[ { "id": 209202, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 105, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "# THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920'S\n\n## CARL T. SMITH\n\n### Introduction\n\nThe events leading up to the passage by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong of Ordinance No. 1 of 1923, entitled, “An Ordinance to Regulate Certain Forms of Domestic Service\" interested me as an historian of the Hong Kong Protestant Church. It was the first time Chinese Christians in Hong Kong had worked as a group on a social question. Previously individual Christians had written or spoken about public issues, but the organisation of the Anti Mui Tsai Society in 1921 was the first major effort of a large body of Chinese Christians to campaign for social change. Of added interest was the enlistment of the labour unions to support its efforts and the active part women took in the campaign.\n\nDr. Sun Yat-sen in planning the Revolution of 1911 had received the support of secret societies and other groups whose members were from the labouring class. After the revolution some of these elements began to organise as modern labour unions. In the 1920's their desire to express themselves, gain benefits and be recognised as a political force was strengthened by the success of the Russian revolution. Communist organisers were particularly active in Canton. In February-March 1922, the Seamen's Union conducted a successful strike in Hong Kong.\n\nAt the same time that labour was asserting itself, there were efforts by women to change their traditional status in Chinese society. One of the features of the fight against the practice of buying domestic servants was the support given by the Chinese members of the recently organised YWCA under the leadership of Mrs. Ma Ying-piu. The mui tsai question involved the misuse of young girls and the conduct of their mistresses. It was to be expected, therefore, it would attract the concern of enlightened women. Other than the organisation of the wives of the Directors of the Po Leung Kuk (Society for the Protection of Women and Girls) as a committee to visit the Society's Home and check on its management, there was no active participation by women on the side of those who wished to preserve the system.\n\n### I\n\nPage 105\nPage 106", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209203, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 106, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "92\n\nCARL T SMITH\n\nThe establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1911 brought with it a group of leaders who held liberal ideas on social issues. A disproportionate number of these were Christians or had been trained in Christian schools. There were numerous connections between these officials in the Canton Southern Government of Dr. Sun and the Christians in Hong Kong.\n\nAnother facet of the events described in this paper is the clumsy manner in which the Colonial Office and the Hong Kong Government dealt with the problem once it was publicised. They had been quite content to tolerate the custom throughout the years, although some administrators were aware of the abuses inherent in the system. When questions were raised in Hong Kong and England about the system they immediately assumed a defensive stand.\n\nThe Colonial Office depended on information supplied to it by the Hong Kong Government. The local administration in turn relied heavily on the opinions of those \"respectable\" Chinese whom it recruited as its advisers. Then as now, these were the wealthy merchants, landowners and professionals. They did not represent the masses of the people. Their role as leaders of the Chinese community, however, was seldom challenged by the silent majority. It was a surprise to them and to the Government when an aggressive opposition suddenly emerged. This opposition was also led by \"respectable\" Chinese, some of whom were wealthy, some of the middle class, but practically all Protestant Christians who were motivated by the moral values of their faith and by enlightened ideas of the age.\n\nTheir activity did not ingratiate them to Government. A daughter of one of the leaders of the Anti Mui Tsai Society told me her father always felt Government continued to hold his position in the Society against him for many years.\n\nThe Mui Tsai System\n\nThe purchase of girls for domestic service was a long-standing Chinese custom. The children who were bought and thus became a part of the household were given the familiar name \"little sister\", mui tsai. However their lot was not always as pleasant as their name. Much depended on the kindness of the master or more especially the mistress. As very young children their duties were to run errands, fetch articles, pick up dropped fans, etc., or they might be placed under other servants to perform household tasks. As they grew older their", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209204, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 107, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1930'S 93\n\nposition and their work often depended on the social and economic status of the person who had bought them.