Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (45 page)

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 that 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: