Anecdotal Accounts of Chinese Women Migrants to Southeast Asia

By Kuah Li Feng

November 2021 FEATURE
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A woman migrant surrounded by fellow passengers at a port during the early 20th century. Source: https://www.ilifepost.com/20210128/【华人血流史】 劳工移民阳盛阴衰-诱拐良家妇女当/?utm_source=dable
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In Penang Monthly’s Campbell Street-themed issue, we explored how the street gained infamy as a prostitution hub (see August 2021, A Red-light District Worthy of a Vibrant Port). This next feature documents the stories of some of the women, and how they were either sold or tricked into the trade.---“I finally reached Singapore after seven days and seven nights at sea. The port was crowded with people when the ship moored. Among them were ‘white people’ with blue eyes and...

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References
  • Abshire, Jean (2011). The History of Singapore. The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations. ABC-CLIO.
  • Lim, J. (1958). Sold for Silver. London: Collins.
  • 【日】可児弘明:《近代中国的 “苦力”和“猪花”》, 东京:岩波书店,1979 年,第211 页。
  • 廖冰:《奔 向延安 奔 向革命 》,载 《 中华文史资料 文库 ,华 侨 华人编 》 (第 19 辑), 北京:中 国 文史 出版社 ,1996 年,第 229 页 。
  • 范若兰:《性别与移民社会:新马华人妇女研究 (1929-1941)》,广州:暨南大学出版社,2019年。
Kuah Li Feng

is an ethnographer and cultural practitioner. She founded Studio Good Think in 2011, one of the first private heritage service consultancies in Penang focusing on cultural research and interpretation.


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