CO129-514-2 Mui Tsai system- suggested regulations and possible abolition 9-1-1929 - 16-5-1929 — Page 146

6226.

Extract from a letter from Sir C.Clementi to Mr. Amery

Dated 23rd February, 1929.

148A

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As regards mui tsai, please allow me to

thank you very sincerely for the stand which you made

on our behalf in the House of Commons, when questions

and supplementary questions were asked upon the subject.

I should hate you to think that either I or any of my officers are prepared to countenance female slavery in this Colony; but the mui tsai is not a female slave.

One might as well call Chinese wives, concubines and

daughters "slaves". It is the custom of the country

for wives and concubines to be acquired by purchase,

so much so that the polite phrase for a daughter is "the thousand of gold", meaning that she is expected

to fetch a thousand pieces of gold on marriage.

phrase has become conventional to such an extent that

my Chinese friends, speaking to me in Cantonese, use it

when asking after my own daughters. No remedy for

the mui tsai system has yet been suggested, which is

not worse than the disease. Any drastic step taken

by this Government would almost certainly raise a storm

of protest throughout Chinatown in this Colony. The

Chinese do not regard the mui tsai system as cruel or morally wrong, and they would resent any house-to-house inquisition, such as would be necessary if registration,

were to be made effective. I trust that I may not be

made into the Amanullah of Hong Kong, and I hope that my despatch may enable you to protect the Hong Kong Government from uninformed criticism of our action by

members of the House of Commons.

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