PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
PERC.O. 882
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH--NOT TO
$4.
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4. Such, roughly, is the practice and system of brothel slavery in China. evils and abuses of prostitution there are admitted by all qualified to speak, by Consular officers, by public servants in the Imperial Maritime Customs, by doctors and by mis- sionaries. Still, the evils and horrors of this brothel slavery, bad as it is in China, are not so bad there as here; one must remember that the prostitute in China is in her own country, speaking her own language, amongst her own people, often backed and sup- ported by family ties, and influenced for good by local surroundings, with the know- ledge that she can always appeal to the humanity of her parents, relatives, friends, or fellow prostitutes in trouble and sickness; with the direct assurance and comfort in a very large number of cases, that her degradation as a woman is supporting a helpless father or mother or 'brother and sister unable to support themselves, and that she is doing her duty according to her lights in obedience to the principles of Chinese filial piety.
5. In the Colony of the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States, the miserable conditions of life of a Chinese prostitute are greatly aggravated by her exile, she is cut off from her parents, her relatives, and friends; she is absolutely and solely in the power of the brothel keepers, and has no one amongst her own people to appeal to for help against their cruelty or brutality; she drives her trade with the sickening know- ledge in most cases that she has been cheated and brought here under false pretences, or perhaps been sold by her own parents, and that she is nothing more than a machine earning money for her owner. These women are too ignorant to know or realise that the law can protect them. They do realise that they are like rats caught in a trap, and look forward in despair to disease or death as the sole means of releasing them from slave barracoons, where they are imprisoned more closely by the force of Chinese customs and unnatural influences than by actual bolts and bars.
6. Chinese prostitution was practically established in the Federated Malay States before the English Government had any officers trained in Chinese affairs who were acquainted with all the evils entailed by this brothel slavery.
7. As soon, even, however, as such officers are found, as long ago as 1880, regula- tions were drawn up to give more liberty to the prostitutes, and do all that it was pos- sible to do to diminish the acknowledged evils and abuses.
Compulsory medical examination of Chinese prostitutes was never enforced here as in the Colony, but the sanitary condition of the brothels was.carefully attended to, and the prostitutes were protected by the Registration System carried out by the Protector of Chinese.
8 Later on, in 1894, the registration of brothels was forbidden both here and in the Colonies of Hongkong and the Straits Settlements.
9. Briefly, the results of this suppression have been as follows:-
The unfortunate Chinese prostitutes are now literally driven to prostitute, however sick they may be, till they are physically incapable of receiving visitors or are habitually rejected by them. Most prostitutes now die before they reach this stage. The rest, when unable to prostitute, are turned adrift by the brothel keepers, to beg or to steal or die. All the other evils foretold by the Protectorate officials in the Colony and l'eninsula in their annual reports for 1894 and 1895 have arisen.
10. Before referring to a few of these evils, I wish to point out that the Contagious Diseases Act and the enforced medical examinations of public women have nothing whatever to do with what is called the registration of brothels. This was part of a practice and system carefully devised by the Protectorate officials in Hongkong, the Straits, and the Peninsula (who all worked in union in this matter), for the protection of Chinese women and girls.
The way in which registration lessened the evils of brothel slavery is as follows:- (i.) Registration put brothel keepers under the power of the Registrar. The girls learned that there was a master that these keepers had to obey, and became less slavish in their obedience to them. They gradually learnt to trust the European.
(ii) Registration brought the ignorant Chinese girl or woman continually into personal contact with a Government officer, who spoke her language, and defended her against the cruelty and inhumanity of her keeper. She learnt for the first time what steps to take to secure her own welfare and escape from the brothel when she wanted to. (iii) Registration prevented women and girls being passed from hand to hand, and sold to the highest bidder. The prostitute learnt that she could not be taken out of the brothel by her owner at will and sold, and taken to other foreign seaports without the Registrar's permission. This effectually safeguarded her liberty.
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(iv.) Registration effectually guaranteed that no girl or woman should be detained in a brothel as a prostitute against her will, because the Registrar held quarterly and surprise inspection of the inmates of all brothels, and personally questioned every girl as to her willingness to remain a prostitute.
(v.) Registration improved the surroundings of the life of these unfortunate women by making their keepers provide them with accommodation and lodging that had to be in accordance with sanitary requirements; under such conditions the lives of these girls were less miserable and their physical condition better.
11. I repeat, registration of brothels had nothing to do with the medical examina- tion of prostitutes. Registration was solely designed and specially adapted to take British law into these brothels, and make the inmates free. In no way was this registra- tion looked upon by Chinese, Malay, or European as a recognition of or a regulation of vice by the State. Registration and inspection is the system that is employed by the Government in safeguarding the liberty and welfare of Indian and Chinese coolies on agricultural estates. Why should these Chinese women and girls who cannot help themselves be denied that protection which is freely given by Government through means of registration and inspection to coolies?
12. Since registration has been abolished the Chinese brothels in the Federated Malay States have fallen into a disgraceful state. All the evils mentioned above are now in full working force; their sanitary conditions have immensely deteriorated, and the women and girls in them are absolute slaves, are ill-treated, passed from district to district and from State to State, and are sold to the highest bidder. The present law without registration is practically useless. It cannot prevent buying and selling. It presupposes that the Chinese girl will come to you and claim protection. As a matter of fact, she cannot come because she is always detained by her owner, and because she distrusts the European, who is always vilely misrepresented to her by her keeper.
13. Such being the general state of affairs, and such the helpless state of the law, the question arises, what is to be done?
women.
Chinese brothel slavery as it exists in the Federated Malay States is far worse than in the Colony or in Hongkong. In Hongkong there is almost a plethora of public In the Colony there are very few, but in the Peninsula there are fewest, and here, naturally, all the evils are accentuated and more pronounced. The Mahommadan debt slavery that formerly existed in these Malay States is mild in comparison with it.
14. There is practically no Chinese family life in the Peninsula, and roughly speaking no Chinese ever brings his family here to settle, although practically about one half of the male adult Chinese do remain and settle here for good. These are poor people without means, who cannot afford to marry. At present there are about 200,000 male adult Chinese in the Peninsula, and 3,000 Chinese women, about 2,000 of whom belong to the public class. No such fearful disproportion of the sexes as this exists in Hongkong, or even in the Colony, where things are bad enough, but slowly and surely improving
15. It is, I submit, clear that it is impossible either to limit or suppress prostitu- tion. On the contrary, I hold Government should place no restriction on or put any impediment in the way of willing Chinese prostitution in these States.
16. But we must remember the classes from which these Chinese prostitutes are recruited in China. I should say that, roughly speaking, only about 20 per cent. of the Chinese women and girls that come here belong to the public class of women in China. About ten per cent. of this particular class are independent, and keep their earnings. The rest are recruited from various sources. Some are purchased and brought up care- fully for the purpose of prostitution. A very large number are females induced to leave China under some kind of pretences, such as being engaged as nurses, seamstresses, hair-dressers, &c.; some are widows or concubines who have been cheated by hopes of wealthy marriages; some girls who have been born in brothels; some are Chinese domes- tics (females) that have been sold by their mistresses to be married, but have been brought here for prostitution instead, and so on.
17. These women are imported here and placed in Chinese brothels. The only protection they get at present is the examination on their arrival at Hongkong and in the Colony by the Protector of Chinese, and here by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. This does some good undoubtedly, but it is absolutely useless without registration. These Chinese women and girls are always coerced, beaten, or coached to pass this examination, and the Protector is always so vilely misrepresented to them by their importers that they do not believe anything he says.