Mui Tsai

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Mui Tsai ( Cantonese 妹仔 , Jyutping MUI 6 * 1 zai 2 Pinyin mèizǎi ) is a Cantonese term meaning maid or maid and is not to be confused with the Cantonese name MuiMui Tsai ( hexagonal. 妹妹仔 , Jyutping MUI 6 * 4 MUI 6 * 2 zai 2 Pinyin mèimeizǎi ) for little sister, little girl or the general Chinese name Muimui ( Chinese  妹妹 , Pinyin mèimei , Jyutping mui 6 * 4 mui 6 * 2 ) for “younger sister” or “young girl”. The Cantonese term Mui Tsai is synonymous with the Chinese term Yāhuan ( 丫鬟 , Jyutping aa 1 waan 4 ) or Bìnǚi ( 婢女 , Jyutping pei 5 neoi 5 ) from feudal China , a term for young Chinese women who work as maids in rich Chinese Household work. The women usually come from poor families and are sold for several years before marrying. Such agreements were considered non-profit in the Chinese society of that time , as the standard of living of women could improve.

For this you have to know that the traditional Chinese family needs a male descendant as ancestor . Poor parents unable to support multiple children also used to kill newborn girls. In the face of oppressive poverty, resale can at least ensure the survival of the girls.

However, there are often no written contracts between the parties concerned, for example, between a "privillegierten" educated family and less educated family or farm family with illiteracy . Some of these women are even sold into prostitution by their "owners" . However, there are also cases in which women are "lucky" to become concubines or mistresses of the landlord and thus to rise socially in society . The Mui Tsai system was widespread mainly in China , Hong Kong , Singapore and parts of Southeast Asia until the 1940s .

Hong Kong

In the 19th century, the British government enacted the Slave Trade Act and later the Slavery Abolition Act , which banned slavery. In the British colony of Hong Kong , there has long been no restriction on the passing on of girls as Mui Tsais, as this was traditionally considered a family matter.

Following press campaigns in Great Britain , Colonial Minister Winston Churchill promised to abolish the Mui Tsai system in Hong Kong within a year. Under pressure from the British Parliament the Hong Kong government issued in 1923, the law for female domestic workers ( Female Domestic Service Bill ), with the import and transfer of Mui Tsai was banned. However, the requirement to register all Mui Tsais has been postponed. Compliance with the law was not closely monitored.

1926 signed the UK , the Slavery Convention of the League of Nations . The subject of Mui Tsai soon became the subject of international investigation. After strong political pressure, the government of Hong Kong adopted in 1929, the Regulation for female domestic workers ( Female Domestic Service Ordinance ). All Mui Tsais had to be registered by May 31, 1930. After that no registration and therefore no more sales were allowed. Inspectors were appointed to visit the Mui Tsais to ensure that they were not mistreated and that they were receiving their wages.

The last case became known in 2005. Chinese parents received a transfer fee for their daughter who was brought to Hong Kong. She had to work continuously from sunrise to sunset. After being physically abused, she was eventually hospitalized.

Macau

In the 16th century, it was common in Macau for poor families to rent out their daughters as house servants for 40 years. When the Portuguese settled in Macau, they not only used Mui Tsais in the household, but also set up brothels , against which the responsible mandarins protested.

United States

In the 19th century, many Chinese workers immigrated to the United States . Under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese workers could not bring women back from China, nor were they allowed to marry women of other nationalities. Now many Chinese girls and young women immigrated with false papers certifying that they were upper class wives or daughters. They were sold as housemaids and, as they got older, often resold into prostitution. Mui Tsais received support from Reformed Christians in San Francisco . The Presbyterian Mission House in San Francisco's Chinatown saved Chinese girls and women from abuse.

Despite the work of the reformers in the USA, the Mui Tsai system there existed until the early 20th century.

literature

  • Judy Yung: Unbound Feet. A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1995, ISBN 0-520-08867-0 .
  • Judy Yung: Unbound Voices. A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1999, ISBN 0-520-21860-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Term "Mui Tsai / Mui6 * 1zai2 (妹 仔)". In: www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk. Retrieved May 26, 2016 (Chinese (Hong Kong)).
  2. ↑ term "MuiMui Tsai / Mui6 * * 4mui6 1zai2 (妹妹仔)". In: www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk. Retrieved May 26, 2016 (Chinese (Hong Kong)).
  3. ↑ term term "MuiMui / Mui6 * 4mui6 * 1 (妹妹)". In: www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk. Retrieved May 26, 2016 (Chinese (Hong Kong)).
  4. ↑ term "Meimei (妹妹)". In: www.zdic.net. Retrieved May 26, 2016 (Chinese, German, English, French).
  5. ↑ term "Meimei (妹妹)". In: leo.org . Accessed February 7, 2020 (Chinese, German).
  6. ↑ a b Yung: Unbound Feet. 1995, p. 37.
  7. ↑ term "Yahuan (丫鬟)". In: www.zdic.net. Retrieved May 26, 2016 (Chinese, German, English, French).
  8. ↑ term "Binue (婢女)". In: www.zdic.net. Retrieved May 26, 2016 (Chinese, German, English, French).
  9. ^ Professor David K. Jordan (UCSD): The Traditional Chinese Family & Lineage. University of California , March 20, 2006, accessed February 7, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Yung: Unbound Feet. 1995, p. 38.
  11. ^ ACW Lee, KT So: Child slavery in Hong Kong: case report and historical review. In: Hong Kong Medical Journal. Vol. 12, 2006, pp. 463-466, here pp. 464-465
  12. ^ ACW Lee, KT So: Child slavery in Hong Kong: case report and historical review. In: Hong Kong Medical Journal. Vol. 12, 2006, pp. 463-466, here pp. 463-464.
  13. ↑ Ronald Daus : The Invention of Colonialism . Hammer, Wuppertal 1983, ISBN 3-87294-202-6 , p. 232 .
  14. ↑ Introduction - Vicki Thomas: Encyclopedia of San Francisco - Missionary, Social Worker, and Youth Advocate, Donaldina (Mackenzie) Cameron ( Memento of October 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). In: www.sfhistoryencyclopedia.com, accessed February 7, 2020. (English)