A Concubine for the Family: A Family Saga in China

by Amy Kwei

  “No M-ma, they’re strong. They would never have allowed anyone to bind their feet!”

  As Purple Jade looked at her crippled feet, her ideal of a virtuous, compliant lady seemed hopelessly inadequate. Except for the rescue of Little Six, her one incursion into the proactive ways of the modern world had ended in a fire that failed to save the town from the scourge of opium. “Your father is right. You are the future hope and strength of China,” she said. “Unfortunately, you are a daughter and will marry into another household. Traditions do not change. A son must hold a man’s head when he is placed into the coffin.” The thought sent chills down her spine; she wrung her hands in agitation. “No man would perform this task without being named an heir!” She took out her handkerchief and clutched it tightly to calm herself. “Sons-in-law bearing a different family name cannot inherit. We’re still without an heir.”

  “Things will change, M-ma. You’ll see!” Golden Bell could not argue the obvious. She bade her mother evening peace and left.

  As Purple Jade returned to Orchid’s quiet attention, Silver Bell ran in.

  “M-ma.” She forgot to bow and pay her respects first. “Peony told me Golden Bell will have her hair bobbed. May I have some money and get my hair cut in town?”

  “Silver Bell, you know it is unbecoming to come without a greeting.” Purple Jade frowned, still agitated by her first daughter.

  “Evening peace, M-ma.” Silver Bell quickly bowed. “May I go into town?”

  “Child, you mustn’t allow your maid to tell you what to do. Peony, come in!” Purple Jade raised her voice. She knew the maid would be hiding outside the door. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “Here I am, Tai-tai.” Peony stared at the ground. “I didn’t tell the young mistress to ask for money. I only told her what Iris told me.”

  “Silver Bell, your sister has her fate in life and you have yours. There is no need to compete and compare what doesn’t add or subtract from your virtue.”

  “But, M-ma!”

  “Peony, do you admire the new hairdo?”

  “Well, Tai-tai, I . . . I don’t know.” Peony twisted the corner of her tunic.

  “Tai-tai,” Orchid spoke from behind her mistress. “I heard the new hairdo also involves electrocuting the hair, so it all stands out in curls.”

  Peony and Silver Bell looked at each other and became quiet. Orchid was not often wrong.

  “My little heart-and-liver.” Purple Jade drew Silver Bell near her. “What Orchid said must be true. The new fashions are very strange, especially on a Chinese girl.” She smoothed down the stray hairs on Silver Bell’s pigtails. “Peony, don’t you dare stir up trouble, and make your young mistress drink vinegar. I’ll see to it that you get a whipping.”

  “Oh Tai-tai, please spare me. I only thought to keep the young mistress amused!” Peony worried the corner of her tunic some more.

  “M-ma, spare Peony or I’ll behave just like Golden Bell. She thinks she’s so smart now, learning English and science; she never wants to play with me anymore.”

  “Hush, hush, Silver Bell. Don’t be brazen like your sister. I’ll find you a good husband who will take our name, and you will be my comfort in my old age.”

  “M-ma, tell me again how you met my father!”

  “Not now, dear heart, my footbath is getting cold, and we must all prepare for bed. After you’ve memorized your assignment from the Three Character Book, I’ll tell you.”

  “Come, young mistress,” Peony called to her charge happily, all thoughts of punishment vanished.

  A FEW DAYS LATER, the women of the Huang family gathered on the river dock to wait for Miss Tyler to join them for a boating party. It had rained during the night, but the sun burned away the morning fog. A gentle breeze scattered crystal sparkles all over the grass. Golden Bell’s spirit soared in anticipation.

  As the car approached, Orchid stole into the boat to avoid the chauffeur. Taking up the rudder under the canopy, she turned toward the center of the river and waited.

  Ah Lee had second thoughts about his attempted seduction of Orchid. In truth, his methods seldom met with defeat. Orchid’s diffidence and inexperience excited him beyond endurance. He tried in vain to catch sight of her again, to make amends; her inaccessibility had become another enticement. Finally he decided to approach Orchid openly. After all, he was from Shanghai; he would show her the alluring foreign ways. He had seen foreigners go courting with flowers and candies. He had brought along a bouquet and a box of cookies.

