Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (62 page)

48. Eva Lowe, interview with Genny Lim, July 15, 1982, Chinese Women
of America Research Project, Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco.

49. J. Wong, Fifth Chinese Daughter, pp. 68-69.

5o. Thomas W. Chinn, Bridging the Pacific: San Francisco's Chinatown and
Its People (San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America, 1989), P. 248.

51. "Story of a Chinese College Girl," p. 4.

52. Shih, "Social and Vocational Adjustment," pp. 56-64.

53. Janie Chu, "The Oriental Girl in the Occident," Women and Mission 3,
no. 5 (August 1926): 175.

54• See Kwoh, "Occupational Status."

55. "The cream" is taken from Grace W. Wang's "A Speech on SecondGeneration Chinese in U.S.A.," presented to the Chinese Women's Association
in New York: "These college and high school students are sometimes referred
to as the cream of Second Generation Chinese, for only a few members of the
average Chinese community are students seeking higher learning" (Chinese Digest, August 7, 1936, p. 6).

56. Florence Chinn Kwan, interview with author.

57. Christopher Chow and Russell Leong, "A Pioneer Chinatown Teacher:
An Interview with Alice Fong Yu," Amerasia journal 5, no. 1 (1978): 77. See
also Katie Choy, "Alice Fong Yu: Remembrances of a Chinese Pioneer," Prism
11, no. z (December 1974): 5-8.

58. Bessie Jeong, interview with Suellen Cheng and Munson Kwok, December 17, 1981, Southern California Chinese American Oral History Project,
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Los Angeles.

59. San Francisco Chronicle, May 14, 1914, p. 8.

60. Edwin Owyang, interview with author, September to, 1987.

61. Mrs. William Z. L. Sung, "A Pioneer Chinese Family," in The Life, Influence, and the Role of the Chinese in the United States, 1776-1960 (San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America, 1976), p. 291.

6z. See E. Glenn, "Split Household, Small Producer."

63. May Kew Fung, interview with Jeffrey Ow, March z5, 199o, Jeffrey Ow
private collection.

64. According to Mickey Lee, the first Chinese girls to take jobs at the 1915
Exposition at Treasure Island were calledgee yoiv nu (liberated women) because
they had broken with tradition and left home to work (Mickey Lee, interview
with author, November 1, 1989).

65. Quoted in Louis, "Study of American-born and American-reared Chinese," p. 85. His reference to "the Americans" as exclusively the white dominant group was common during this period, and even today most Chinese, regardless of where they were born, do not feel they are a part of America or that
they are Americans.

66. Community Chest 1930 Survey, pp. 22-23.

67. Eliot Grinnell Mears, Resident Orientals on the American Pacific Coast:
Their Legal and Economic Status (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1928),
p. zoo.

68. Donaldina Cameron, "Salvaged for Service," Women and Mission 4, no.
5 (August 1927): 65.

69. Pascoe, Relations of Rescue, pp. 166-71. For a comparative analysis of
how and why Japanese American women became concentrated in domestic work,
see E. Glenn, Issei, Nisei, Warbride.

70. William Carlson Smith, Americans in Process: A Study of Our Citizens
of Oriental Ancestry (Ann Arbor: Edwards Bros., 1937), PP. 92-93, 301.

71. Gladys Ng Gin, interview with author, November 4, 1988-

72. Rose Yuen Ow, interview with Philip P. Choy and Him Mark Lai, September 9, 1970, Him Mark Lai private collection.

73. "Savings Development," Bulletin, Financial Advertisers Association, May
1941,P-269.

74. Ibid.

75. "Our Chinatown Branch," Bank American, January, 1956, p. 7.

76. Chinese Digest, April 10, 1936, pp. io, 14.

77. Ruth Fong Chinn, "Square and Circle Club of San Francisco: A Chinese Women's Culture" (Senior thesis, University of California, Santa Cruz,
1987), PP. 29-43; Mrs. Choy Lee, interview with Him Mark Lai and Helen Lai,
March z, 1975, Him Mark Lai private collection; and Cameron, "Salvaged for
Service," p. 70.

78. During the 191os, with the assistance of the female-dominated Telephone Operators Union, thousands of women across the country walked off
their jobs to protest the industry's autocratic methods and to demand better
hours, wages, and benefits. Although significant, their resistance and union militancy were short-lived. See Stephan H. Norwood, Labor's Flaming Youth: Telephone Operators and Worker Militancy, 1878-1923 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 199o).

79. See Broussard, Black San Francisco, chap. z; and Elizabeth Higginbotham, "Employment for Professional Black Women in the Twentieth Century," paper prepared for the Albany Conference, Ingredients for Women's Employment Policy, April 19-zo, 1985.

8o. J. Wong, Fifth Chinese Daughter, p. 188.

8i. Ibid., p. 234.

8z. K. Choy, "Alice Fong Yu," p. 7.

83. Mickey Fong Lee, interview with Ernest Chann, February z3, 1982,
Ernest Chann private collection.

84. Bessie Jeong, interview.

85. Margaret Chung, "TV Summary," unpublished autobiography, Asian
American Studies Library, University of California, Berkeley.

86. Chinese Hospital Medical Staff Archives,1978-1981 (San Francisco: Chinese Hospital, 1982), pp. 8-9.

87. J. Wong, Fifth Chinese Daughter, p. 95.

88. Alice Fong Yu, interview with Gordon Chang, November z 1, 1986, Gordon Chang private collection.

89. Flora Belle Jan's daughters (names withheld by request), interview with
author, August 6, 1989.

9o. Flora Belle Jan, letter to Ludmelia Holstein, December 1944.

91. Ibid., July 16, 1947.

92. R. Lee, Chinese in the United States, p. 124.

93. Barbara Sickerman, ed., Notable American Women: The Modern Period
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980), PP. 414-15•

94. See Fass, Damned and the Beautiful; D'Emilio and Freedman, Intimate
Matters, chap. 11; and Mary P. Ryan, Womanhood in America: From Colonial
Times to the Present (New York: Franklin Watts, 1983), chap. 5.

95. Chingwah Lee, "The Second Generation of the Chinese," Hospital Social Service 21, no. 3 (March 1930): 193

96. Janie Chu, "Oriental Girl," p. 175.

97. Other minority women experienced the same predicament. See Ruiz,
"`Star Struck"'; and Matsumoto, "Desperately Seeking `Deirdre."'

98. Chinese YWCA, "Annual Report," 1926.

99. CSYP, August 23, 1915.

ioo. Sexual exploitation becomes more pronounced when beauty contests
turn into bathing suit contests in the post-World War II period. See Judy Yung,
"Miss Chinatown USA and the Representation of Beauty," paper presented at
the Ninth National Conference of the Association of Asian American Studies,
San Jose, Calif.: May 30, 1992.

1oi. San Francisco Examiner, March 27, 1924, P. 9.

ioz. Flora Belle Jan, letter to Ludmelia Holstein, November 27, 19z5-

103. Florence Lee Loo, interview with June Quan, January 6, 1982, Chinese Women of America Research Project, Chinese Culture Foundation of San
Francisco.

104. In 193 5, five denominational institutions provided for the care and welfare of Chinese children: Presbyterian Girls Home, Methodist Home (for girls),
Ming Quong Home (established by Presbyterians for girls), Chung Mci Home (established by Baptists for boys), and Mei Lun Yuen Home (established by Presbyterians for infants). See CSERA 1935 Survey, pp. 47-5 z.

105. F. Chinn, "Religious Education," pp. 49-5o; Community Chest 1930
Survey, pp. 17-18; CSERA 1935 Survey, pp. 53-58; and Him Mark Lai, Cong
huaqiao dao huaren (From overseas Chinese to Chinese American) (Hong Kong:
Joint Publishing Co., 199z), pp. 138-49.

io6. F. Chinn, "Religious Education," p. 46; and Chinese YWCA, correspondence, board minutes, and staff reports.

107. CSYP, November 4, 1928.

io8. R. Chinn, "Square and Circle Club," pp. 46-47; T. Chinn, Bridging
the Pacific, pp. 129-30; and San Francisco Examiner, March 12, 1975, P. 22.

109. San Francisco Daily News, September 17, 1924.

11o. See Linda Gordon, "Black and White Visions of Welfare: Women's Welfare Activism, 18go-1945," in Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S.
Women's History, zd ed., ed. Vicki L. Ruiz and Ellen Carol DuBois (New York:
Routledge, 1994), PP. 157-85•

111. I am indebted to Rosemary Chan for giving me access, with the permission of the Square and Circle Club, to the club's past minutes and scrapbooks.

iiz. Had they passed, the Dickstein Nationality Bill would have denied citizenship to foreign-born children of Chinese Americans, and the Anti-Alien Land
Bill would have barred aliens ineligible to citizenship (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Asian Indians) from owning property in Texas.

r13. R. Chinn, "Square and Circle Club," p. 54.

114. Chinese Digest, October z3, 1936, p. Ti.

IT 5. Louis, "Study of American-born and American-reared Chinese," p.
127.

116. See Sanchez, Becoming Mexican American; and Bill Hosokawa, Nisei:
The Quiet Americans (New York: William Morrow, 1969).

117. The Ging Hawk Club, an organization of young Chinese American
women in New York, was founded in 1gz9 under the auspices of the International Institute of the YWCA. The club's name meant "Striving for Learning,"
and its purpose was "to absorb the best of American culture without losing their
Chinese heritage." See Lorraine Wong, "Chinese All American Girl," Record,
January 1935, P. zI.

118. Robert Dunn, "Does My Future Lie in China or America?" Chinese
D i g e s t , May 1 5 , 1936, PP• 3, 13.

119. Kaye Hong, "Does My Future Lie in China or America?" Chinese Digest, May zz, 1936, PP. 3, 14.

I zo. Jane Kwong Lee, "The Future of Second Generation Chinese Lies in
China and America," Chinese Digest, June 5, 1936, P- 5.

IzI. Chinese Digest, May 1937, P- 8.

1zz. Chinese Digest, July 3, 1936, p. 14.

123. CSYP, June 25, 1935•

124. CSYP, March 3, 1937.

Iz5. J. Wong, Fifth Chinese Daughter, pp. 134-35.

126. It is uncertain how many Chinese Americans actually went to China for work in the 19zos and 193os. Rose Hum Lee, in her article "Chinese
Dilemma," Phylon 1o, no. z (1949): 140, indicated that "many Chinese-Americans have journeyed to the land of their forefathers to pursue their professional
and occupational careers. China's need for leadership has opened avenues of expression which the society here did not offer. Since many are the first-generation born on American soil, they are bi-lingual and had a knowledge of the ideographic language. Their adjustment there was notable, and the Chinese-American
group was a sizeable one in any port city of importance, with California, of
course, sending the largest contingent." According to Kum Pui Lai, in "Attitudes of the Chinese in Hawaii Toward Chinese Language Schools," Sociology
and Social Research zo, no. z (November 1935): 140-44, 741 Chinese Americans from Hawaii were in China, mainly teaching in universities and colleges
like Lingnam University, St. John's Shanghai University, Peking Union Medical
College, and Yenjing University. Another article, "California-educated Chinese
Rebuild Canton" by Julean Arnold, in the Chinese Christian Student, May-June
1934, PP. 8-9, 34, noted that only about 6o Chinese Americans had gone to
China; most of them, Arnold stated, were alumni of the University of California who lived and worked in Shanghai and Canton as bankers, businesspeople,
engineers, and government officials.

117. CSYP, May 18, z3, 1918.

,z8. San Francisco Chronicle, October 18, 1919, p. 12; and December zz,
1919, P. z.

1 2.9. The following account is derived from my interview with Eva Lowe.

13o. Li Yauguang, "World Famous Chinese American Aviatrix Ouyang
Ying" (in Chinese), Huaxing, June 23, 1989-

131. San Francisco Call and Post, November 12, 1919, p. I.

13 z. See also Guan Zhongren, Study on Chinese Women Aviators (in Chinese) (Canton: Zhongshan Library of Guangdong Province, 1988), pp. 78-81.

13 3. Linking Our Lives: Chinese American Women of Los Angeles (Los Angeles: Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, 1984), PP. 72-73;
Guan, Study on Chinese Women Aviators, pp. 105-14.

134. Liu Pei Chi, "Chinese Americans and the National Salvation Through
Aviation Movement" (in Chinese), Guangdong Wenxian io, no. z (1980): 5;
Guan, Study on Chinese Women Aviators, pp. 115-118.

13 5. San Francisco Bulletin, November zz, 1911, p. 4.

136. San Francisco Call, May 1g, 1912, p. 63.

137. Ibid.

138. Bessie Mae Ferina, "The Politics of San Francisco's Chinatown" (Master's thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1949), PP. 55-58; W. Smith,
Americans in Process, p. i zz; Dare, "Economic and Social Adjustment," p. 63.

139. Lim P. Lee, "The Chinese Citizens Alliance: Its Activities and History,"
Chinese Digest, October 30, 1936, p. 15.

140. CSYP, July 2z, 19z6.

141. Community Chest 1930 Survey, p. z3.

14z. San Francisco Chronicle, October z, 1931, P. 4.

143. Weatherford, Foreign and Female, pp. 223-Z4•

144. The following account is derived from Bessie Jeong, "Story of a Chi nese Girl Student," Survey of Race Relations Collection, Hoover Institution on
War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University; and from Suellen Cheng and
Munson Kwok's interview with Bessie Jeong.

145. Newspaper accounts and the records of the Presbyterian Mission
Home attest to a number of Chinese American women who, like Bessie Jeong,
resisted undesirable arranged marriages by seeking refuge at the Mission Home;
see CSYP, January z5, 1918; San Francisco Examiner, July 14, 1922, p. i; Donaldina Cameron, "Orientals in the United States," Women and Mission 9, no. io
(January 1935): 340-4r; Pascoe, Relations of Rescue, pp. 161-6z.

146. Chingwah Lee, "Remember When?" Chinese Digest, January 17, 11936,
P. 8.

147. Rose Fong evidently got her way, as the newspaper also reported that
her parents finally approved of her marriage to Tsoa Min after the two eloped.
See San Francisco Examiner, May r2, 1909, p. 11.