunner of the
Guomindang) saw a democratic republic as the answer to China's future. In an effort to establish order in the community, nurture business,
and protect the growing numbers of families, the merchant elite and
middle-class bourgeoisie established new institutions: Chinese schools,
churches, a hospital, newspapers, and a flurry of organizations such as
the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chinese American Citizens Alliance, Chinatown YMCA and YWCA, Christian Union, and Peace So-
ciety.49 Many of these new social groups also formed alliances with outside law enforcement agents and moral reformers to eliminate gambling,
prostitution, and drugs in an effort to clean up Chinatown's image. Their
work was met with strong resistance from the tongs that profited by these
vice industries, but the progressive forces eventually won out. As reported
in the community's leading newspaper, Chung Sai Yat Po (CSYP),50 soon
after the 19 11 Revolution in China, queues and footbinding were eliminated, tong wars and prostitution reduced, and more of Chinatown's
residents were dressing in Western clothing and adopting democratic
ideas. Arriving in San Francisco Chinatown at this juncture in time gave
immigrant women such as Wong Ah So, Law Shee Low, and Jane Kwong
Lee unprecedented opportunities to become "new women" in the modern era of Chinatown.

DECLINE IN PROSTITUTION

Fortunately for Wong Ah So, prostitution was already on
the decline by the time she arrived in San Francisco, thanks to the efforts of Chinese nationalists, Protestant missionaries, and those who supported the social purity movement. As her case demonstrates, Chinese
women brought to the United States as prostitutes at this time continued to suffer undue hardships but benefited from the socio-historical
forces intent on eliminating prostitution in the city. Moreover, it reveals the inner workings of the Chinese prostitution trade, the complicit role
of Chinese madams in the illegal business, and the coping mechanisms
Chinese prostitutes devised to deal with their enslavement.

Upon landing, Ah So's dreams of wealth and happiness vanished when
she found out that her husband, Huey Yow, had in fact been paid $500
by Sing Yow, a madam, to procure her as a slave.

When we first landed in San Francisco we lived in a hotel in Chinatown,
a nice place, but one day, after I had been there for about two weeks, a
woman came to see me. She was young, very pretty, and all dressed in
silk. She told me that I was not really Huey Yow's wife, but that she had
asked him to buy her a slave, that I belonged to her, and must go with
her, but she would treat me well, and I could buy back my freedom, if I
was willing to please, and be agreeable, and she would let me off in two
years, instead of four if I did not make a fuss.5'

For the next year, Ah So worked as a prostitute for Sing Yow in various
small towns. She was also forced to borrow $ i,ooo to pay off Huey Yow,
who was harassing her and threatening her life. Then, seeking higher
profits, Sing Yow betrayed her promise and sold Ah So to another madam
in Fresno for $z,500. "When I came to America," Ah So's story continues, "I did not know that I was going to live a life of slavery, but understood from women with whom I talked in Hongkong that I was to
serve at Chinese banquets and serve as an entertainer for the guests. I
was very miserable and unhappy. My owners knew this and kept very
close watch over me, fearing that I might try to escape."52

Meanwhile, her family in China continued to write her asking for
money. Even as her debts piled up and she became ill, she fulfilled her
filial obligation by sending $30o home to her mother, enclosed with a
letter that read in part:

Every day I have to be treated by the doctor. My private parts pain me
so that I cannot have intercourse with men. It is very hard.... Next year
I certainly will be able to pay off all the debts. Your daughter is even more
anxious than her mother to do this. As long as your daughter's life lasts
she will pay up all the debts. Your daughter will do her part so that the
world will not look down upon us.53

In another letter to her mother, aside from reconfirming her commitment to fulfill the responsibilities of a filial daughter, Ah So also expressed
the desire to "expiate my sin" by becoming a Buddhist nun-the correct move by traditional moral standards.54 She had indeed internalized
the social expectations of virtuous Chinese women, putting these val ues to good use in helping herself cope with her present, desperate situation.

But before Ah So could realize her wish, help arrived. One evening
at a tong banquet where she was working, she was recognized by a friend
of her father's, who sought help from the Presbyterian Mission Home
on her behalf. Ten days later, Ah So was rescued and placed in the care
of Donaldina Cameron. As she wrote, "I don't know just how it happened because it was all very sudden. I just know that it happened. I am
learning English and to weave, and I am going to send money to my
mother when I can. I can't help but cry, but it is going to be better. I
will do what Miss Cameron says. "5' A year later, after learning how to
read Chinese and speak English and after becoming a Christian, Ah So
agreed to marry Louie Kwong, a merchant in Boise, Idaho.

Her connections to Cameron and the Presbyterian Mission Home did
not end there, though. A few years later, Ali So wrote to complain about
her husband and to ask Cameron for advice. Louie Kwong had joined
the Hop Sing Tong, refused to educate his own daughters (by a previous marriage), had struck her and refused to pay her old boarding fees
in the Mission Home, and, worst of all, threatened to send for a concubine from China because she had not borne him a son.56 This complaint to Cameron about her husband shows that she had evidently
changed her attitude regarding traditional gender roles. In support,
Cameron promptly sent a Chinese missionary worker to investigate the
matter. It must have helped because five years later, in another letter to
Cameron dated December z8, 1933, Ali So wrote about being happily
married and "busy, very busy" raising her husband's three daughters,
their own two sons and a daughter, plus an adopted daughter and a
brother-in-law's ten-year-old son. Ali So had made it back to China only
to find that her mother had died and entrusted her with the lives of her
two younger brothers and two younger sisters. "I am very grateful and
thankful to God that my husband is willing to care for these smaller
brothers and [unmarried] sister and help them," she wrote. With the
closing assurance that "the girls and I are getting along fine," she enclosed a photograph of herself with her husband and enlarged family.57

Wong Ah So's story harks back to the plight of the many Chinese
women who were brought to the United States as prostitutes to fill a
specific need in the Chinese bachelor society. By the z g zos, however,
the traffic had gone underground and was on the decline. In 18 70, the
peak year of prostitution, r,4 z 6 or 7 r percent of Chinese women in San
Francisco were listed as prostitutes. By Ig00 the number had dropped to 339 or 16 percent; and by 119110, 92 or 7 percent. No prostitutes could
be found in the 11920 census,ss although English- and Chinese-language
newspaper accounts and the records of the Presbyterian Mission Home
indicate that the organized prostitution of Chinese women in San Francisco continued through the 1192os. The last trial of a prostitution ring
occurred in 11935,59 in which damaging testimony by two courageous
Chinese prostitutes-Leung Kwai Ying and Wong So-led to the conviction of Wong See Duck, a hardware merchant and longtime dealer
in prostitution, and his three accomplices. The Exclusion Acts and other
antiprostitution legislation passed in the late nineteenth century had succeeded in stemming the traffic, but not eradicating it. Even the earthquake and fire of 11906, which destroyed Chinatown, did not wipe out
prostitution, for brothels were reopened in the new buildings. As law
enforcers stepped in to curb the trade, prices escalated and ingenious
methods were devised to circumvent the law. After the earthquake, pros titutes sold for $3,000, and the services of lawyers hired to keep them
in the possession of their owners averaged $700 a case. By the 19zos,
the price of a young Chinese woman in her teens had risen to as much
as $6,ooo to $io,ooo in gold.60

Wong Ah So, husband Louie Kwong, and family in 11933. (Missionary Review
of the World; Judy Yung collection)

To bypass immigration restrictions, women were coached to enter the
country disguised as U.S. citizens or wives of U.S. citizens. One newspaper account reported that they came with "red certificates," a document issued to American-born Chinese females who had departed for
China between 188o and 1884. Although immigration inspectors suspected that these certificates-which were never marked "Canceled"were being reused by women assuming bogus identities, they could not
prove it, especially when an abundance of Chinese witnesses was on hand
to vouch for the women's identities.61 Still another newspaper account
stated that American-born Chinese men were being paid to bring in
"wives" when they returned from visits to China.62 Other women reportedly came in disguised as theatrical performers, gained entry by bribing immigration officials, or were smuggled in as stowaways or across
the Canadian or Mexican border. As the importation of women became
more difficult, local sources were tapped, and the kidnapping of young
women and the sales of mui tsai into prostitution increased.

Public opposition to prostitution and other social vices, spurred by
female moral reformers and Chinese nationalist leaders, was on the rise
in the early 19006 and contributed greatly to the demise of the trade.
In r9oo, Donaldina Cameron took over as superintendent of the Presbyterian Mission Home. The youngest daughter of Scottish sheep
ranchers, Cameron was born in 18 67, two years before her parents moved
from New Zealand to California. At the age of twenty-five, after breaking off an engagement, she found her calling at the Presbyterian Mission Home, assisting matron Margaret Culbertson in her rescue work.
Deeply religious, maternal, and committed to Victorian moral values,
Cameron seemed the perfect choice for the job. Called lo mo (mother)
by her young charges and fan gwai (foreign devil) by her critics in the
Chinese community, she became well known for her rescue work. Numerous accounts describe in vivid detail the dangerous raids led by
Cameron, who was credited with rescuing hundreds of Chinese slavegirls during her forty years of service at the Mission Home. Following
the tradition established by Culbertson, Cameron provided a home for
the rescued women, educated them, trained them in job skills, and inculcated them with Victorian moral values. The goal was to regroom
them to enter society as Christian women. While some women chose to return to China under Christian escort, others opted to enter companionate marriages, pursue higher education, or become missionary work-
ers.63 Indeed, the Mission Home's goal was best expressed in a drama
devised and presented by Cameron and her staff at a national jubilee
held at the home in 19zo:

"The Pictured Years" showed the Chinese work under that militant Saint,
Miss Culbertson, and also under Miss Cameron and Miss Higgins. Realistic scenes of rescue work in the cellars and on the roofs of the Chinese quarter were thrillingly presented; ... the days of the exodus, after
the earthquake and during the great fire of r 906; a prune-picking scene,
prettily staged, showing the latest experience of our Chinese girls; and
the climax-a tableau of a Christian Chinese family (the wife and mother
a former ward of the Board), with the daughter in University cap and
gown.64

Such was the ideal transformation that Cameron as the benevolent white
mother wanted for her Chinese "harvest of waifs gathered from among
an alien and heathen people," as she herself described them.65 Yet she
was also known for defending Chinese women against stereotyping, sensationalization, and ideas of racial determinism. Although some historians have criticized Cameron for her patronizing attitude and the regimented way in which she ran the Mission Home, those who knew and
worked with her have only a high regard for her work among the Chi-
nese.66