Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (61 page)

118. Jane Kwong Lee, interview.

119. See Gerda Lerner, The Majority Finds Its Past: Placing Women in History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), chap. 5.

i zo. See ibid., chap. 6; Anne Firor Scott, Natural Allies: Women's Associations in American History (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991); Karen
J. Blair, The Clubswoman as Feminist: True Womanhood Redefined, 1868-1914
(New York: Holmes & Meier, 1980); Paula Giddings, When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America (New York: William
Morrow, 1984); and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The
Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920 (Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1993).

12 1. San Francisco Chronicle, January 18, 1903, p. z.

izz. Woo, "Protestant Work," pp. 231, 264.

Iz3. Dora Lee Wong, interview with author, October 5, 1982.

124. Ira M. Condit, The Chinaman as We See Him and Fifty Years of Work
for Him (Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Co., lgoo), pp. 2o9-1o; Hoexter, From
Canton to California; and CSYP, May 25 and z8, igii.

12 5. King Yoak Won Wu, interview with Genny Lim, October z7, 1982,
Chinese Women of America Research Project, Chinese Culture Foundation of
San Francisco.

1z6. I am indebted to Teresa Wu of the Chinese YWCA, historian and architect Philip P. Choy of the Chinese Historical Society of America, and Yee
Ling Fong of the International Institute of San Francisco for sharing past correspondence, board minutes, and staff reports of the Chinese YWCA with me.

127. According to Giddings, When and Where I Enter, pp. 155-58, black
women in the South resented the discriminatory policies of the national board,
particularly the lack of black women on the board and local black input on the
establishment and running of YWCA branches in the South.

128. See Alison R. Drucker, "The Role of the YWCA in the Development
of the Chinese Women's Movement, 189o-1g 27," Social Services Review, September 1979, PP. 4z1-4o; Mary S. Sims, "The Natural History of a Social Institution: The Y.W.C.A." (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1935); Jean
McCown, "Women in a Changing China: The Y.W.C.A." (April 5, 1970),
YWCA of the U.S.A., National Board Archives, New York; Emma Sarepta Yule,
"Miss China," Scribner's 71 (January 1922): 66-79; and Kwok Pui-lan, Chinese Women and Christianity, 186o-1927 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), pp.
126-3z.

129. CSYP, September z8, 1929.

130. Florence Chinn Kwan, interview with author, October 12, 1988.

131. For an analysis of the baby contest in the larger context of maternal
and infant care in the United States, see Alisa Klaus, Every Child a Lion: The
Origins of Maternal and Infant Health Policy in the United States and France,
1890-1920 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993).

13z. CSYP, May 4, 1907.

133. CSYP, April z1, May 1z, 17, 1911.

134. Zeng Bugui, "Sun Zhongshan yu Jiujinshan nu Tongmenghui yuan"
(Sun Yat-sen and the women members of San Francisco's Tongmenghui), in
Zhongshan xiansheng yishi (Anecdotes of Sun Yat-sen) (Beijing: Zhongguo Wenshi Chubanshe, 1986), pp. 141-42.

13 5. See Lilly King Gee Won, "My Recollections of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Stay
at Our Home in San Francisco," Chinese America: History and Perspectives 1990,
pp. 67-82.

136. San Francisco Call, February 13, 1911, p. I; October z9, 1911, P- 34;
and CSYP, May 25, November 21, 27, 1911; January Iz, 1912.

137. See Mary Backus Rankin, "The Emergence of Women at the End of
the Ch'ing: The Case of Ch'iu Chin," in Women in Chinese Society, ed. Margery
Wolf and Roxane Witke (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975 ), PP. 39-66;
and L. Collins, "New Women," pp. 351-60.

138. Quoted in Croll, Feminism and Socialism, pp. 68-69.

139. CSYP, August zz, 31, September 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 1907.

140. Zeng, "Sun Zhongshan," p. 141; San Francisco Call, October 29, 1911,
P. 34.

141. Jane Kwong Lee, "Chinese Women in San Francisco," Chinese Digest,
June 1938, p. 8.

142. Levy, Chinese Footbinding, pp. 275-80; Dora Lee Wong, interview; Florence Chinn Kwan, interview; Fred Schulze, interview with author, January 26,
1989; Clara Lee, interview with author, October 2, 1986; Connie Young Yu,
"The World of Our Grandmothers," in Making Waves: Anthology of Writings
By and About Asian American Women, ed. Asian Women United (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989), PP. 33-42•

143. Rose Hum Lee, "The Growth and Decline of Chinese Communities
in the Rocky Mountain Region" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1947), PP.
z52-53.

144. San Francisco Examiner, May 10, 1914, p. 78.

145. San Francisco Examiner, July z6, 1915, p. 6.

146. San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 1914, P. 5.

147. The Chinese Native Sons of the Golden State changed its name to
the Chinese American Citizens Alliance in 1928 after the Native Sons of the
Golden West refused to give them affiliated status. See Sue Fawn Chung, "The
Chinese American Citizens Alliance: An Effort in Assimilation, 1895-1965,"
Chinese America: History and Perspectives 1988, PP. 30-57.

148. San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 1914, P. 5.

149. Ibid.

150. Sai Gai YatPo, August zz, 1913.

151. Clara Lee, interview with author, July 31, 1989.

15z. The daughter of liberal parents Rev. Chan Hon Fun and Ow Muck
Gay, Clara Lee was born in 1886. The family moved to Oakland before the 1906
earthquake, and Clara remained there after her marriage to Dr. Charles Lee, the
first Chinese licensed dentist in California. She had just turned loo when I interviewed her in 1986. Clara Lee passed away in 1993 at the age of io6.

3. First Steps

i. See Park, Race and Culture.

2. See Milton M. Gordon, Assimilation in American Life (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964); and Omi and Winant, Racial Formation.

3. Ching Chao Wu, "Chinatowns," p. z9o. Park attracted a number of Chinese American students to study sociology at the University of Chicago. Among
those who chose to research and write about Chinese Americans were Rose Hum
Lee ("The Growth and Decline of Chinese Communities in the Rocky Mountain Region," Ph.D. diss., 1947), Beulah Ong Kwoh ("Occupational Status of
the American-born Chinese College Graduates," Master's thesis, 1947), Liang
Yuan ("The Chinese Family in Chicago," Master's thesis, 1951), and Paul C. P.
Siu ("The Chinese Laundryman," Ph.D. diss., 1953)•

4. The following account is derived from an interview I conducted with Alice Sue Fun on February z8, 1982.

5. Many working-class immigrant daughters had their schooling cut short
because of traditional values and economic constraints; see, for example, Cohen, Workshop to Office, chap. 4; and S. Glenn, Daughters of the Shtetl, chap. z.

6. Florence Chinn Kwan, interview with author, October i z, 1988. Chinese
Christian families were the first in Chinatown to dress in Western clothing. Clara
Lee, whose father, Chan Hon Fun, was also a minister, recalls feeling conspicuous when she first wore a Western dress in Chinatown: "When I walked down
from Stockton Street to go to the store, I was all dressed up and so proud. Then
some Chinese man said, `Yun ng yun, gwai ng gwai, do ng gee jo muk yeh?' [It
doesn't appear to be human or devil; what is it?). And of course I cried" (Clara
Lee, interview with author, October z, 1986).

7. Florence Chinn Kwan, "Some Rambling Thoughts on Why I Am a Christian" (unpublished paper, November 1966).

8. Florence Chinn Kwan, interview with author, October 7, 1988.

g. Ibid.

i o. To compare how Mexican American and Japanese American women experienced acculturation and responded to cultural conflicts, see Sanchez, Becoming Mexican American; Vicki L. Ruiz, "`Star Struck': Acculturation, Adolescence, and Mexican American Women, 1910-1950," in Small Worlds:
Children and Adolescents in America, 1850-1950, ed. Elliott West and Paul Petrik
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 199z), pp. 61-8o; Mei Nakano, Japanese American Women: Three Generations, 1890-1990 (Berkeley, Calif.: Mina
Press, 1990); and Valerie Matsumoto, "Desperately Seeking `Deirdre': Gender
Roles, Multicultural Relations, and Nisei Women Writers of the 193os," Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 1 z, no. 1 (1991): 19-32.

i 1. Ching Chao Wu, "Chinatowns"; Kit King Louis, "A Study of American-born and American-reared Chinese in Los Angeles" (Master's thesis, University of Southern California, 1931); and Marjorie Lee, "Hu Jee: The Forgotten Second Generation of Chinese America, 1930-1950" (Master's thesis,
University of California, Los Angeles, 1984).

1 z. I am indebted to Colleen Fong and Marjorie Lee for calling my attention to Karl Mannheim's "The Problem of Generations," in Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge by Karl Mannheim, ed. Paul Keeskemeti (London: Routledge
& Kegan, 1959), pp. 276-32o. According to Mannheim, there are three aspects to the sociology of generations: generational status, that is, being born
within the same historical and cultural context; actual generation, that is, participating in the common destiny of the historical and social unit; and generational unit, that is, sharing the same response to sociohistorical forces. By studying generational units we acknowledge the importance of historical location
rather than birth order in understanding the diversity of political perspectives
within an actual generation. Mannheim's contention is that one unit's perspective generally comes to dominate, speaking for and influencing the entire generation. Jade Snow Wong's perspective of cultural fusion, also found in the autobiographical writings of her peers, can be said to be that dominant view for
her generation.

13. The following works were also useful in my analysis of Jade Snow Wong's
life story: Lowell Chun-Hoon, "Jade Snow Wong and the Fate of ChineseAmerican Identity," Amerasia Journal 1 (1971): 5z-63; Elaine H. Kim, Asian American Literature: An Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982), pp. 58-90; and Marjorie Lee,
"Hu-Jee," pp. 64-79.

14. J. Wong, Fifth Chinese Daughter, p. z.

15. Ibid., p. vii. Jade Snow Wong does not follow this practice in her second autobiography, No Chinese Stranger (New York: Harper & Row, 11975). That
book begins in the third person singular, but she switches to first person midway through, after the death of her father-as a sign of her readiness to be the
head of her own family.

16. J. Wong, Fifth Chinese Daughter, pp. 2-3.

17. Ibid., pp. 14-15.

18. Ibid., p. 3 5.

19. Ibid., p. 69.

20. Ibid., pp. 113-14.

z,. Ibid., pp. 109-10.

zz. Ibid., p. 12.8.

Z3. Ibid., p. 246.

24. "Story of a Chinese College Girl (The Conflict Between the Old and
the Young)," Survey of Race Relations Collection, Hoover Institution on War,
Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University.

25. Ibid., p. 3.

z6. According to another interview in the Survey of Race Relations Collection, "Miss Wong says there are two kinds of girls in Chinatown, the oldfashioned Chinese girl and the modern Chinese girl. A man who wants a real
Chinese wife marries the old-fashioned girl, who can keep house, will be willing to stay at home and who will not spend too much on paint and clothes"
("Esther Wong, Native-born Chinese, San Francisco, July i, 19z4," P. I).

27. "Story of a Chinese College Girl," p. 8.

z8. Ibid., p. 3.

29. See Paula Fass, The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the
192os (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977); and John D'Emilio and Estelle Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (New York:
Harper & Row, 1988).

30. Judy Chu, "Anna May Wong," in Counterpoint: Perspectives on Asian
America, ed. Emma Gee (Los Angeles: Asian American Studies Center, University of California, 1976), pp. z84-88; and San Francisco Chronicle, June 3,
i9z8, p. 13.

31. San Francisco Examiner, May I, 19zz, p. 8.

3 z. "Interview with Flora Belle Jan, Daughter of Proprietor of the `Yet Far
Low,' Chop Suey Restaurant, Tulare St. and China Alley, Fresno," Survey of
Race Relations Collection, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace,
Stanford University.

33. "Chinatown Sheiks" appeared in the San Francisco Examiner, March 27,
1924, P. 9. "Old Mother Grundy" was mentioned by Flora Belle Jan in the Survey of Race Relations interview, but I have been unable to locate a copy of it.

34. I am indebted to Flora Belle Jan's daughters, whose names have been
withheld by request, for sharing some of the letters written by their mother to
her friend, Ludmelia Holstein.

3 5. Flora Belle Jan, letter to Ludmelia Holstein, July 17, 19z' -

36. Ibid., September 3, 1918; August 17, 1911; June z8, 1920.

37. Ibid., August zo, 19zo.

38. Ibid., July 17, 1921.

39. For a history of discrimination against Chinese students in the San Francisco public schools, see Low, Unimpressible Race.

40. Liu Pei Chi, A History of the Chinese in the United States of America,
vol. z (in Chinese) (Taipei: Liming Wenhua Shiye Gongsi, 1981), P. 363.

41. CSYP, February 17, 1903.

4z. CSYP, February 17, 1913,

43. F. Chinn, "Religious Education," p. 40. In 19o6, the San Francisco
school board changed the name of the school from Chinese Primary School to
Oriental Public School to accommodate Japanese and Korean students. Under
pressure from the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, which found "Oriental"
derogatory, the name was subsequently changed to Commodore Stockton School
in 1924. See Low, Unimpressible Race, pp. IS2-15.

44. Mary Bo-Tze Lee, "Problems of the Segregated School for Asiatics in
San Francisco" (Master's thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1911).

45 . Low, Unimpressible Race, pp. 115-23.

46. Liu Pei Chi, History, p. 364.

47. Shih Hsien-ju, "The Social and Vocational Adjustment of the Second
Generation Chinese High School Students in San Francisco" (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1937), PP. 36-54.