Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (43 page)

Everyone, man and woman, has a responsibility in the rise and
fall of a nation.

Zuo Xueli
CSYP, August 19, 1936

The crisis of December 7 has emancipated the Chinese in the
United States.

Rose Hum Lee
Survey Graphic, October 1942

World War II was a watershed for all Americans. It brought
the Great Depression to an end and marked the beginning of significant
socioeconomic and political change for women and racial minorities. It
also encouraged Americans from all walks of life to put aside their differences and pull together in a national effort to win the fight against
fascism. Chinese Americans were very much a part of this effort. Indeed, because of the War of Resistance against Japanese military aggression in China since 1931, they had even more at stake in this struggle than most other Americans. Moved by both Chinese nationalism and
American patriotism, Chinese American women responded with an outpouring of highly organized activities in the areas of fund-raising, propaganda, civil defense, and Red Cross work on the home front. While
some enlisted in the armed services, many others went to work in the
defense factories and private sector outside Chinatown for the first time.
The war years thus provided Chinese American women with unprecedented opportunities to improve their socioeconomic status, broaden
their public role, and fall in step with their men and fellow Americans
during a time of national crisis.

As many studies on women and World War II have shown, the
women's sphere-particularly their economic roles-expanded during
the war, but inequities persisted in terms of wages, upward mobility, and
gender relations. American women's entry into the men's work world
was always seen as a temporary arrangement that would return to "normal" after the war.' Indeed, most women lost their economic gains once
the war ended and they were forced back into female occupations or out
of the labor market altogether. Although black women achieved a degree of economic progress during the war years despite virulent racism,
they too were prevented from holding on to these gains.2 This was not
the case for Chinese American women, who experienced less discrimination during and after the war because of China's allied relationship to
the United States. (In stark contrast, Japanese American women-and
men-suffered immense setbacks immediately after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and continuing through their incarceration in U.S.
concentration camps.)' Even as Chinese American women remained
subordinate to men through the war years and for some decades thereafter, they continued to move forward by taking advantage of educational, employment, and political opportunities after the war to build
on the socioeconomic gains they had made during the conflict. For them,
their role in World War II was not just a temporary response to a national crisis, but a turning point in their lives. Once they entered the
public arena, they would not only prove their mettle and win the respect
of their community but also gain a new sense of self-confidence and pride
as Chinese American women.

The War of Resistance: 1931

As far as the Chinese and Chinese Americans were concerned, World War II started on September 18, 1931, with the Mukden
Incident. On that fateful day, the Japanese army used a mysterious explosion that destroyed a few feet of track on the South Manchurian Railway line as a pretext to attack Mukden. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek,
too preoccupied with fighting the Communists, chose not to resist. General Ma Zhanshan and his troops, contravening Chiang's orders, took
matters into their own hands and fought back heroically. But to little
avail, for within a short time, the Japanese had occupied Northeastern
China. The incident angered Chinese throughout the world, who had anxiously watched Japan's every move to expand into Manchuria since
the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-9 5.

Chinese communities in the United States responded immediately to
China's crisis. On September zz, only a few days after the incident, CSYP
carried on its editorial page the declaration "Chinese Should Declare War
on Japan Now." The Chinese Six Companies wired both the Nanking
(Nationalist) and Canton (Communist) governments, urging them to
stop their in-house warfare and work together to defeat the Japanese.
The Six Companies also sent telegrams of protest to the League of Nations and President Herbert Hoover, asking them to intervene. Outraged
by Japan's naked aggression, Chinese Americans put aside their political differences to work together in any way possible to help resist the
Japanese and save China.4

Taking the initiative, the Chinese Six Companies called a meeting of
all Chinatown organizations on September 24, at which time the AntiJapanese Chinese Salvation Society was founded. The society immediately started working toward three goals: a boycott of Japanese products, a propaganda campaign to keep overseas Chinese and Americans
informed of war conditions in China, and a fund-raising drive to send
money to General Ma's troops. The Chinese Six Companies directed all
other fund-raisers in the community to defer to the war.5 Under banners that read, "Down with Japanese Imperialism" and "All Chinese Must
Unite to Fight the Japanese," hundreds of people marched through Chinatown to protest the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. The parade
was followed by a rally at the Great Star Theater on Jackson Street, where
community representatives gave patriotic speeches. A manifesto was read
at the mass meeting: "If the world will not help China get justice, the
Chinese government is urged to adopt the necessary extreme measures
to regain and protect home and country. It is the sense of the Chinese
at the patriotic rally that the world must uphold the Kellogg pact and
force Japan to withdraw her troops from Manchuria."6 So incensed were
Chinese Americans by Japan's aggressive act that within three months
of the Mukden Incident, and despite the depression, they sent over
$625,000 to support General Ma's army.'

Then on January z 8, 19 3 z, Japanese troops attacked Shanghai, bombing, burning, and killing soldiers and civilians alike. Against Chiang's
orders, General Tsai Ting-kai's Nineteenth Route Army resisted, fighting valiantly against superior forces for thirty-four days before retreating. Sharing the popular Chinese sentiment of support for Tsai (who
hailed from Guangdong Province, the same place as most Chinese im migrants in the United States), overseas Chinese communities responded
with further financial aid. In the next six months, over $750,000 was
raised in the United States alone, most of which went to Tsai's army and
to the refugee relief effort in Shanghai.8 Still Chiang retained his stubborn military stance: "First reunification, then resistance." Refusing to
fight the Japanese, he relied instead on a powerless League of Nations
to solve the problem while he continued to battle the Communists.

Frustrated but undeterred by Chiang's policy and by the rest of the
world's inaction, overseas Chinese communities persevered in trying to
save China, though they themselves were grappling with the depression,
racial discrimination, and political dissension. At issue were blood ties
and Chinese nationalism, as well as the belief that only through a stronger
China could they hope to improve their status in America, where they
were treated as unwanted aliens. In the words of Zuo Xueli, a woman
who spoke at an anti-Japanese war rally in San Francisco,

It is the sacred duty of the Chinese in America to resist Japan and save
China. Everyone, man and woman, has a responsibility in the rise and
fall of a nation. To promote our interests, we must (i) enhance the international status of the Republic of China; (z) abolish all unequal treaties
and develop the industries and businesses of overseas Chinese; and (3)
publicize the valiant contributions made by our forefathers to gold mining and railroad construction in the United States in order to dispel discrimination against the Chinese in America.... With China facing such
a crisis, if we don't take immediate steps to defend and preserve our country, then I fear the future standing of the Chinese in America will be even
lower than the blacks. If we can unite and resist Japan, recover our lost
territory, and defeat Japanese imperialism, our allies will look at us with
respect.9

In response to the 9-18 and i-z8 incidents (as the Japanese attacks
of September 18, 1931, and January z8, 193 z, came to be called by the
Chinese), young and old, rich and poor, Chinese-born and Americanborn, men and women-all gave what they could to the war effort. They
donated their hard-earned savings, boycotted Japanese products, participated in protest parades and rallies, and supported aviation clubs and
schools (to train pilots for the Chinese air force). Fund-raisers for the
war effort and refugee relief became the mainstay of political and social
activities.10 When General Tsai Ting-kai came through San Francisco in
1934 as part of an American tour to rally support for China, he was
greeted at the train station by a crowd of four thousand and given a hero's
welcome. His patriotic fans, gathered at the local playground to hear him speak, cheered themselves hoarse as the general denounced Japanese aggression and beseeched their continued support. Six Chinatown
restaurants hosted a banquet reception in his honor, and that evening
firecrackers crackled while all the shops in Chinatown were illuminated
to show their appreciation of the general's valor."

Japan, though, was intent on continental expansion and domination.
On July 7, 1937, without issuing a formal declaration of war, Japan invaded China. Claiming that Japanese soldiers who had left their night
posts to relieve themselves had been captured by the Chinese, Japanese
army divisions took over the Lugougiao railway station, outside Peking,
and engaged Chinese troops in battle at the Marco Polo Bridge. By August, Japanese troops were in control of Peking and Tientsin. By the
end of the year, they had taken Shanghai, Hankow, Canton, and
Nanking, leaving a bloody trail of rape, pillage, and plunder. Chiang Kaishek and the Nationalist Party had no choice but to declare war on Japan
and form a united front with the Chinese Communist Party. It would
be a protracted war against a military force far superior in technology
and brutal in its policy of sanko seisaku ("the three alls"-kill all, burn
all, destroy all). It would cost the country some $5o billion in property
damage and over ten million lives. And once again, as in past national
crises, overseas Chinese responded to the call to rescue their homeland.

The 7-7 incident (as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 7, 1937,
was called) put an immediate end to any remaining political dissension
among Chinese Americans and infused the ongoing anti-Japanese war
effort in the United States with a new sense of urgency. This time, in
light of the united front in China and the dire circumstances at hand,
all political factions put aside their differences to participate. "War fever
was heightened by a fervor for solidarity and unity," the Chinese Digest
said. "For the first time in the community's history every group, faction,
clique, society, association, and lodge joined hands and fraternized with
each other. It provided a spectacle never before witnessed."12 On August zi, the Chinese Six Companies in San Francisco called a meeting
of representatives from ninety-one community groups to organize a new
national campaign for the war effort. In the spirit of "country and victory first," the Chinese War Relief Association (CWRA) was established
to coordinate the fund-raising efforts of some three hundred communities throughout the United States, Mexico, and Central and South
America. B. S. Fong, president of the Chinese Six Companies, was
elected chairman to lead the campaign.13 Most significantly, representatives from women's organizations were allowed into the inner sanctums of the Chinese Six Companies to participate in CWRA deliberations as
equals for the first time.

In the eight years of war that followed, Chinese throughout America remained steadfast in their commitment to save China. Under the
leadership of the CWRA in twenty major cities, a total of $zo million
was raised for China through door-to-door solicitation, Rice Bowl parties, bazaars and parades, and war bond sales. Clothing, medical supplies, ambulances, airplanes, gas masks, and mosquito nets were also sent
to China. In this sustained fiend-raising effort, the Chinese in San Francisco were the most active of all, raising $5 million-one-fourth of the
total amount.14 Within a week after the CWRA was formed, contributions amounting to $30,000 were raised, $15,000 of which came from
Joe Shoong of the National Dollar Stores. His employees set the example of pledging one month's salary to the war relief budget; other
Chinatown businesses quickly followed suit. Other fund-raising efforts
ranged from selling flowers and shining shoes to the mounting of large
benefit performances and arranging for the donation of gate receipts
from the International Exposition at Treasure Island." Quotas were often set, such as a $30 minimum from each working adult during one
fund-raising campaign, or $2..5o per person during a drive for winter
clothing." Although most people were more than willing to give, others, who either did not have the funds or who resented being coerced,
refused and were punished by means of boycotts, imposed fines, and
other strong-arm tactics.l" "The CWRA," an announcement in CSYP
warned, "can obtain the names and addresses of non-contributors and
send people after them."18 On at least two occasions, individuals who
had refused to cooperate were denounced and paraded through the
streets of Chinatown.19