Mui tsai

Mui tsai, which means "little sister"Yung, "Unbound Feet", 37.] in Cantonese, describes young Chinese women who worked as domestic servants in China, or in brothels or affluent Chinese households in San Francisco. The young women were typically from poor families, and sold at a young age, under the condition that they be freed through marriage when older.Yung, "Unbound Voices", 129.] These arrangements were generally looked upon as charitable, as the young women would be provided for better as mui tsai than they would if they remained with their family. The absence of contracts in these arrangements meant though that mui tsai might be resold in to prostitution.Yung, "Unbound Feet", 38.] This was a particular problem for mui tsai in the United States, and as such, mui tsai became a target for Protestant reformers in San Francisco. [cite web | title = Encyclopedia of San Francisco | url = http://www.sfhistoryencyclopedia.com/articles/c/cameronDonaldina.html | accessdate = 2008-06-15] Despite the work of reformers in the United States, the mui tsai system continued there in to the early 20th century, and in to the 1940s in China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.Yung, "Unbound Feet", 37.]

ee also

* Chinese immigration to the United States

Notes

References

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