Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco

by Judy Yung

  In keeping with this new image of women, the Chinese Women's Jeleab [Self-Reliance] Association was established in 1913. As indicated by its name, this organization was unique in that it was started by Chinese American women unaffiliated with a church or nationalist cause. Its origin, purpose, and membership were a combination of San Francisco and Oakland, of Chinese nationalism and Western progressivism, of immigrant mothers and American-born daughters. According to a full-page story that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle-complete with a photograph of the group's members holding the American flag and their club banner inscribed with its Chinese name-the Jeleab Association was inspired by the Chinese revolution and American progressivism. In the words of its "thoroughly Americanized" president, Mrs. C. G. Lee (Clara Lee):

  How did it start? It's hard to say exactly. It's one of those things that grow out of a need. For two years the women of the Chinese quarters of San Francisco and Oakland have watched the progress of the men and encouraged them all they could. They were interested in what the men were doing and were yearning to do something themselves, but so few of them had any education at all. Whv some couldn't even read and write their own language. Many were too poor to afford an education; and others couldn't be spared from family duties. It didn't look very bright at first.146

  The organization, she continued, was patterned after the Chinese Native Sons of the Golden State, which excluded female membership;147 and was also broadened to include foreign-born women:

  The idea first started with the Chinese Native Sons' parlor. If a Native Sons' parlor, why not a Native Daughters'? But we soon found that that wouldn't do [since many of the members were not native-born], so we concluded to have simply a woman's club for the purpose that had brought us together. Then we had to have an American name, for we intended to incorporate and have a charter. It was impossible, however, to find an English word that would combine all the reasons for which the club was formed.... The name would have to stand for independence, educational and progressive. We finally decided to take a Chinese word [jeleab], and, by using it, Anglicize it.14s

  Led by educated, middle-class women like Clara Lee, the Jeleab Association chose to follow the example of other American clubs and file incorporation papers in Sacramento, stating its purpose as "social intercourse, benevolent work, educational advantages, and mutual assistance and benefit, and not for pecuniary profit." 14' But a more elaborate purpose was given in a statement by member Liu Yilan published in the Sai Gal Yat Po or Chinese World on September zz, 1913. Liu Yilan pressed the point that Chinese women's subordination was due to their lack of education and self-reliance. That could change for Chinese women in America, "where education flourishes and women's rights are allowed to develop," she said. "Women who are born and raised here have the chance to enter school when young and receive the same education as men. Even the older women who came from China have been inspired, after being continuously exposed to talk of freedom and equality, and after seeing for themselves the elevated status enjoyed by women here as opposed to the inferior position of women back home." The key, she concluded, was for women to band together and learn from each other:

  Clara Lee, founder and president of the Chinese Women's Jeleab [Self-Reliance] Association, 19113. (Courtesy of Dr. Lester Lee)

  It is important that we broaden our contacts by making new friends and not keep to ourselves and become limited to our own little world. If we women are to become independent, we must form a big group so we can cull and share ideas and benefit from each other. Therefore, those of us who are of like mind have decided to form this group and to call it Lumei Zhongguo Nujie Zili Hui [Chinese Women's Jeleab Association]. Our goal is to cultivate self-reliance in each of us and, further, to promote and propagate this concept in China, so as to strip away the black curtain that has blocked our [women's] view of the sky for thousands of years. This, then, is the purpose of our group.lso

  Herein was a new ideology concerning Chinese women's emancipation, one that combined Chinese nationalist thoughts on women's right to education with American ideals of freedom and equality. Equally important, it advocated self-improvement through social interaction in line with the progressive views of women's clubs in America. Indeed, the self-initiated Jeleab Association represented a new awakening in the social consciousness of Chinese immigrant women, a recognition of a higher status of womanhood to which they could aspire in America.

  According to the newspaper article, in 1913 the Jeleab Association boasted a membership of two hundred Chinese women from San Francisco and Oakland, all immigrant mothers and American-born daughters, who met regularly in the parlor of the Chinese Native Sons of the Golden State in Oakland. As the immediate need was to educate the illiterate, an evening class was established for the study of Chinese under the direction of Mrs. T. L. Lee, a Baptist minister's wife, with plans to tackle English next. Seventy-five years later, Clara Lee noted in an interview that the Jeleab Association, despite its auspicious beginnings, disbanded a few years later. "It didn't last very long," she said. "Some lived [too far away] in San Francisco, and some moved away later.""' The other successful program, she recalled, was a class that met every Monday afternoon for instruction in using American sewing patterns. But even without the organization, progressive women like Clara Lee continued to practice self-reliance while influencing others to become "new women." Aside from being the first Chinese woman to register to vote in 19 11 and the founder of the Jeleab Association, Clara was also an active member of the YWCA, the International Institute, and Fidelis Coterie, and she devoted much of her life to volunteer work on behalf of immigrant women and the Chinese community.152

  Immigration to the United States proved to be a double-edged sword for Chinese women in the early twentieth century. Saddled by cultural restrictions, racial and sex discrimination, and labor exploitation, many suffered undue hardships and led strenuous lives. Yet socioeconomic conditions and historical forces at the time afforded women like Wong Ah So, Law Shee Low, and Jane Kwong Lee opportunities to unbind their lives and reshape gender roles-in essence, to change their circumstances for the better. Their daughters, second-generation women born and raised in the United States, would benefit by their experiences. Without bound feet and bound lives but still fettered by race, gender, and class oppression, their challenge would be to break the double binds of cultural conflict at home and discrimination in the larger society, and take the first steps toward realizing their full potential as Chinese American women.

  The second generation Chinese girl ... is a thing apart from her sister of the older generation who was bound by the traditions of many centuries. Freed from old restraints, yet hampered by many new problems which she meets in her daily living, she is still an uncertain quantity. Consciously and unconsciously she reflects the conflict within her caused by her Chinese heritage and American environment. She has broken her link with the East. She has not as yet found one with the West.

  Janie Chu "The Oriental Girl in the Occident," r9z6

  Although Chinese immigration to America largely began in the mid-nineteenth century, the second generation of Chinese Americans did not come to maturity until the 19zos. By keeping Chinese laborers, and by extension their wives and families, out of the country, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 188z had effectively delayed the natural growth of the second generation. However, as increasing numbers of wives immigrated by way of the exempt classes, women and children began to make their presence felt in San Francisco Chinatown. Between 1900 and 1940, the foreign-born Chinese population was reduced by half, while native-born Chinese population quadrupled. A large part of the increase in the native-born can be attributed to the one major exempt class of the Exclusion Act-"paper sons," boys who were born in China but who claimed derivative citizenship in order to immigrate to the United States. The increase in the female population was even more pronounced: the number of foreign-born Chinese females more than doubled, while native-born Chinese females increased sixfold owing to the arriva
l of "paper daughters" and a high childbirth rate among Chi nese immigrant women. Nationwide, native-born Chinese females outnumbered foreign-born as early as 1900. In contrast, native-born Chinese males still represented a minority (45 percent) of the Chinese male population in 1940. That same year, the native-born made up a high 7z percent of the Chinese female population (see appendix tables 8 and 9).

  Coming of age in the 192os, second-generation women, unlike their mothers, were not fettered by bound feet; nor were they as constrained by Chinese traditions. Born and raised in the United States, they had political rights as native Americans; they could speak English and were educated and acculturated through the public schools, church, and popular culture. While the first generation had been almost totally concerned with economic survival, this generation yearned for the realization of a different American dream. As U.S. citizens, they wanted and expected to fulfill their potential in all aspects of their lives-in education and work, in social and political activities; but they were prevented from doing so by sexism at home and racism in the larger society. Many young Chinese women found themselves caught in a cultural dilemma. In exercising their desires and rights as individuals, they often had to go against the traditional gender role expectations of their parents. Although there was a marked difference in their educational and social background visa-vis the first generation, they still found themselves limited to living in Chinatown, working at low-paying jobs, and excluded from participation in mainstream society.

  The sociologist Robert E. Park of the University of Chicago was the first to study the assimilation patterns of "Orientals" on the Pacific Coast. Under his directorship, the Survey of Race Relations project interviewed over two hundred Chinese Americans in the 192os about their life histories and encounters with racism. Park was convinced that all groups, regardless of race or ethnicity, would eventually become integrated into mainstream American life, according to his postulated race relations cycle of contact, competition, accommodation, and assimilation.' Although Park's research materials remain important, the weight of scholarly opinion has long since turned against him. Beginning with Milton E. Gordon in 1964 and continuing through Michael Omi and Howard Winant today, sociologists have shown that assimilation is a two-way process. A group can acculturate (change values, customs, and cultural forms) but not assimilate (change primary and institutional relationships) unless it is accepted and allowed to do so by the majority group.2 The experiences of second-generation Chinese Americans during this period support this point of view. Although they found that they could accul turate into American life in terms of values, customs, and cultural forms, because of racial barriers they could not totally assimilate or become integrated into American society. Ching Chao Wu, who studied Chinatown life under Park, came to this conclusion in 1928:

  To sum up, it may be said that on the road of assimilation, the nativeborn Chinese have gone much farther than the Chinese of early days. They have been Americanized to such an extent that their relatives in China may find little in common with them. But the native-born Chinese are not completely assimilated, for they still have race-consciousness.3

  Despite the insurmountable barriers, some Chinese Americans continued to push in that direction, while others became resigned to their second-class status. Most, however, moved toward accommodationmaking the best of the situation until social conditions changed.

  In their efforts to take the first steps toward breaking the double binds of sexism at home and racism on the outside, to define their own ethnic and gender identity, second-generation women were greatly influenced by Chinese nationalism, Christianity, and acculturation to American life. As their stories demonstrate, the ideals of women's emancipation that were embedded in the Chinese nationalist movement encouraged parents to educate their daughters, allow them to work outside the home, engage in free marriage (as opposed to arranged marriage), and become politically active for the sake of a stronger and more modern China. Christianity reinforced many of these same values. By emphasizing female identity, independence, education, and spiritual equality, Protestant institutions such as the YWCA drew Chinese girls and women into the public sphere, familiarized them with Western customs and beliefs, and encouraged them to participate more actively in civic affairs. Public schools and the mass media further instilled in them the values of individuality, equality, and freedom as well as the desire for the good life, characterized by fashionable clothes, romantic affairs, sports, jazz, moving pictures, partying, and the like. However, as second-generation women tried to become Americanized, their newly adopted lifestyle often clashed with their cultural upbringing at home.

  Cultural Upbringing at Home

  As children, most Chinatown girls led sheltered lives following Chinese traditions. Their mothers usually taught them to follow the "three obediences and four virtues" and groomed them to become virtuous wives and mothers. Daughters growing up in the early 19oos were expected to give unquestioning obedience to their parents and remain close to home, where they helped their mothers with incomegenerating work, shopping, and housework. Nurtured in Chinese culture, they spoke Chinese, ate Chinese food, and celebrated Chinese holidays. Although sons were still favored over daughters, girls were often more valued in America than in China because of their scarcity and the increased opportunities available to them. Moreover, Christian doctrine and Chinese nationalist ideology both advocated women's rights and, together, influenced social attitudes toward the value and upbringing of girls, especially among middle-class families. A comparative look at the early years of Alice Sue Fun and Florence Chinn Kwan, both of whom grew up in San Francisco Chinatown in the i9oos, shows how these factors affected the cultural upbringing of Chinese American girls.

  Given the working-class background of most Chinese families in San Francisco at this time, Alice's story is the more representative of the two.4 She was only seven years old when she lost her father because of the 19o6 earthquake and fire. Forced to evacuate their home in Chinatown, the family moved across the bay to Oakland, where they lived in a makeshift tent. "My father dug clams and got sick eating them," Alice recalled. "Contaminated water, you know. So he died soon after of typhoid fever. That was in September. My sister was born four days after my father died." Alice's mother decided to move her six children back to San Francisco Chinatown. A year later, she remarried.

  While her stepfather worked as a cook, her mother supplemented the family income by sewing at home. When she was eight, Alice began attending the Oriental Public School from 9:oo to 2.:3o and True Sunshine Chinese School from 2-:3o to 5:oo. Then she would come home and help with the housework and take care of her younger brothers and sisters. "I was the one who sewed their clothes, using those old foottreadle machines. Everything was used. I would take an old shirt apart and repiece it together for Little Brother's trousers." Because her mother followed tradition and rarely left the house, it also fell on Alice to do the shopping. Both of her parents were very strict. When she misbehaved, her mother would punish her with a linggok (a knuckle-rap on the head) or, worse, with a switch, hitting her "until flower patterns [black and blue marks] broke out." Alice particularly resented the lack of freedom of movement:

  It wasn't easy. Mother watched us like a hawk. We couldn't move without telling her. When we were growing up, we were never allowed to go out unless accompanied by an older brother, sister, or somebody else....

  Alice Sue Fun (center) with (from left to right) Uncle holding Harris, Elsie, and Mother during Chinese New Year, 1904. (Arnold Gcnthe photo; courtesy of Library of Congress)

  If you wanted to go shopping, you might as well forget it because, one thing, you didn't have any money. Secondly, you knew your mother wouldn't let you go, so what's the use of asking, right?

  There was little time for play, but Alice had fond memories of Chinese celebrations, the Chinese opera, embroidery classes at the Congregational church on Saturdays, and the 19 15 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Although Alice attended church on
Sundays, her mother preferred to worship her Chinese gods at home. She also brewed Chinese herbs whenever anyone became sick, cooked all the special dishes during the Chinese holidays, related legendary stories associated with the holidays as well as scary ghost stories, and took the children with her whenever she went to the Chinese opera.

  In the old days, there were two operas a day. It cost a little over a dollar for the grand admission ticket, but after nine o'clock the admission would be lowered to twenty-five cents. Free for children if accompanied by an adult. Everyone ate and talked during the opera. It was quite festive. That's how I learned to love the opera.

  In this way, Alice grew to appreciate her Chinese cultural heritage. The highlight of her childhood was the 19 15 International Exposition held in San Francisco to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and the rebirth of the city following the earthquake. "It was once in a lifetime and we saved to go see the fair. For about twenty cents a day you could spend the whole day there. There were so many things to see, but I was always partial to the Chinese exhibits," she said.

  When Alice turned fifteen, her mother decided that was enough education for a girl and that Alice should help the family out.' Alice found a sales job at the Canton Bazaar and gave half her earnings-$25 a month in gold pieces-to her mother. Experiencing a degree of freedom and economic independence, she decided to strike out on her own. Against her mother's wishes, she married her Chinese teacher, whom she described as "poorer than a church mouse," and moved to New York. When her marriage failed, she left her husband and traveled around the world as maid and companion to the actress Lola Fisher. "She treated me very well," said Alice. "Working those few years with Miss Fisher educated me, broadened my outlook, and made a different person out of me." As she had deeply resented her sheltered and strict upbringing, she especially appreciated the opportunity the job gave her to travel, to go beyond her mother's limited world. Years later, she compared her life with that of her mother in this way: