by Judy Yung
The involvement of immigrant women, who understandably felt closer to China than the second generation, was particularly notable during the war years. Among the first organizations to speak up in San Francisco was the Women's Patriotic Club in the winter of 193z. Choosing to align themselves with the Communists rather than the Nationalists, group members publicly addressed a letter to Soong Ching-ling (Madame Sun Yat-sen) in which they wrote: "In the face of the destruction of our country and home, calamity and danger, how can we not give voice to our grief and anger?"29 They were moved by General Ma's resistance in Heilongjiang, Manchuria, and angered by Chiang Kai-shek's passive stance:
The situation threatening China is getting worse every day, and the ambition of the Japanese keeps increasing. Yet all that the authorities in charge do is keep making compromises and retreating. Even so, that has not satisfied the appetite of the Japanese. Sometime in the future, China will have to take a stand and fight.
The club members firmly believed that the rise and fall of a nation was the responsibility of women as well as men. Using examples of heroic women in Chinese history, they tried to mobilize other Chinese women to join their cause:
Liang Hongyu beat the drums and enemy soldiers were slaughtered. Hong Xuanjiao took the bracelets off her own wrist to give to the troops. These women can serve as our models. All that we are saying is the result of long and deep reflection. Won't you sisters who share a love for China rise up and join us?30
Unlike the Chinese Women's Association in New York, however, the Women's Patriotic Club gained few members-only forty were on the rolls in 194z. Nonetheless, the organization was effective in raising funds through direct solicitation, drama benefits, selling handmade flowers, and collecting clothes and medical supplies to send to Shanghai and Canton.
In contrast, the New Life Association, an official branch of Madame Chiang Kai-shek's Women's Committee for the New Life Movement, had a large membership; it also reflected a conservative point of view. Thanks to the efforts of Wu Minchi, the principal of Hong Kong's Mei Fang Girls' Middle School who was sent by Madame Chiang to organize and mobilize overseas Chinese women, the New Life Association grew to become a prestigious women's organization with chapters in Los Angeles, Chicago, Sacramento, New York, Boston, Portland, and Seat- tle.31 Most of the members were Chinese-born, middle-class, married to businessmen, ministers, or community leaders, and already active in charitable work. Under the leadership of Emily Lee Fong (the wife of B. S. Fong, CWRA chairman) and King Yoak Won Wu (the wife of Rev. Daniel Wu), the San Francisco chapter wrote to President Roosevelt urging him to break off trade with Japan. It also sponsored talks on the war and the New Life Movement, receptions for dignitaries from China, and classes to learn Mandarin (the official Chinese language). Fund-raisers to benefit war orphans and wounded soldiers in China included raffles, dramatic plays, and the selling of confetti on New Year's Eve.32
In contrast to the middle-class background of the Patriotic Club and New Life Association members, the Women's War Zone Refugee Relief Committee and the Women's Council drew support from the working mass of immigrant women. Soon after the CWRA was formed in 1937, the Refugee Relief Committee came into existence as a women's auxiliary with the primary purpose of mobilizing women to collect clothing and supplies for refugees in China and participate in the various parades and demonstrations. Donations and materials were solicited from the community through the sales of "lucky coins" (Chinese coins tied with a red-white-and-blue ribbon to be worn on lapels), patriotic scarves (made of a material other than silk, since Japanese silk was being boycotted), confetti on New Year's Eve, and raffle tickets. Group members as well as seamstresses in the community were asked to help with sewing. Employees at the National Dollar Stores factory, for example, volunteered one and a half days to sew winter clothing for refugees in China. In this way, the committee was able to send fourteen crates of supplies in 1937, another two in 19 3 8, and one hundred sets of cotton clothing in 19 3 9 all for the relief of war victims in China.33 Like the Women's Patriotic Club, the Women's Council, established in 1936, chose to align itself with the left, but it was less active and outspoken. Among the group's most publicized events was a program held at CWRA headquarters on September z6, 193 8, which featured speeches by China's representatives to the Second International Youth Conference and a movie on Japanese war atrocities. According to CSYP, garment workers were particularly encouraged to attend.34
Women and children making lucky coins for the war effort in China. (Courtesy of Lorena How)
Lai Yee Guey How was a typical example of the working-class women sought after by the Refugee Relief Committee and the Women's Council. Her story also suggests the extent of sacrifices that many hardworking Chinese women were willing to make for the cause of national salvation. As her daughter Lorena How recalled, "My mother became very concerned and wanted to help when the Japanese invaded China. She knew that she would not be able to go back to China [to help] because of her family and responsibilities here [so] she tried to do her share in the war effort." At the time, Lai Yee was the sole provider for her five children. Also, Lorena had a congenital heart defect and required constant care. Although Lai Yee worked long hours at home making Chinese dresses to order while attending to her children, she still managed to volunteer time to make lucky coins at the CWRA headquarters, to be among the women who held the stretched-out Chinese flag in the antiJapanese parades, and to join the picket line to protest the sending of scrap iron to Japan. "We ourselves were in need, but my mother still continued to donate quarters whenever she saw one of those tin cans in the stores," said Lorena.35
By successfully drawing mothers into the war effort, the CWRA often gained the support and contributions of their children as well. Following the examples of their patriotic mothers, boys and girls were inspired to do their share of propaganda work and fund-raising. They sold handmade flowers and polished shoes in the streets, wrote essays and made speeches in school condemning Japanese militarism, and commemorated the 9-18 and i-z8 "Humiliation Days" by marching in pa- rades.36 Influenced by her mother and older sister, Lorena, who was about nine years old at the time, became intensely anti-Japanese. "I remember one lady gave me a doll when I was sick in the hospital," she said. "I turned it over and saw that it was made in Japan. I gave it right back to her. I remember saying, `I don't want this doll, it is made in Japan."' To do their part for the war effort, she and other Chinese children tried to discourage white customers from patronizing the Japanese curio stores on Grant Avenue. "My friends and I would all run into the store and shout in our best English, `Don't buy here, ladies, this is a Japanese store.' The Japanese ladies would chase us with a large broom back to Clay Street."37
Second-generation women, not to be outdone by their mothers, also made important contributions to the war effort. The Chinese YWCA became the focal point for their involvement owing to its central location, spacious quarters, large and dedicated membership, and the nationalist spirit and leadership skills of Jane Kwong Lee, who was employed there from 1933 to 1944. Wherever there was need-whether in attendance at CWRA meetings, door-to-door solicitation, Rice Bowl parades, benefits, or picket lines-the YWCA was always well represented. One of its most successful fund-raisers was a raffle for 118 pieces of jewelry donated by Chinese women in the San Francisco Bay Area: $6,723 was raised in a single month.3s
Because of Jane Kwong Lee's bilingual skills, her strong political and feminist consciousness, and her good reputation in the Chinese community, she was the ideal person to mobilize both Chinese- and American-born women to engage in national salvation work. She recognized that the war effort presented Chinese women a rare opportunity to prove themselves and raise their social standing. As she wrote in CSYP:
The status that American women enjoy today did not develop by chance. They had to prove their abilities through different stages before they earned public recognition of their rightful status and rights. If we Chinese women can do as well behind the lines as
the men at the war front during this anti-Japanese war period in building up our nation and protecting our citizens, who can look down at us? Who will dare say women are not equal to men?
Aside from seizing this opportunity to prove themselves, she continued, Chinese Americans who spoke English and understood international politics should take the responsibility of getting support from mainstream America for the war against Japan. In addition, the first generation should work with the second generation to patiently instill nationalism in those young Chinese Americans who lacked the opportunity to learn Chinese language and culture. "Only by the collective effort of all Chinese Americans can we claim victory in the War of Resistance," she concluded.39
Representing the YWCA in the CWRA, Jane was an especially effective advocate for the war effort. She served on the propaganda committee and worked hard to host receptions for Chinese dignitaries, sponsor speakers, and produce plays at the YWCA that aroused women to action. As she later said:
Newspapers were publishing all the war news and reporting all the cruel actions of the Japanese soldiers. We were especially touched by the news that soldiers not only killed, but also raped women and girls. Upon hearing such sad news about women and girls suffering such indignities from the enemy, we women here in a foreign land were exceedingly angry. We tried to think of some indirect action that might help. I put out a skit to show that women wanted to do what they could.40
The Chinese-language plays that Jane wrote and directed (and in which she sometimes acted) served both propaganda and fund-raising purposes. Tickets were sold in advance to audiences who came as much for the cause as for the entertainment. In keeping with Jane's nationalist and feminist convictions, most of the plays were about heroic actions by women involved in war work, and much of the content was based on newspaper reports of Chinese women in nontraditional gender roles. In "Boycott Silk Stockings," for instance, five Chinese American women resolve not to buy or wear silk stockings for the duration of the war. In "Blood Stains Rivers and Mountains," two college students become aviators and go to China "to sacrifice for our country." Although they both fall in love, they nobly put their country ahead of marriage. "We are people who have high ambitions! We should do something great. We should do something for society, for the country, and for the world before we marry." Both die martyrs while serving in the Guangdong Province Aviation Department. In "To the Front" and "Zong Dongyuan (The Chief Mobilization)," the lead characters make the difficult choice of disobeying their parents in order to serve China, the moral being "Country first and family next." "To the Front" and "Huan Xing Xiongsi (Awake the Heroic Lion)" depict the plight of refugees and the dangerous work of female commandos at the war front. Jane's plays served the interest of the war effort as well as of feminism. "The intent was to show the audience the voracity of the war," said Jane. "Thus, their emotions were aroused to give whatever they could afford to alleviate the human sufferings of war. 1141
Members of the Square and Circle Club, who were predominantly business and professional women, were the most active in war work among the second generation. Long involved in community service and famine relief for China, they sold bilingual greeting cards, raised money for cotton uniforms, surgical supplies, and airplanes, volunteered for Red Cross work, assisted with benefits, sponsored plays and raffle drawings, participated in parades and protests, and pressed Congress to break its neutral stance and declare an embargo against Japan.42 The club became particularly well known for two female-gendered activities: fashion show benefits and the boycott against silk stockings.
The fashion shows-always highlights of the Rice Bowl parties (see below)-were major productions that featured scores of Chinese American women modeling elaborate clothing from the Tang dynasty to modern times, to the accompaniment of instrumental music. "They were very popular in those days," said Alice Fong Yu, who directed many such shows. "Ticket lines were so crowded that the lines formed around the block on Washington Street. After each show, we had to let the audience out the back door. As soon as we let one group out, new people were pushing in already-just one show after another." The show also went on the road in chartered buses, to small towns like San Mateo, Vallejo, and Grass Valley.43 As CSYPcommented, not only did the fash ion shows generate support for the war effort in China, but they also promoted appreciation for Chinese culture among Westerners.44
Following the suggestion of Nation magazine and the examples of movie stars Loretta Young, Sylvia Sidney, and Frances Farmer, Square and Circle members joined the movement against wearing silk stockings as part of the nationwide boycott of Japanese goods.45 Since go percent of the silk in women's hosiery came from Japan (silk, indeed, was one of Japan's chief exports), wearing cotton instead of silk stockings was one direct way women could express their opposition to Japanese aggression in China. The Square and Circle Club took the lead in Chinatown, encouraging women's organizations to endorse the "Non-Silk Movement" and individual women to refrain from wearing silk stock- ings.46 Alice Fong Yu chided women who did not support the boycott in the Chinese Digest:
There is an appalling lack of conscience among many Chinatown girls who continue to buy the "latest shades" in silk stockings to help extend Japan's ability to get more munitions with which to shoot down our helpless brethren across the seas.... Silk is the lifeline which connects Japan with credit and resources abroad and Chinese women in America can exert considerable strength toward severing this strong and important link.47
Wearing cotton stockings, club members appeared in publicity photos with the caption "Be in style, wear lisle," in local publications as well as Life.48 The boycott was so effective that Japan's export of silk was reduced by three-fifths in 1938 relative to two years before.49
The most elite of the seven organizations was the Fidelis Coteri. Started by Mrs. Joe Shoong in 19 3 z., Fidelis Coteri comprised well-todo matrons from San Francisco and Oakland who met regularly at expensive restaurants "for the sake of friendship and to promote good family life."50 The group was known for its annual formal dinner dances, which attracted a mix of Chinese and white Americans. By sponsoring dance benefits and soliciting donations from its wealthy members, the organization was able to send clothing and money to war victims in China. In addition, it participated in CWRA meetings, Rice Bowl parades, hosted receptions for visiting dignitaries, and helped with Red Cross work.51
Although the seven women's groups differed in membership and fiend-raising approaches, their paths had a common goal. Working together, they were a formidable force, contributing immensely to the war effort. As the war continued, these organizations found many oppor tunities to collaborate in Rice Bowl parties and parades, picket lines at the waterfront, fund-raising drives, Red Cross work, and hosting receptions for war heroines. According to the Chinese Digest:
Practically every sizeable Chinese organization in America is now going out individually or has teamed up with other organizations to raise war refugee relief funds in their own communities and elsewhere. For the first time the second generation has suddenly realized how much their motherland means to them now that it is in danger of being conquered, and the young men and women have gone in to raise relief money side by side with the older generation. This fact should warm the heart of every Chinese.52
RICE BOWL PARTIES
Held nationwide in over seven hundred cities, Rice Bowl parties and parades proved to be the most effective means of raising money and spreading propaganda for war relief in China. Initiated by CWRA chairman B. S. Fong, San Francisco Chronicle editor Paul C. Smith, and the physician Margaret Chung, the first Rice Bowl party was held in San Francisco Chinatown on June 17, 193 8; the second occurred February 9-11, 1940; and the third took place May 2-5, 1941. To be successful, each party required months of planning and the cooperation and involvement of everyone in the community. Billed as being as festive as New Orleans's Mardi Gras, the first party started with a parade from the Civic Center to Grant Avenue and was followed by cultural entertainment th
at lasted into the morning hours. More than two hundred thousand people packed the confetti-filled streets and alleys of Chinatown during the first Rice Bowl party to enjoy fashion shows, indoor and outdoor dancing, Chinese and Western music, theatrical acts, a mock air raid at midnight, and dragon dancing at 1 A.M. A recreated "Old Chi- natown"-complete with banners of colorful couplets, illuminated lanterns, and men and women dressed in traditional Chinese clothingheld an open house for people from outside Chinatown who came to support the cause or, as was advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle, "to see for the first time behind the veil of mystery with which tradition cloaks this Oriental outpost."53 Everyone entering Chinatown had to wear a "Humanity button," which sold for fifty cents, or suffer the consequences of being tried before a "kangaroo court" of volunteer judges and fined up to hundreds of dollars. Throughout the streets of Chinatown, Chinese artists and "beggars" asked for coins in the custom of the homeland. In that one day of festivities in San Francisco, $55,000 was collected for the war effort in China, more than in any other city in the United States.54 Of the first Rice Bowl party, the reporter William Hoy wrote in the Chinese Digest: