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a continuum from an adopted daughter or future daughter-in-law at one end of the spectrum to a brutally treated slave-prostitute at the other. It is, indeed, arguable that the continuum went even further, for, if a man could sell his infant daughter without her consent into another family for adoption as a future daughter-in-law, so also could he dispose of her without her consent in marriage or concubinage, and even then he would receive something for her from the bridegroom's family by way of bride-price. At the other end of the spectrum, a man could certainly sell his infant daughter into a brothel, but he could descend even further, into female infanticide. There was no "normal" Mui-tsai life-style, but a range of possibilities.
Dr. Jaschok is to be thanked for this study of the Mui-tsai. A full-length study has long been needed indeed, more than one is required. This study throws considerable light on what it meant to be a Mui-tsai. It is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand more fully family life in Hong Kong between the Wars. It is well-written and readable. The descriptions of family life in the first two-thirds of the book are lively and exciting, atmospheric, and entirely enjoyable. The study contains a number of valuable Appendices, especially Appendix A (a useful summary of the chronology of the Anti Mui-tsai Campaign), Appendix B (a list of sale prices and details of 53 young people sold at various dates between 1918 and 1940), and Appendices C-F (translations of a number of documents of sale). Less happy are the absence of a Chinese glossary, the poor paper and binding, and the improvable charts and tables. The Index is full and easily usable.
a study
At the same time, it must be said that this study is that but no more. It is not quite The History its title claims. The author's thesis is that Mui-tsai were slaves, slaves pure and simple, slaves life-long, and treated as uniformly badly as slaves elsewhere. This cannot be defended on the basis of the slight evidence put forward. Three families are discussed in depth in this book, and a further family less fully. These case-histories occupy over two-thirds of the main text. Each one of these three fully described families had a Mui-tsai who became a concubine of the head of the family, and who caused major disturbances within the family. Two of the three families have a female descendant of pronounced views and strong mind, whose views were a source of bias in the interviews.