  When Miss Tyler noticed the gifts in the car, Ah Lee explained that he brought the cookies and flowers for Orchid to enjoy during the boating party. The chauffeur’s speech, with a few carefully inserted English words, impressed Miss Tyler, and his tactful romantic gesture touched her. After greeting everyone, she thought she would give the soft-spoken, mild-mannered chauffeur some assistance with the stuffy Huangs.

  “Where’s Orchid?” she asked Purple Jade in her accented Chinese. “I believe this young man has something for her!”

  Orchid sat with her back turned, surprised to hear the foreign lady asking for her on Ah Lee’s behalf. Burning with confusion and embarrassment, she crouched lower into the boat.

  Ah Lee stepped forward. Bowing to Purple Jade, he let his eyes survey the crowd. “Tai-tai, I would like to row the boat for you. I’ve brought some cookies and flowers for Orchid to share with you on our boating trip.” He looked around from face to face. “Where is she?” He thought Orchid might have been left behind for some reason. He wanted to rush back and take advantage of her lonely state. In another quick bow, he clutched the gifts closer to his chest, mumbling, “I wanted to give her these as a token of my affection.” He smiled his debonair best and noticed the foreign teacher glowing with pleasure.

  Purple Jade was aghast at this impudent, forward servant. No decent man with any sense of propriety would have been so bold, so crass. Imagine inviting himself to the boating party with all the women! And Miss Tyler had encouraged him! Speechless with anger, Purple Jade turned red and her hands trembled. Iris quickly reached over to support her.

  “Ah Lee wants Orchid for a concubine!” Peony giggled and Silver Bell tittered.

  “You are already married?” Miss Tyler asked in consternation. She could never tell the age of the Chinese. She had thought the chauffeur was a teenager.

  “Oh, I have no woman in Hangzhou!” Ah Lee replied nonchalantly. “I’ve no more affection for my wife in Shanghai. Perhaps I should follow your custom and divorce her.”

  Miss Tyler turned pale. She couldn’t tell whether Ah Lee was being shrewd or naive. She knew she had blundered disgracefully. The Chinese might consider the loss of face unforgivable, especially in a teacher. The mission badly needed the support of influential families, such as the Huangs. She would have to make amends and try to think like a Chinese — exercise her “breath of a guest.” For now, she must remain quiet. When they would reach the teahouse on the island, she would apologize and buy tea. She would express thoughtfulness.

  Iris herded everyone on board the boat and signaled Orchid to push off, leaving Ah Lee gawking on the dock. He finally saw Orchid, but he had offended the mistress of the house and Orchid would be inaccessible to him.

  “Snobbish bitches!” Ah Lee murmured to himself. “I’ll buy three slave girls to serve me here in Hangzhou! See if I don’t!” He sped away in the car, leaving a trail of smoke and dust.

  Orchid felt lighthearted and reassured by the turn of events. Now her mistress would protect her from the crude and presumptuous Ah Lee. She picked up the oars. With help from Iris and Peony, she rowed vigorously toward the pavilion where they usually took their tea and watched the songbirds.

  Everyone sat stiffly, watching circles form around the oars at every dip. Iris pointed to the water lilies and tried to inspire some positive comments on the peeping spring buds. No one responded. Even Silver Bell and Peony were silenced by the palpable tension between the teacher and Purple Jade.


  Golden Bell fidgeted in her seat, painfully aware that her teacher had been dishonored. Perhaps her studies with the American lady would now be in jeopardy. As the boat slid by a lotus patch, she tore off a leaf, shredded it into bits and threw them into the water. She held back tears of frustration.

  Purple Jade sat watching the roaming water birds and wondered about Miss Tyler’s motivation. The woman had come halfway around the world to teach strangers and meddle in other people’s lives. Righteous Virtue once told her that the Westerners had even probed the universe and spent hours arguing about the number of angels that could fit on the head of a pin.

  The Confucian tenet of Jen (benevolence) was more practical, thought Purple Jade. Subjects must honor their emperor, the sons their fathers, and servants their masters. Their manner might be formal, but their civility was based on solicitude, its enforcement grounded in moral suasion. In a crowded country, harmony prevailed when everyone was given face. She wondered how the chauffeur could slight his Chinese heritage and ignore the proper conventions.

  Her thoughts wandered to that unfortunate girl in the river. The girl must have chosen suicide to escape some intolerable fate. Did the missionary school teach her obligations to her family? Of course not! Instead, it must have taught her that she had individual rights and privileges. These Western ideas led to egotism and fear of the unknown. Yes, she was right to keep her children away from the missionary school.

  “Miss Tyler, why did you come to China?” Silver Bell asked, when she could no longer stand the frosty silence.

  Golden Bell gave her sister a look of dismay. She wanted to shout “Shut up” but realized it would be another offense to her mother. She brought her hand to her half-open mouth, and tapped it to stifle her shout.

  “I don’t know, really,” stammered Miss Tyler after some thought. “I came from generations of pioneers. I suppose I was infected, so to speak.”

  “What’s a pioneer?”

  “Well, a pioneer . . .” Miss Tyler thought this ingenuous child was fascinating. She saw her chance for redemption. “A pioneer carries new ideas, develops new land. I wished to be one of the first to learn from China.”

  Purple Jade gazed at the distant morning fog, which floated like tufts of silk wool near the mountaintops. She noted Miss Tyler’s careful Chinese and appreciated her efforts to make amends.

  “Did you know Chen Snow Song?” Silver Bell asked.

  Golden Bell glared at her sister and plucked another lotus leaf from the lake.

  Miss Tyler paled. “Yes. I really don’t understand. We must have failed her somehow.”

  “Silver Bell, stop your impudent questioning!” Purple Jade interrupted. The barbarian lady was a teacher after all. She must not suffer further indignities before her students. “Chen Snow Song was a victim of fate. No one can control that!”

  Miss Tyler held her peace. She knew this was not the time to object to such stoicism. Instead, she accepted the charity and whispered her thanks to her hostess, “Shai shai.”

  Everyone fell silent. Golden Bell looked with grateful surprise on her mother. She dropped her leaf and smiled at her teacher.

  Orchid’s cares evaporated with every movement of the oars. For days, her role in the opium den’s fire and her entanglement with Ah Lee had left her feeling guilty at the deception. When they reached the island, she was ready to run and shout. “Oh Tai-tai, there are some fruit peddlers on the other side of the dock. May I go and buy you some lichee nuts?”

  “Yes, go, Orchid.” Purple Jade gave her a handful of coins. “Iris will help me to the tea pavilion.” Purple Jade sensed her maid’s relief and was pleased by her suggestion.

  As they ordered tea, they could hear Orchid’s clever bargaining floating through the air. “Oh, you old turtle, nobody wants to buy your rotten fruit. If my kind mistress weren’t so softhearted, I might spit on your fruit. A hundred coppers, indeed!”

  Silver Bell and Peony ran off to explore the famous Nine Rivulets and Eighteen Gullies, glad to get away from the adults.

  “Forgive me, Mrs. Huang,” Miss Tyler began. “I didn’t know Ah Lee was already married. I thought it was romantic to see a young man go courting on a spring morning.”

  “Miss Tai-lar, you cannot be expected to know the private lives of servants, so please don’t let that concern you.”

  Miss Tyler understood the Chinese translation of her name to mean “Spicy-Too-Hot.” She assumed Purple Jade had difficulty pronouncing English names; she ignored the implication. She acknowledged humbly: “I shouldn’t have assumed his intentions in so private a matter. I suppose I was swayed by his English and his Western manners.”

  “We don’t consider a man’s affection for a woman to be a spectator’s sport,” answered Purple Jade. “If he had asked for Orchid through a proper marriage broker, I might have considered.”

  “Yes?” Miss Tyler equivocated. Purple Jade’s response was a total surprise to her. She had completely misread this woman. “You would give your maid to Ah Lee even if he already has a wife?”

  “Orchid is like a daughter to me.” Purple Jade flashed an elegant smile. “I would never give her to anyone so coarse and ignorant of proper decorum.”

  “You were offended because of Ah Lee’s impropriety?”

  “If a man cannot control his outward behavior, how can he be faithful to his inner truth? Hai . . .” Purple Jade sighed. “It is unfortunate. Ah Lee has been corrupted by city life, but he is an indispensable servant. It would bring the household great peace if he took a concubine from among the household maids and settled down.”

  Miss Tyler could not comprehend this strange logic. “I know the Chinese believe in arranged marriages, but I thought consideration is also given to personal choices.”

  Golden Bell, who had been listening intently, could not resist giving her opinion. “Westerners think it is immoral for a man to take a concubine.”

  “You talk like a barbarian, saying the first thing on your mind,” her mother said, frowning. “What’s wrong with having a concubine? My late mother, your grandmother, was a concubine. If a person is properly educated, personal choices should coincide with the welfare and prestige of the whole family!”

  “Eighty coppers? I may still spit on your fruit!” Orchid’s voice intruded on the conversation.

  “Why, that’s . . . that’s cruel, and an insult to womanhood,” Golden Bell stammered.

  “Iris, tell your young mistress whether you think it is cruel to be a concubine.”

  Iris blushed. “I’m only a servant.” She wrung her hands and looked down. “Concubines are not different from maids. If the master is kind, it is an honor to be chosen.”

  “Why Iris.” Golden Bell stared at Iris open-mouthed. She looked to her teacher for help. “Miss Tyler?”

  “Seventy coppers! Aiya, you think I’m your Buddha?” Orchid’s exclamation flew against the peddler’s entreaties.

  “Westerners believe all men are created equal. Here maids can be married off to any poor farmer or laborer. A concubine has more protection,” Iris said.

  “There is a different system here.” Miss Tyler nodded soberly. “We believe democracy and independence can uphold individual dignity. Perhaps it may not be possible here because people are born into classes and have a different understanding of freedom and equality.”

  Purple Jade thought this strange modern talk of freedom had only encouraged selfishness, ruthless competition and breakdowns like Chin Snow Song’s. But it was time for her to be gracious, and not to point out the troublesome ideas the teacher was bringing to China.

  “How could a lady manage without her maid?” Purple Jade asked. “It would be a great loss of face for a mistress of the house to bargain, as Orchid is doing for me now.”

  “Miss Tyler, you often complained that you have to pay double for everything,” Iris added, eager to make peace.

  Miss Tyler adjusted herself in her seat, uncomfortable with the drift of the conversation. She kn
ew her students’ confusion and conflicts of loyalty. She also understood the mother’s concerns. However, she must not teach and lecture in front of the mother. She merely nodded to Iris in response.

  Purple Jade wanted to ask how Westerners could think everyone was created equal. Surely men and women could not do the same things, and master and servants were born with different gifts! How did they arrange marriages and manage their households? She had heard of divorces and wondered who took care of the divorced women and children. She speculated on Western households, where women functioned without the solidarity of other women. Her heart ached for Miss Tyler in her single, lonely state. She decided not to ask any more questions. She accepted Miss Tyler’s “different” system for civility’s sake. She was satisfied that the teacher showed restraint, was not contentious, and had enough grace to acknowledge her desire to learn from another culture. Golden Bell was impetuous because of her youth. Her teacher was not to blame.

  “All right, all right, fifty coppers for all these lichee nuts and three extra bunches of dragon-eyes too.” Orchid’s voice rang triumphantly over the pavilion. “You’re fortunate today, old turtle!”

  When Orchid came with the fruits, Purple Jade took Miss Tyler with her to feed the songbirds. Miss Tyler remembered the camera she had brought and took pictures of Purple Jade feeding the birds. Together they discussed the birds’ plumage and habits. They agreed that while the birds were of different colors, and sang different songs, it was obvious that they enjoyed each other’s company.

  Purple Jade steered the conversation to Miss Tyler’s work. They spoke of a foreign woman’s difficulties adjusting to life in Hangzhou: starting a school and dealing with Chinese men who held the purse strings. Purple Jade took note of all Miss Tyler’s needs and promised to speak to her husband about them. Finally, she asked, “You work so far away from home. Did your family object to your choice of profession?”

  “No, it is a Christian tradition for women to do God’s work inside and outside the home. People respect women who serve their communities at home or in the world, especially in nursing and teaching.”