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

by Judy Yung

  Thanks to the New Deal, those who had lost their jobs could seek help at the employment offices set up at the Chinese YWCA and the Chinese Catholic Center, although most of the job referrals were for household employment at exploitive wages. According to case worker Ethel Lum in 1936, "Private families, realizing that Chinese girls can usually be employed at a wage scale lower, but an efficiency level higher, than the average white girl, show a preference for engaging Oriental help."80 At that time, according to advertisements in the Chinese newspapers, a live-in nanny earned only $i5 a month; a housekeeper who worked eight hours a day, $z5 a month; and a live-in housekeeper, $iz a month.81 Although these wages were far better than those paid to black domestic workers in the North and South-r o to 15 cents an hour82- they were not considered desirable jobs by Chinese American women who had better options. Part of the problem was that the occupational category of domestic service was exempt from the NRA codes because it was not an interstate commerce industry. The YWCA tried to work around this loophole by lobbying the federal government to implement a code specifying a ten-hour day, six-day week, $9 minimum for live-in servants, and hourly and overtime rates for day help, but to no avail.83 The Chinese YWCA also tried to ensure a minimum work rate for Chinese women in domestic service. Together with the Emanu-El Sisterhood, which looked after the interests of Jewish working girls, it established the Institute of Practical Arts to train women in household employment. Graduates of the course were guaranteed a job at minimum wages.84 However, no followup reports were issued to suggest how successful the program actually was.

  Although WPA jobs went mainly to unemployed men over women, women fortunate enough to be placed in relief jobs often experienced a degree of upward mobility as a result. Of the 4,215 women (as opposed to 10,272 men) in San Francisco who held "emergency" jobs in 1937, the majority were in the professional, clerical, skilled, and semiskilled sectors of the labor market. Whereas black women workers thereby gained access to semiskilled jobs that had been previously closed to them," Chinese American women now entered the profession of social work for the first time. As bilingual social workers, they made home visits, dispensed financial aid, and helped Chinese clients adjust to the economic situation. In 1936, Lily K. Jean passed the civil service examination to become San Francisco's first Chinese American social worker. An editorial in the Chinese Digest hailed her appointment as "a forward step in public social service on behalf of the large Chinese population in this city and county."s" A number of Chinese American women were also hired by the WPA to work in the community as teachers, recreation aides, and assistants in conducting community surveys, which led to improvements in social services and living conditions in the community.

  Because the entertainment industry continued to thrive, thanks in part to the depression-movies and radio shows were inexpensive diversions for the American public-Chinese American women found some work, albeit in limited and often stereotypical roles, in show business. In 1934, CSYP announced that a local theater was auditioning Chinese American talent and that at least ten girls had come to demonstrate their singing and acting abilities.87 A year later, Hollywood's Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ran announcements in the same newspaper, looking for Chinese American extras, women in particular, for the filming of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth.88 Although the movie was about peasant life in China, all of the major Chinese roles went to white actors. Even Anna May Wong, who was at the pinnacle of her acting career, was turned down for the lead role of 0-lan, which went instead to Luise Rainer. Some Chinese Americans, discouraged by racism in the film industry, began to star in and produce their own films. In 1936, Cathay Pictures announced the release of Heartaches, a film about an aviation student in America who falls in love with an opera star. Except for the well-known Chinese actress Wei Kim Fong, all the other players in the production were said to be "American-Chinese."89

