The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore Page 0,145
the rescued girls were educated in English and Chinese, as well as sewing, maintaining a home, and Bible study. As their only opportunity for education, the mission home provided a service not found anywhere else in San Francisco (Logan, Ventures in Mission, 10).
Chapter Two
Epigraph citation: B. E. Lloyd, Lights and Shades in San Francisco, 219.
Yuen Qui’s full name is Leung Yuen Qui, but I refer to her as Yuen Qui in this book so as not to confuse her with Leung Kum Ching. In addition, Tien Fuh Wu, the precocious little girl in this chapter, was called Teen Fook or Tai Choie before her rescue. The record from the mission home reads: “Jan. 17/94. Tai Choie alias Teen Fook was rescued by Miss Houseworth, Miss Florence Worley and some police officers from her inhuman mistress who lived on Jackson St. near Stockton St. The child had been very cruelly treated—her flesh pinched and twisted till her face was scarred. Another method of torture was to dip lighted candlewicking in oil and burn her arms with it. Teen Fook is a pretty child of about ten years old, rosy cheeked and fair complexion” (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 46). Cody Lee, associate director of the Cameron House, said, “Miss Cameron called her Tien, the girls called her Auntie Wu. At Cameron House, we usually refer to her by her whole name or Auntie Wu” (conversation with author).
The Chinatown squad consisted of the policer officers who aided Margaret Culbertson: Jesse B. Cook, John T. Green, George Riordan, James Farrell, George W. Wittman, George Patrick O’Connor, and T. P. Andrews. These men used break-in tools such as wedges, hatchets, crowbars, and sledgehammers (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 48–49).
The character Wang Foo is based on Wong See Duck, a notorious slave owner who arrived in San Francisco in 1908. Wong See Duck was part of a major smuggling ring with Kung Shee, Jew Gwai Ha, and Yee Mar. The four of them were deported after the 1935 Broken Blossoms court case was won, indicting them for illegal importation for immoral purposes (Edward Wong, “The 1935 Broken Blossoms Case”).
Mei Lien is a character created by the author, but her experiences are based on actual events that happened to the Chinese girls and women rescued by Donaldina Cameron and her associates.
Chapter Four
Epigraph citation: Annual Reports of the Mission Home (quoted in Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 44).
Hong Leen and her husband Woo Hip both met tragic ends, yet their children, raised at the mission home, continued their parents’ legacies. It was Hong Leen’s greatest wish for her daughter to become a medical missionary and her son a minister (Wilson, Chinatown Quest, 13). I was not able to uncover the names of these children, thus Kang and Jiao are fictitious.
The detention shed that was used to detain Chinese people immigrating to America was in operation until 1908. Conditions were rough, and the immigrants were treated as prisoners while awaiting for their papers to be processed (San Francisco Call, vol. 104, no. 64, 3 August 1908).
The rescue story of Sing Leen is based on the rescue story of Sing Ho that took place on August 15, 1892. Heartbreakingly enough, not all the rescued women remained at the mission home, due to the power of addiction, trauma, or fears that came from believing the tong’s threats and promises of curses (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 44).
Chapter Five
Epigraph citation: Forty-Seventh Congress. Sess. I. Ch. 126. Chinese Exclusion Act, approved May 6, 1882, 61.
The criminal tong member names are fictional in this chapter, but their actions are patterned after deeds done by tong members Wong See Duck, his wife, Kung She Wong, moneylender Fong She, and procuress Kwai Ying (Martin, Chinatown’s Angry Angel, 256–57).
Chinese girls and women brought over under false papers were taken to a slave market of sorts, which amounted to standing on a table or chair where they could be inspected by prospective buyers. They were made to undress so that the buyers could assess their overall health and appeal to the purposes they would be forced into, whether it was for domestic chores or prostitution (Yung, Unbound Feet, 27).
Chapter Six
Epigraph citation: Annual Reports of the Mission Home.
Donaldina’s clothing in the board meeting scene is described by author Mildred Martin, as well as the names of the Presbyterian Women’s Occidental Board of Foreign Missions,