\n\nIn the nature of the case, some were sexually exploited by the male members of the family. Some were treated very cruelly by their mistresses. If they were attractive, they were often taken by the head of the family as a concubine.\n\nEveryone acknowledged that, like all social institutions, there were abuses in the system, but the traditional view was that its advantages outweighed its negative side. There were several arguments to support this view.\n\nOnly the poor sold their children. If they could not sell them, many would be killed off as infants. Their lot in a foster home was much better than it would have been in their natural home. They were fed, clothed, and when of proper age, a marriage was arranged for them with a suitable partner. Everyone benefited by the system: the child who escaped death or starvation, the natural parent who was lifted out of poverty, at least for the moment, and the purchaser who acquired a servant.\n\nIn Chinese society, it had long been an unquestioned aspect of the social order. The buying and selling of human beings did not sit well with the English conscience of the latter half of the nineteenth century. However, most colonists felt it was best to leave undisturbed the modus vivendi which had been established in Hong Kong between British law and moral standards and Chinese social practice.\n\nAfter some eighteen years on the bench in Hong Kong, Chief Justice John Smale, not long before his retirement in 1881, openly stated that, in his opinion, the practice of buying and selling children for domestic servitude was a form of slavery, and hence its continued toleration in a British colony was a blot on the honour of England. He received support from anti-slavery groups in England, but his views were not generally welcomed in Hong Kong, either by the Chinese or expatriates. There was some stir over the question for a short time, and then interest in it died away, not to be re-aroused until the question again came to public attention in 1917.\n\n1917 - The Question Raised\n\nMr. C. G. Alabaster, in defending a client charged with kidnapping, raised a legal point regarding the status of children purchased as servants. The report of the case focused the attention of the English", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209211, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 114, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "100 \n\nCARL T SMITH \n\nA resolution was proposed and seconded that the mui tsai system be abolished. The Chairman ruled it out of order as the meeting had been called to consider the advisability of establishing a society for the protection of servant girls. At the conclusion of the meeting a resolution to form such a society was passed. It was duly organised as the \"Society for the Protection of the Mui Tsai,\" \n\nFormation of the Anti-Mui Tsai Society - September 1921 \n\nThe group that had proposed a resolution for abolition regarded the new society as the vehicle of the elite establishment composed of past and present Directors of Tung Wah Hospital, members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Kaifong leaders. The abolition group was made up of members of the churches, the YMCA, the YWCA and labour unions. They believed the Protection Society would advocate palliative measures only and not get at the root of the problem, therefore they were determined to organize another group to be called the Anti Mui Tsai Society. An organization meeting was held in September 1921 and a public manifesto was published a month later under the names of the Society's Provisional Executive Committee. \n\nThis document was divided into sections dealing with (I) the inherent evils of the system, (II) reasons for abolition, (III) the system not being charity, (IV) the futility of reform by persuasion, and (V) tentative proposals to effect abolition. \n\nThe document argued that the basic evil of the system was that the treatment and status of the servant girls were similar to that of slaves. Like slaves 'they were bought with money,... exploited without reserve, not paid for labour and can be resold”. The only difference between a slave and a mui tsai was that a slave served for life and his descendants inherited his status, while the servant girl received her freedom on reaching the usual age for marriage. \n\nAs reasons for its abolition the manifesto declared the system to be injurious to public morality, subversive of righteousness, and injurious to national prestige. On the last point reference was made to the fact that the 1918 Peace Treaty included the International Labour Convention in which the contracting nations agreed to endeavour to secure fair and humane conditions of labour for men, women and children. \n\nOne of the principal arguments used by those who wished to continue the practice was that it was charity. It benefited a child who", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209212, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 115, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAJ QUESTION IN THE 1920'S 101\n\nmight otherwise starve or live in extreme poverty by providing it with food, shelter and clothing. It benefited the parent of the child by providing him with money so he could sustain the other members of his family. The manifesto claimed, however, that this was not charity, because \"in charity the dispenser must show sacrifice and the character of the recipient must be preserved\". The parent who sells his daughter is devoid of charity, and anyone who buys is helping to destroy one of the most sacred of human bonds. To call the system charity is in the opinion of the manifesto \"hypocritical and absurd”.\n\nThe proponents of abolition were very sceptical that propaganda would convince owners of the girls to improve their situation, \"To promote a society of mui tsai owners for prevention of cruelty without assisting those liable to ill treatment to liberate themselves is like formation of a league of cats in the interest of the mouse\". The Anti's, as we shall see, had no hesitation, however, about using a barrage of propaganda to promote their own cause.\n\nThey were firmly convinced that the only way to prevent ill-treatment of mui tsai was by the abolition of the system, not through a society for their protection. They set forth several proposals to bring this about. All documents of sale should be cancelled. The purchase price previously paid would be regarded as an advance to the parents of the girl and she should continue to work for a period to be determined by a commission appointed by Government.\n\nA temporary industrial home should be established to train the girls in self-support. Into this home could be admitted young children whose former owners may have found them troublesome to keep or difficult to manage. It would also be a home for those self-supporting girls who were temporarily out of work. Gradually former mui tsais would become hired servants or factory workers. To aid them in finding suitable jobs an employment agency should be established.\n\nWhen the documents of sale are cancelled the mui tsai should be informed they are now \"yung mui”, that is servant girls. Until the girls had served out the time determined by the commission they should be under the supervision of inspectors, \"preferably of the gentler sex\".\n\nIn conclusion the manifesto made an appeal to the better nature of its readers,\n\nIt is the duty of a civilized community to raise its fellow citizens out of a state of degradation and oppression. When those who have a claim to our sympathy happen to be helpless", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209213, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 116, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "102\n\nCARL T SMITH\n\nlittle girls of tender age living amongst strangers and in where to them is a strange country, no denial of succour is possible without outraging our feelings of humanity.\"\n\nInstructions from Colonial Office to Hong Kong Government\n\nIn March 1922 it was announced in the House of Commons by Mr. Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies, that the Government of Hong Kong had been instructed by the Colonial Office to consult with both the Prevention Society and the Anti Mui Tsai Society in order to draw up a scheme for abolition.\n\nAlready the Secretary for Chinese Affairs in Hong Kong had been in consultation with the Secretaries of the two societies and both groups were in the process of selecting seven of their members to consult with him.\n\nCanton had forged ahead of Hong Kong, for the same issue of the paper which carried Mr. Churchill's remarks reported an item from the Canton Times that the President of the Southern Government had issued a proclamation abolishing the mui tsai system. The Women's Union of Kwangtung were ready to establish an industrial institution to train them.\n\nNews of progress toward abolition both in Hong Kong and Canton produced an air of elation at the first annual general meeting of the Anti Mui tsai Society held on March 26, 1922, at the Chinese YMCA. Mr. J. M. (Joseph Mau-lam) Wong, an Anglican and compradore of Messrs A. S. Watson and Co., presided. On the platform were members of the Executive Committee. These included Mrs. Ma Ying-piu (1872-1957), wife of the founder of the Sincere Co., member of St. Stephen's Anglican Church and a founder of the YWCA.\n\nThe Society had invited Mr. Hui Chien, the President of the Supreme Court of Canton and a member of the Society, to address the meeting. At the last minute he was unable to attend but sent to represent him two associates from Canton. One of them read the remarks he had intended to give to the meeting. In these he observed that the Southern Government at Canton had taken steps to abolish the system, but it would find it much easier to do so if Hong Kong also moved in this direction.\n\nSince its formation the Society had vigorously promoted its cause both in Hong Kong, China and in Great Britain. It had the active assistance of Commander and Mrs. Hazelwood, who after retirement", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209214, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 117, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920's 103\n\nto England had continued the campaign to bring the Hong Kong situation to the attention of the British public. The Haselwoods and other interested people had enlisted the support of the Anti-Slavery and the Aborigine Protection Society, the Industrial Committee of the National Council of Women of Great Britain and Ireland, the Women's Committee of the Fabian Society, the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, the League of Nations Union, as well as Members of Parliament.\n\nIn Hong Kong a team of volunteer lecturers had spoken in churches, schools, the YMCA, the YWCA, and labour unions. One of the members had paid for the services of a professional lecturer to address passengers on boats travelling between Hong Kong and Canton.\n\nLiterature was produced both in English and Chinese. All the Parliamentary questions and answers were translated and sent to the Chinese press, along with original articles and correspondence with Members of Parliament, philanthropists and societies abroad. Locally, a literary competition had been held. The winning entry, a ballad, had been published and distributed both in Hong Kong and throughout China. The cost was underwritten by two wealthy contractors, Mr. Li Ping (probably a Roman Catholic) and Mr. Lam Woo (1869–1932) a founding member of St. Paul's Anglican Church and an Executive Committee member of the Society. A magazine of some 400 pages published by the Society contained articles treating the question in various literary forms.\n\nAt the time of the meeting 1,370 members had enrolled in the Society.\n\nOn instructions from the Colonial Office the Governor of Hong Kong issued a proclamation on April 14, 1922 stating:\n\nSlavery is not allowed to exist in the British Empire, and therefore it must be understood that mui tsai are not the property of their employers. Those of them who wish to leave their employers and who have reached the age of discretion must be allowed to apply to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs who will consider their cases.\n\nGirls are warned that they must not leave their present employment until they have some employment to go to for fear they should fall into the hands of procuresses.\n\nMasters and mistresses are specially warned against any attempt", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209215, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 118, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "104\n\nCARL T SMITH\n\nto prevent mui tsai from seeing the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.\n\nThe fourteen member committee composed equally of members from the Protection Society and the Anti Mui Tsai Society met with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs, Mr. Hallifax, to formulate suggestions for drafting a Bill for the abolition of the mui tsai system. In June 1922 their report was sent to London with a comment by the Governor that he did not think the suggestions were an altogether satisfactory solution.\n\nThe members of the Committee representing the Anti Mui Tsai Society were:\n\nMr. Joseph Mau-lam Wong (1897 - 1869), compradore of Messrs. A. S. Watson and Co.\n\nMr. Charles Graham Anderson (1889 – 1949), a Eurasian, manager of the International Savings Society of Hong Kong, also newspaper reporter.\n\nNgan Kwan-yu, Government vernacular teacher of the Gap Road School later Head-master, Congregational Church Primary School, Ladder Street.\n\nHung To-fei\n\n―\n\nRev. Wong Oi Tong (1888 – 1941), for forty years pastor of the Rhenish Church, Bonham Road.\n\nDr. T.P. Woo (1878-1941), medical practitioner.\n\nDr. Yeung Shiu-chuen (1878 – 1950), dentist.\n\nAll were members of Protestant Churches.\n\nThe members of the committee representing the Society for the Protection of the Mui Tsai were:\n\nMr. M. K. Lo (later Sir Man-kam Lo) (1893 - 1959), son of a compradore of Jardine, Matheson and Co. and son-in-law of Sir Robert Ho Tung. He was a solicitor.\n\nMr. Tsun-nin Chau (1893 – 1971), son of a shipping and insurance magnate, Chau Shiu-ki. A cousin of Sir Sik-nin Chau. By profession a barrister.\n\nMr. Wong Kwong-tin (1879 - 1936), son of a wealthy Chinese merchant. He was a Supreme Court Interpreter when young, later Manager and Director of Kai Tack Land Investment Co., Manager of China Specie Bank, Manager of Chinese Stock Exchange, etc. A Roman Catholic.\n\nIp Lan-chuen (1865 ...), one of founders of Chinese", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209216, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 119, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "THE CHINESE CHURCH, LABOUR AND ELITES AND THE MUI TSAI QUESTION IN THE 1920's 105\n\nChamber of Commerce, Secretary of Chamber for many years. Managing Director of Kwong Man Loong Firecracker Co. Tse Ka-po, also known as Simon Tse Yan (\n\n—\n\n1966), son of compradore of Banco Ultramarino, Macao. Established Po Kee Shipping Co. Compradore for Nippon Yusen Kaisha. A Roman Catholic. Son-in-law of Mr. Ho Kom-tong, a brother of Sir Robert Ho Tung.\n\nWong Ping-suen (1873 - 1942), member of a wealthy land-owning, merchant-compradore Hong Kong family. Compradore of Mackintosh, Mackenzie and Co., and P. & O. Steamship Co. Tong Shau Shan, manager of the San Tak Hing Lok firm on Des Voeux Road.\n\nAfter much hedging for a number of years, the Colonial Office determined to push the Hong Kong Government into drafting a bill for the abolition of the mui tsai system. The concerted efforts of concerned groups in England and the Anti Mui Tsai Society in Hong Kong were producing results. The Secretary of State minuted a despatch on March 21, 1922 instructing his under secretary that in writing to the Governor of Hong Kong, “A fairly full answer should be drafted explaining the difficulties, but making it clear that the abolition is going to be carried into effect. There is to be no nonsense about it and no sham. One year would be a reasonable time to allow”.\n\n10\n\nThe Governor was not happy with these instructions, particularly after the Chinese he depended on for advice raised strong objections to passage of the Bill. He felt himself threatened. The Colonial Office had not been altogether satisfied with his handling of the Seamen's strike earlier in the year, and now it appeared they were repudiating the position he had promoted that it was not wise to radically change the mui tsai system. The best policy, in his opinion, was to advocate the correction of certain abuses and this could well be left in the hands of the elite Chinese establishment in Hong Kong.\n\nGovernor Stubbs took a very serious view of the implications of the opposition to the Ordinance. In a letter to a Colonial Office official in September 1922, while on leave, he said:\n\nIt means that the Chinese for the first time are setting themselves against the Government. That is the beginning of the end. I told you the other day I believed we should hold Hong Kong for another fifty. I put it now at twenty at the most.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209217, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 120, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "106\n\nCARL T SMITH\n\nHis trusted allies had turned against him.\n\nIn his communications with the Colonial Office he was strangely silent about the support for the Bill by the Anti Mui Tsai Society and the labour unions. It seemed to be on the opinion that the only views of Chinese to be taken seriously were those of his long-time advisers, and now they were deserting him. One of the Colonial Office administrations minuted a letter from Governor Stubbs:\n\nIt seems to me the advice we have received on the general question of mui tsai has been throughout faulty and incorrect and in certain respects misleading. It seems also the Hong Kong Government does not desire to press the Secretary of State's reform on the Chinese.12\n\nOn December 23, 1922 the Mui Tsai Bill was gazetted, and on December 28 it received its first reading in the Legislative Council as \"An Ordinance to regulate certain forms of domestic service\".\n\nThe Editor of the Daily Press, a strong advocate of abolition, felt the remarks of the Attorney General in introducing the Bill reflected the reluctance of the Hong Kong Government to implement the instructions of the Colonial Office:\n\nThe Attorney General in introducing the Mui Tsai Bill can hardly be said to have shown... fully sympathy with the object of the Bill... The attitude of the local Government to agitation for abolition has been hostile all along,13\n\n13\n\nChinese Chamber of Commerce Meeting – January 1923\n\nThe members of the Protection Society had second thoughts about the approval given by four of their representatives on the joint committee to assist in drafting a bill (three did not sign the agreement). An extraordinary meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held early in January to air reservations about the proposed Ordinance. Mr. Li Po-kwai (1871-1963), a wealthy property owner, presided. Among the members in attendance the following were named:\n\nThe two Chinese Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council, the Hon. Mr. Chow Shou-son and the Hon. Mr. Ng Hon-tsz\n\nMr. Ho Fook, a former member of the Legislative Council\n\nLo Chueng-shiu, a compradore of Jardines and brother-in-law of Ho Fook\n\nHis son Mr. M. K. Lo (later Sir Man-kam Lo), a solicitor and\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209219, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 122, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "108\n\nCARL T SMITH\n\nMr. Chow Shou-son came to the floor again to chide the Protection Society for not being as aggressive in placing its views before the public as had the Anti Mui Tsai Society.\n\nAt the conclusion of the meeting a resolution was passed that the Chamber of Commerce was not in favour of the proposed Bill at its second reading.\n\nIn a letter Mr. M. K. Lo wrote to the Daily Press after the meeting, he expressed dissatisfaction with the tone of the meeting. As one of the persons appointed by the Protection Society with full powers to forge out with the Secretary of Chinese Affairs and representatives of the Anti Mui Tsai Society draft terms to be submitted to Government for the abolition of the system, he felt he had been placed in an invidious position. Now that the majority of the representatives of the Society on the committee had signed the agreement, the meeting of the Chamber with nearly all the members of the Protection Society present had passed a resolution that the system should continue. They should have been fully aware of this position when he was appointed to the committee for he had clearly stated it in a letter to the Secretary of the Protection Society. He mentioned that the news account, which stated the resolution at the recent meeting was passed unanimously, was in error; he had voted against it.\n\nThe meeting came in for further attack when the editor of the Daily Press asked why a commercial organization like the Chamber of Commerce was discussing a social question. He described the meeting as one of employers of mui tsai who cannot be regarded as disinterested parties.\n\nA European correspondent to the paper said the well-to-do opponents of abolition were so aroused not because the Bill will put an end to an old custom but because it would deprive a group of pampered women of servants over whom they had complete control. Any inconvenience the change may bring to their mode of life will be taken out on their husbands.\n\nThe Kai Fong Meeting at Tung Wah Hospital\n\nSeveral days after the Chamber of Commerce meeting, the Kai Fong called a meeting at the Tung Wah Hospital to rally opposition to the Bill. They did not count, however, on the organizational and political strategy of those in favour of the Bill. The group packed the meeting by rallying the members of the Chinese churches, the YMCA,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209221, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 124, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "110\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nThe Chairman seeing that the meeting was getting beyond his control announced that there would be no further discussion and declared the meeting closed. Pandemonium broke out. The meeting began to take on an angry tone. Some, fearing trouble, slipped out. The crowd was standing on its feet shouting for a vote and began to press forward in a threatening manner toward the long table at which the Chairman and his supporters sat.\n\nAt this point Mr. M. K. Lo arose and eventually quieted the crowd sufficiently for his voice to be heard. He asked permission of the Chairman for the use of the hall for a few minutes. He pointed out the irregularity of closing a meeting without taking a vote to ascertain the sense of the meeting on the issue under discussion. He suggested that as the Chairman had closed the meeting, a new Chairman should be elected who could then take a vote. His idea was warmly approved. Backing down, the original Chairman, after some hesitation, then reopened the meeting and asked for a vote. By a show of hands the meeting overwhelmingly expressed its support for the Bill. The organiser skulked away chagrined and shaken.\n\nMeetings of Anti Mui Tsai Society and of Labour Unions\n\nIn a spirit of jubilation the Anti Mui Tsai Society convened a delayed general meeting on January 15, 1923 to follow up the success in thwarting the hopes of the merchants who had called the Kai Fong meeting at Tung Wah. It unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Bill, though it noted that the Ordinance had excluded suggestions for an employment bureau and an industrial home. It expressed surprise that at the recent Chinese Chamber of Commerce meeting three of the representatives of the Protection Society on the joint draft committee for the Bill had spoken in opposition to it. These were Messrs Wong Kwong-tin, Ip Lan-chuen and Wong Ping-suen.\n\nThe meeting of the Anti Mui Tsai Society was followed a few days later by a meeting of three hundred delegates from 154 labour guilds of Hong Kong at the Chinese YMCA. Mr. So Chui-chung, the Chairman of the Chinese Seamen's Union, was elected Chairman. In his remarks to the meeting he reminded his listeners that they had methods to bring their grievances before their employers, but servant girls had no such opportunity. It was therefore, he said \"the duty of Labour to second efforts of people interested in abolition.\"\n\nDr. Yeung Shiu-chuen as a representative of the Anti Mui Tsai", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 } ]