  That same year, soon after prohibition was lifted, Chinatown's first two cocktail bars opened-Chinese Village and Twin Dragon; they provided Chinese American women with a new, better-paying, but controversial line of work as cocktail waitresses and nightclub entertainers. Gladys Ng Gin was among the first to try out for these jobs. She was making $75 a month running an elevator when a friend encouraged her to become a waitress at the Chinese Village. As she recalled, "I didn't know the difference between gin to rum, scotch or bourbon, but it was good money. Ten dollars a week but great tips." Being illiterate in both Chinese and English, she found it difficult to take orders. "I had to memorize over one hundred kinds of alcohol because I couldn't write," she said. "You ordered and I told the bartender. Then the bartender made the drink and I served it. But you have to remember what each customer is drinking. And sometimes you go for another order and then come back for the first drink."90 After two years at the Chinese Village, Gladys followed the owner, Charlie Low, to Forbidden City, one of Chinatown's first nightclubs. Although her mother did not object to her working in a bar, many other people in the conservative community considered such work immoral. As it turned out, most Chinatown women were so inhibited by their social upbringing that the nightclubs had to recruit the large part of their talent from outside.

  When he first opened Forbidden City on the outskirts of Chinatown, Charlie Low recalled, he was determined to present a modern version of the Chinese American woman, "not the old fashioned way, all bundled up with four or five pairs of trousers," he said. "We can't be backwards all the time; we've got to show the world that we're on an equal basis. Why, Chinese have limbs just as pretty as anyone else! "91 Purported noble intentions aside, Charlie Low, the son of Chew Fong Low, was known to be a shrewd businessman. Capitalizing on the end of prohibition and the beginning of the nightclub era, he invested in Forbidden City, an oriental nightclub with an American beat. What gave Forbidden City instant fame was Charlie Low's publicity skills and his ability to showcase Chinese Americans in cabaret-style entertainment-doing Cole Porter and Sophie Tucker, dancing tap, ballroom, and soft-shoe, parodying Western musicals in cowboy outfits, and kicking it up in chorus lines. Besides challenging Hollywood's misconceptions of Chinese American talent, the novelty acts broke popular stereotypes of Chinese Americans as necessarily exotic and foreign. Most important, Forbidden City provided Chinese American women employment and a rare opportunity to show off their talents. "It was a beginning," said Mary Mammon, a member of the original chorus line. "There was just no way you could go to Hollywood [which] had a low regard for Chinese American talents. We [supposedly] had bad legs, spoke pidgin English, and had no rhythm."92 Bertha Hing, who needed a job to support herself through college, was one of the few local Chinatown women to join the chorus line. "Chinatown mothers wouldn't let their daughters do anything like that. But what they didn't realize was that we all just loved to dance. And we didn't particularly care for drinking or smoking or anything like that. It was just another way of earning a living," she said.93

  From the beginning, the Chinese community felt that no respectable parents would want their daughter to be seen in such an establishment. As dancer Jadin Wong recalled, "Chinese people in San Francisco were ready to spit in our faces because we were nightclub performers. They wouldn't talk with us because they thought we were whores. We used to get mail at Forbidden City-`Why don't you get a decent job and stop disgracing the Chinese? You should be ashamed of yourself, walking around and showing your legs! "194 After Charlie Low added nude acts to boost business, however, his sexploitation tactics became clear, and the nightclub's reputation plummeted to a new low. Although many of the female performers would have preferred not to bare their bodies, most went along with it to keep their jobs.95 Years later, when asked in an oral history interview if she had ever felt exploited while working at the Forbidden City, Bertha Hing replied:

  Chorus line of the Gay Ninety Revue, Forbidden City, r94z. From left to right: Lily Pon, Ginger Lee, Connie Parks, Diane Shinn, Dottie Sun, and Mei Tai Sing. (John Grau collection)

  I tell you, those of us who started in togethe
r really loved to dance and we liked what we were doing. I never felt like I was exploited, because I felt that I had a choice of whether I danced or go into something else. It was my choice and the other girls felt the same way. But I think that we were exploited this way: We were underpaid. The waitresses were getting a lot of money from tips and what-not, than we did in dancing. But then, we loved dancing and how are you going to dance when there are no opportunities to, except that.96

  Despite the Chinese community's condemnation and the compromises they had to make, Chinese American women continued to work at the Forbidden City and other nightclubs through the 193os and r94os. During its best years, the Forbidden City attracted one hundred thousand customers a year, including senators, governors, and Hollywood stars like Ronald Reagan. By the time the World War II economy set in, more than a hundred Chinese American women were employed in Chinatown's dozen nightclubs, and the composition of the audience had changed from all white to half Chinese, indicating the attraction that nightclub entertainment now held for middle-class Chinese Amer- icans.97

  In 1938, tourism in Chinatown was bringing in $5 million annually and keeping many Chinese American women employed.98 The traffic from the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition added to the Chinatown coffers and provided additional jobs for Chinese Americans. Merchants invested $1.z5 million to build a replica of a Chinese village at the Treasure Island fairgrounds and organized parades and festivals in Chinatown to attract tourists into the community. Two hundred positions opened up at the fairgrounds and another fifty in Chinatown. Young women were particularly sought after to provide "atmosphere" during the fair, serving as hostesses, secretaries, "cigarette girls," and waitresses.99 Even after the exposition ended in 1940, there was no decline in the tourist trade in Chinatown. Moreover, the booming war economy that followed not only ended the depression but also provided unprecedented job opportunities for Chinese American women outside the local economy.

  The depressed economy and government relief ultimately led to improved conditions for second-generation Chinese American women in a number of other ways. Because of deflation, those who remained employed were able to stretch their salaries during the depression. "For a dollar, my husband, myself, and my two children could enjoy a full dinner at the Far East Cafe," said Jane Kwong Lee. 100 Modern and affordable housing on the fringes of Chinatown was also more available to the growing numbers of second-generation families. According to the CSERA,

  Since the economic depression of 1929, many of the houses of the Nob Hill District were left vacant. The Chinese were willing to pay more than the previous rent for houses in this district. As a result many a landlord was willing to set aside prejudice for economic gain. Consequently, a large number of residents are moving rapidly towards Nob Hill district. Fortyeight per cent of the properties occupied by Chinese west of Stockton Street are owned by them. 101

  This is not to say housing discrimination vanished during the depression years. Eva Lowe, for one, was rebuffed a number of times when she tried to rent an apartment with her white girlfriend during the early 1 9 3 os. They would say yes to her girlfriend, but when they saw that Eva was the roommate in question, they would renege, saying, "We don't rent to Orientals." They finally found a place on Russian Hill-but only after Eva claimed to be her friend's maid.'°2

  Less affected by unemployment, a certain segment of the second generation continued their quest of the good life. As one Stanford student told a news reporter in 193 6, "Certainly we want to live American lives; we eat American foods, play bridge, go to the movies and thrill over Clark Gable and Myrna Loy; we have penthouse parties, play football, tennis and golf; attend your churches and your schools." 103 The social, fashion, and sports pages of the Chinese Digest in the i 93 os give the impression that the depression was not an issue for the growing middle class of young Chinese Americans. As the rest of the country recovered from the hard times, certain young Chinese women in San Francisco were competing in tennis, basketball, bowling, and track, learning the latest dance, the Lambert Walk, going to the beauty parlor, and worrying about what to wear to the next formal dance. Investigating the social life of San Francisco Chinatown as a WPA worker, Pardee Lowe-a secondgeneration Chinese American himself-remarked on the good life he saw in Chinatown, reflected in the "sleek-looking automobiles" that crowded Chinatown's streets and the "flivvers operated by its collegiate sons and daughters." 104

  While local newspapers expressed concern about the second generation's fast pace of acculturation and self-indulgent ways, the need for gender roles to keep up with modern times was also recognized. As Jane Kwong Lee wrote in the Chinese Digest,

  In spite of their frivolities in many ways, they [American-born Chinese] show keen interest and thought in weighty questions of their age. Girls no longer take marriage as the end of their career; they want to be financially independent just as much as all other American women. They prepare themselves to meet all future emergencies. They study Chinese in addition to English so that in case they go to China some day they will be able to use the language.... Women in this community are keeping pace with the quick changes of the modern world. The shy Chinese maidens in bound feet are forever gone, making place for active and intelligent young women.105

  To guide them in making the necessary family and social adjustments, Jane reoriented the YWCA program to serve their specific needs, just as she had done for immigrant women. Adolescents were able to enjoy sports, crafts, drama, dancing, and parties and take advantage of voca tional guidance and job training classes. Business and professional women as well as young wives participated in Chinese language classes, social dinners, recreational sports, and group discussions on topics such as race prejudice, Chinese culture, current events, marital ethics, and child rearing. Through these kinds of activities, the YWCA fulfilled its goal of helping second-generation women develop socially, physically, morally, and intellectually. The YWCA also encouraged them to expand their public roles by helping to raise funds for the Community Chest and participate in the Rice Bowl parades and opening celebrations of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.

  Spurred by economic and political conditions in the 1930s, the second generation did indeed assume a larger leadership role in the Chinese community, paralleling that of second-generation Mexican Americans in Los Angeles during this same period.106 The Chinese Digest, founded in 193 5 by Thomas W. Chinn and Chingwah Lee as the voice of this new generation, served as the clarion for social action. During its five years of existence, the Chinese Digest unified Chinese Americans across the country, encouraging them to act on the many social problems their community faced: poverty, health care, housing, employment, child care, recreation, education, and political and workers' rights. For its time, the Chinese Digest held a progressive perspective, advocating tourism as a viable economic base for Chinatown and the ballot as the political means by which to fight racial discrimination and improve living conditions. It also supported the war effort in China.

  In contrast to CSYP, the Chinese Digest included many more news and feature stories of interest to second-generation women. Clara Chan had a regular column on women's fashion; Ethel Lum wrote on sociological topics, including women's issues; and P'ing (Alice Fong) Yu's "Jade Box" featured women's fashions, recipes, and social as well as political news. Taken as a whole, the articles reflected the effects of acculturation on the social consciousness of second-generation women, some of whom became political activists during the depression years. Tracing the development of two such women, Eva Lowe and Alice Fong Yu, sheds light on how some Chinese American women, inspired by the political temper of the 193os, became more active in community reform, electoral politics, and Chinese nationalism.

  Eva Lowe, who had followed her brother-in-law and sister to China in 1919 at the age of ten, returned to San Francisco a changed person four years later. "In China," she said, "I went to Chinese school and I learned about Chinese history, from the Tang dynasty through the end of the Qing dynasty and ho
w the imperialist countries took over China. Like Dr. Sun Yat-sen said, China was cut up like a watermelon and each European imperialist country had a piece of it. I remember thinking, you know, China used to be so strong, and now this; and I cried in class."107 Other incidents-the mistreatment of her mother by her grandmother because she did not bear sons, the banning of her stepmother from the village because a man was seen entering her room, and a chance meeting with a female scholar who first introduced her to feminism and socialism-alerted her to the unfair treatment of Chinese women and the need to fight back by becoming politically active.

  Upon her return to San Francisco she attended high school and became involved with the Chinese Students Association, which claimed a membership of three thousand.10s What appealed to her was the group's anti-imperialist stance and concern for China's future. She did not hesitate to join in making "soap box" speeches in Chinatown condemning Japanese aggression in China. "People still recall the slogan I coined, `If you have money, give money. If you have muscles, give muscles. I have neither money or muscles, but I can give my voice [to the cause],"' she said.109 Wanting to do her part to help the disadvantaged, Eva assisted families in applying for relief during the depression and joined the Huaren Shiyi Hui in demanding action from the Chinese Six Companies on behalf of the unemployed. She also supported the longshoremen's strike and participated in the hunger march in San Francisco, shouting, "We want work! We want work!" with the masses of people pouring down Market Street to City Hall. Because these groups were ostracized by the community as Communist, her friends dropped out one by one owing to parental pressure, but Eva remained active in leftist politics until she married and left for Hong Kong with her husband and son in 1937. "I always believed in fighting for the underdog," she reflected years later.11°