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10. In the unlikely event of a large number of mui-tsai leaving their homes as a result of any measures taken, is it quite impossible to supplement the accommodation in the Po Leung Kuk by temporary arrangements. AMERY.
No. 20.
Despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
SIR,
(Received 20th June, 1929.)
Government House,
Hong Kong,
16th May, 1929.
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram dated 20th April,* in which you ask me to furnish by despatch as soon as I can further information, as complete as possible, on ten points concerning the mui-tsai question. I propose to take up these points one by one and to deal with each of them, although not in the order in which they are set out in your telegram; but before doing so, I desire to state very definitely that the abolition of the mui-tsai system is the settled and declared policy of this Government. Our difficulty is to ensure that this policy is made effective in practice. This difficulty is due to the fact that Hong Kong, geographically speaking, forms part of the Kwangtung province, in which the system is still prevalent, and that Hong Kong cannot effectively abolish the mui-tsai system unless and until the authorities of the Kwangtung province do likewise.
2. It is desirable that I should explain in the first instance what the mui-tsai system really was according to Chinese custom and law as it stood prior to the reforms which followed the revolution. When a girl was bought in China as a mui-tsai, the following obliga- tions on the part of the purchaser arose :—
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(a) The mui-tsai was to be considered as a member of the family. The word "mui-tsai translated literally into English is "little sister," a polite term for servant girls. This name in itself shows that the mui-tsai was expected to be treated properly and, as a matter of fact, she occupied a better position in the family than did a paid servant.
(b) The master or mistress was responsible for the care of her person, food, clothing, and medical attendance in the case of illness.
* No. 19.
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(c) If the master or mistress sold a mui-tsai for prostitution, he or she was liable to severe punishment under the Chinese law concerning the sale of girls for prostitution.
(d) When a mui-tsai was old enough to be married, it was expected of her master or mistress that they would see that she was properly married to be a wife or a concubine, as the case might be.
(e) On the marriage of a mui-tsai, if her parents were then living, the master or mistress would notify the fact to the parents and if the parents so desired they would associate with her husband's family as if she had been married by her parents, and the responsibility of the master or mistress would end. But if the mui-tsai had no parents living, the responsibility of the master or mistress still continued and she would be treated in her master's house as quasi daughter " and her husband would be treated as quasi son-in-law." Consequently, for a mui-tsai to elope with a man without being properly married under the auspices of her master or mistress was deemed This to be a disgrace to the family of the master or mistress. disgrace might not be felt as strongly as in the case of a daughter of the house, but was nevertheless considered by the Chinese to be a loss of face." In the case of a paid servant, no such stigma attached to the family.
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(f) If the master or mistress of a mui-tsai ill-treated her, they were liable to be prosecuted by the parents of the mui-tsai in a Court of Justice in China, for although the parents had sold their daughter, they were not deprived of this right by law. Should the master or mistress fail to produce the mui-tsai in court at the trial, a charge of manslaughter or murder might be instituted against them. A mere allegation of this kind in a Chinese court would be sufficient to bring terrible consequences upon the master or mistress in question.
From the result of enquiries I have made I am satisfied that these obligations were carried out in the great majority of cases and some of my advisers maintain that there were not as many as ten per cent. of failures.
3. I have obtained both from the Anti-mui-tsai Society in Hong Kong and also from His Majesty's Consulate-General at Canton the text of the Regulations for the Emancipation of Slaves and Mui-tsai, published by the Chinese authorities on the 1st March, 1927. The texts obtained from these two sources have been collated and found to be identical, and I enclose a translation of the twelve regulations in question.
You will observe that it was ordered that from the date of the publication of these regulations no girls should be bought, sold or pledged as mui-tsai, and that all agreements for such purposes should be null and void; that all existing mui-tsai should no longer be called mui-tsai but should be called "adopted daughters"; that all agreements or presentation deeds in respect