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Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco
The crippling custom of footbinding is the thematic touchstone for Judy Yung's engrossing study of Chinese American women during the first half of the twentieth century. Using this symbol of subjugation to examine social change in the lives of these women, she shows the stages of "unbinding" that occurred in the decades between the turn of the century and the end of World War II.
The setting for this captivating history is San Francisco, which had the largest Chinese population in the United States. Yung, a second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco, uses an impressive range of sources to tell her story. Oral history interviews, previously unknown autobiographies, both English- and Chinese-language newspapers, government census records, and exceptional photographs from public archives and private collections combine to make this a richly human document as well as an illuminating treatise on race, gender, and class dynamics.
While presenting larger social trends Yung highlights the many individual experiences of Chinese American women, and her skill as an oral history interviewer gives this work an immediacy that is poignant and effective. Her analysis of intraethnic class rifts―a major gap in ethnic history―sheds important light on the difficulties that Chinese American women faced in their own communities. Yung provides a more accurate view of their lives than has existed before, revealing the many ways that these women―rather than being passive victims of oppression―were active agents in the making of their own history.
The setting for this captivating history is San Francisco, which had the largest Chinese population in the United States. Yung, a second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco, uses an impressive range of sources to tell her story. Oral history interviews, previously unknown autobiographies, both English- and Chinese-language newspapers, government census records, and exceptional photographs from public archives and private collections combine to make this a richly human document as well as an illuminating treatise on race, gender, and class dynamics.
While presenting larger social trends Yung highlights the many individual experiences of Chinese American women, and her skill as an oral history interviewer gives this work an immediacy that is poignant and effective. Her analysis of intraethnic class rifts―a major gap in ethnic history―sheds important light on the difficulties that Chinese American women faced in their own communities. Yung provides a more accurate view of their lives than has existed before, revealing the many ways that these women―rather than being passive victims of oppression―were active agents in the making of their own history.
395 pages, Paperback
First published October 16, 1995
9 people are currently reading
334 people want to read
About the author
Judy Yung
21 books15 followersProfessor Emeritus Judy Yung is a second-generation Chinese American born and raised in San Francisco Chinatown. She received her B.A. in English Literature and Chinese Language from San Francisco State College and her Master’s in Library Science and Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.
Judy Yung headed the Chinatown Branch Library in San Francisco and the Asian Branch Library in Oakland and worked as a journalist for East West newspaper before joining the faculty at UC Santa Cruz, where she taught courses in Asian American history, women’s studies, oral history, and mixed race.
Dedicated to reclaiming Chinese American and women’s history, she has written numerous books and articles about Chinese immigration and Chinese American women and served as a historical consultant to the Chinese Historical Society of America, the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, and many other historical and film projects through the years.
Judy Yung is the recipient of book awards from the Before Columbus Foundation, Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS), and Western History Association; as well as the AAAS Lifetime Achievement Award and UC Santa Cruz’s Excellence through Diversity Award and Excellence in Teaching Award.
She currently resides in Santa Cruz with her husband Eddie Fung and their cat, Sparkie.
Judy Yung headed the Chinatown Branch Library in San Francisco and the Asian Branch Library in Oakland and worked as a journalist for East West newspaper before joining the faculty at UC Santa Cruz, where she taught courses in Asian American history, women’s studies, oral history, and mixed race.
Dedicated to reclaiming Chinese American and women’s history, she has written numerous books and articles about Chinese immigration and Chinese American women and served as a historical consultant to the Chinese Historical Society of America, the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, and many other historical and film projects through the years.
Judy Yung is the recipient of book awards from the Before Columbus Foundation, Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS), and Western History Association; as well as the AAAS Lifetime Achievement Award and UC Santa Cruz’s Excellence through Diversity Award and Excellence in Teaching Award.
She currently resides in Santa Cruz with her husband Eddie Fung and their cat, Sparkie.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 3, 2021
I write a historical mystery series set in 1900 San Francisco, and I've found that information on the lives of Chinese women living in San Francisco Chinatown is scarce. Unbound Feet fixes that issue with an in-depth and extremely well-researched look into the social history of women in SF Chinatown.
Wish I'd found this book sooner!
Wish I'd found this book sooner!
May 31, 2020
Interesting look at Chinese women in San Francisco from the earliest women to about the World War II era. Author Yung takes us through what they had to do in order to get here, why initially there was such a lopsided shift between Chinese men and women, how their roles grew and change as time moves forward, how it changed the Chinese community in San Francisco, etc.
Overall it was okay. I thought it would be a broader look (not ending at WWII or so). It was also very dry--it's probably a book meant to be read together with a class and the text reflected that. I didn't know at the time but looking on Goodreads tells me Yung is a professor which makes a lot of sense.
That said, there is a lot to learn here so if you're interested in learning more about Chinese women, this time period in San Francisco, the history of the Chinese American community in San Francisco, etc. this might be a good book to read. Would recommend 'The White Devil's Daughters: The Fight Against Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown' as a supplement to this book as that one looks more specifically the efforts to help enslaved Chinese women and girls.
Bought as a bargain book, which worked for me since it gave me time and space to read at my own timeline with no pressure to return.
Overall it was okay. I thought it would be a broader look (not ending at WWII or so). It was also very dry--it's probably a book meant to be read together with a class and the text reflected that. I didn't know at the time but looking on Goodreads tells me Yung is a professor which makes a lot of sense.
That said, there is a lot to learn here so if you're interested in learning more about Chinese women, this time period in San Francisco, the history of the Chinese American community in San Francisco, etc. this might be a good book to read. Would recommend 'The White Devil's Daughters: The Fight Against Slavery in San Francisco's Chinatown' as a supplement to this book as that one looks more specifically the efforts to help enslaved Chinese women and girls.
Bought as a bargain book, which worked for me since it gave me time and space to read at my own timeline with no pressure to return.
February 25, 2016
I purchased this book for a class at University on women's social history. It is the first of its kind to follow the lives of Chinese-American women from the late 1800s when Congress placed strict regulations on Chinese immigration through the War Years. Compared to most history texts, I found the writing accessible and the stories intriguing. I do not consider myself a feminist, and I get annoyed when textbooks about women's history go preachy about their subject matter, and this book avoids that, maintaining academic distance without being remote in tone. This is a book I will actually probably keep after the course has ended because it sheds light on a minority group not often considered in the context of oppressed minorities, and does so in a way that leaves a lasting impression without putting the reader to sleep.
December 15, 2013
In her book Unbound Feet, Judy Yung attempts to relay the challenges faced by Asian American women from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. Yung impresses on the reader that Chinese women were limited by traditional Chinese patriarchy, American sexism, and racism. Through the process of Americanization, Chinese women were able to shed limitations imposed by ancient tradition. However, the issue of sexism and racism still remained, and both served to severely limit Chinese women’s complete integration into American society and their economic independence. These barriers, too, began to break down, as seen in the 1938 Garment Worker’s Strike. However, their complete dissolution remains an anticipated event.
Yung presents the Chinese American woman’s story in chronological order, drawing on the image of the bound foot as a metaphor for the progress present in each temporal stage. The chapter titled ‘Bound Feet’ relays the struggles of Asian American women brought to the United States in the second half of the 19th century for the purpose of prostitution. These women, Yung argued, were (with a few exceptions) at the mercy of men, and predominantly without voice. Political paradigm shifts within China and the efforts of Christian groups in American began to curtail the extreme patriarchy that Chinese women had to endure at the turn of the 20th century. Appropriately, Yung titled this chapter ‘Unbound Feet.’ Yet even recently unbound feet pained their owners. The march towards modernity and greater equality, now undertaken in earnest, was far from complete. The third chapter, ‘First Steps,’ follows the progress of second-generation Chinese women. These women actively Americanized, came to be viewed as ‘equal partners in marriage,’ were educated, and came to be active both socially and politically. (177) While more economically mobile than the previous generation, second-generation Chinese women still had to contend with blatant racism and sexism. It was not until the Great Depression, the focus of chapter four (‘Long Strides’), the Chinese Women were able to emerge as real contenders for manufacturing jobs outside of the Chinese community. Yung is quick to point out the irony of the new prosperity provided by the Great Depression. The Chinese community’s racial isolation, lack of available capital for stocks, and familiarity with hardship all enabled the Chinese community to weather America’s greatest financial crisis. Better yet, Chinese Americans became, for the first time, recipients of federal aid. Collaboration between Chinese American woman and the ILGWU indicated the beginning of a new chapter in Asian American Women’s history, on in which Asians and whites could work together.
Yung draws from an eclectic mix of public records, newspapers, oral histories, and autobiographies. In doing so, she attempts to reveal the true voice of the Chinese American woman. However, the reader is not informed as to how these sources were chosen. Did the sources shape Yung’s argument, or did Yung’s argument shape her selection of sources? Indeed, the only queue given to the reader about account selection is provided in Chapter 3, in which Yung admits that she used accounts from middle class women because they were ‘more abundant.’ The world of statistics would decry this admission as indicative of convenience bias. It is rather troubling in the world of history as well, as the reader is not made certain that the voices he or she is exposed to are actually representative of Chinese American women. Furthermore, it can be argued that a representative voice does not exist. While the Chinese American community is treated as largely monolithic, Yung focuses on a particular subset of the female Chinese American community in each chapter, often giving a disproportionate amount of attention to exceptional women. In doing so, the voice of the ‘average’ Chinese American Woman may have been lost.
While Yung does attempt to address counterarguments, she is unable to avoid the generation of contradictions. Perhaps most troubling is the constant oscillation of her definition of gender equality. With each progressive chapter, Yung brings a new issue to the table. It can be argued that this is the result of the changing social, political, and economic conditions that Chinese American women experienced. However, Yung’s implication of what it is to be a ‘liberated woman’ seems to change with these conditions, indicating that something always stands in the way of complete liberation. Of these obstacles, the most common is the lack of involvement in the man’s social world. Indeed, involvement in the social sphere is championed as the main way to gain a sense of self-worth. (86) This assertion undermines the account provided by Law Shee Low, who expresses obvious pride in the sacrifices that she made for family. But Yung implies that these accomplishments are insufficient for Law Shee Low’s categorization as a woman with a sense of self-worth.
Though Yung fails to provide the reader with a clear, applicable definition of a liberated woman, her thorough exploration of the nuanced challenges faced by Chinese American women makes Unbound Feet worth reading. Yung succeeds in bringing the myriad of challenges faced by such women to the forefront, and thoroughly interrogates the implications of women’s class, economic status, social involvement, and political activity. This makes for the provision of a holistic image of the Chinese American woman’s condition from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. Such an image would be of particular interest and utility to a scholar interested in Asian American Woman’s history and indeed can be used as a framework for the imagination of the conditions faced by Asian American women from outside of China.
Yung presents the Chinese American woman’s story in chronological order, drawing on the image of the bound foot as a metaphor for the progress present in each temporal stage. The chapter titled ‘Bound Feet’ relays the struggles of Asian American women brought to the United States in the second half of the 19th century for the purpose of prostitution. These women, Yung argued, were (with a few exceptions) at the mercy of men, and predominantly without voice. Political paradigm shifts within China and the efforts of Christian groups in American began to curtail the extreme patriarchy that Chinese women had to endure at the turn of the 20th century. Appropriately, Yung titled this chapter ‘Unbound Feet.’ Yet even recently unbound feet pained their owners. The march towards modernity and greater equality, now undertaken in earnest, was far from complete. The third chapter, ‘First Steps,’ follows the progress of second-generation Chinese women. These women actively Americanized, came to be viewed as ‘equal partners in marriage,’ were educated, and came to be active both socially and politically. (177) While more economically mobile than the previous generation, second-generation Chinese women still had to contend with blatant racism and sexism. It was not until the Great Depression, the focus of chapter four (‘Long Strides’), the Chinese Women were able to emerge as real contenders for manufacturing jobs outside of the Chinese community. Yung is quick to point out the irony of the new prosperity provided by the Great Depression. The Chinese community’s racial isolation, lack of available capital for stocks, and familiarity with hardship all enabled the Chinese community to weather America’s greatest financial crisis. Better yet, Chinese Americans became, for the first time, recipients of federal aid. Collaboration between Chinese American woman and the ILGWU indicated the beginning of a new chapter in Asian American Women’s history, on in which Asians and whites could work together.
Yung draws from an eclectic mix of public records, newspapers, oral histories, and autobiographies. In doing so, she attempts to reveal the true voice of the Chinese American woman. However, the reader is not informed as to how these sources were chosen. Did the sources shape Yung’s argument, or did Yung’s argument shape her selection of sources? Indeed, the only queue given to the reader about account selection is provided in Chapter 3, in which Yung admits that she used accounts from middle class women because they were ‘more abundant.’ The world of statistics would decry this admission as indicative of convenience bias. It is rather troubling in the world of history as well, as the reader is not made certain that the voices he or she is exposed to are actually representative of Chinese American women. Furthermore, it can be argued that a representative voice does not exist. While the Chinese American community is treated as largely monolithic, Yung focuses on a particular subset of the female Chinese American community in each chapter, often giving a disproportionate amount of attention to exceptional women. In doing so, the voice of the ‘average’ Chinese American Woman may have been lost.
While Yung does attempt to address counterarguments, she is unable to avoid the generation of contradictions. Perhaps most troubling is the constant oscillation of her definition of gender equality. With each progressive chapter, Yung brings a new issue to the table. It can be argued that this is the result of the changing social, political, and economic conditions that Chinese American women experienced. However, Yung’s implication of what it is to be a ‘liberated woman’ seems to change with these conditions, indicating that something always stands in the way of complete liberation. Of these obstacles, the most common is the lack of involvement in the man’s social world. Indeed, involvement in the social sphere is championed as the main way to gain a sense of self-worth. (86) This assertion undermines the account provided by Law Shee Low, who expresses obvious pride in the sacrifices that she made for family. But Yung implies that these accomplishments are insufficient for Law Shee Low’s categorization as a woman with a sense of self-worth.
Though Yung fails to provide the reader with a clear, applicable definition of a liberated woman, her thorough exploration of the nuanced challenges faced by Chinese American women makes Unbound Feet worth reading. Yung succeeds in bringing the myriad of challenges faced by such women to the forefront, and thoroughly interrogates the implications of women’s class, economic status, social involvement, and political activity. This makes for the provision of a holistic image of the Chinese American woman’s condition from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. Such an image would be of particular interest and utility to a scholar interested in Asian American Woman’s history and indeed can be used as a framework for the imagination of the conditions faced by Asian American women from outside of China.
September 12, 2013
Judy Yung’s Unbound Feet: A Social History of Women in San Francisco is an articulate work of historical review that synthesizes and utilizes various oral interviews, written histories (including old newspapers and legal documents), photographs, and Yung’s personal insight to shed light on the lives of Chinese women living in San Francisco from 1902 to 1945. She provides legitimate justification for her invested efforts, time, and expansive research in this book, reasoning that there are very few other comprehensive works on the lives of Chinese immigrant women in America during this time period. She argues that the lives of these Chinese immigrant women at the time were filled with difficulties and restraints, simultaneously drawing a connection between their lives and bound feet, the term that lends this book its title.
Her use of the metaphor of unbound (and concurrently, bound) feet is a prevalent theme throughout the book. She states that bound feet typically belonged to and are associated with the upper class as they demonstrate that those women will never need to partake in manual labor or stand on their feet for long periods of time. However, she also argues that the lower class counterparts to these upper class women also led restrictive lives, in terms of job opportunities and social equality. In her words, “Wives of merchants, who were at the top of the social hierarchy in Chinatown, usually had bound feet and led bound lives. But even women of the laboring class – without bound feet – found themselves confined to the domestic sphere within Chinatown” (16). She skillfully argues these points, utilizing a wide array of examples ranging from the plights and lack of social mobility of prostitutes to the domestic constraints of merchant wives.
Aware of the biases and unobjective viewpoints that inevitably are intertwined with oral histories and partial written historical documents, I was at first concerned about the dependability and legitimacy of this book. However, my worries were put to rest as Yung directly addresses these issues in her introduction and clearly states how she worked against them to provide an accurate depiction of Chinese immigrant women at the time. In addition, she drew upon a vast amount of research material which lent her arguments a great amount of credibility, as each point was supported by factual evidence. The wealth of examples and vast array of topics she used and covered also solidified her assertions. For instance, she did not just discuss one or two examples of Chinese women in each of the different social classes, but rather showcased many examples to demonstrate that her analysis of those women and their problems as not just specific to one person, but rather to society as a whole. This can be seen in her mentions of both Ah Toy and Suey Hin prominent prostitutes in society (33), as well as her connection of their issues to other female Chinese immigrants such as La Yun Oi (49). I liked that she joined her analyses of Chinese women in different situations together because it gave her book a sense of continuity and fluidity.
However that being said, I felt as if her prose was at times heavy and too factually oriented. It made it very difficult to keep track of all of the people that she mentioned and their individual stories. In addition, no matter how hard she tried to neutral her own biases and the biases in the historical sources she worked with, this book cannot be read from a completely objective viewpoint as this subject is one that is personal to Yung (multiple times, she uses the word “our” to describe the history being told).
Nonetheless, despite the occasional sluggish parts of this book I would definitely recommend this as a read to anyone who is looking to learn more about the struggles of Chinese immigrant women in San Francisco as they tried to establish their lives in America. Her book is aptly named, as the overarching metaphor of bound and unbound feet set the tone for the entire book which was highly informative; it condensed a lot of material that I would personally have had time to cover on my own. It should be noted that this is more of an academic read, and not targeted towards readers who are seeking a light, fictionalized story. It is however, for anyone who is looking to enrich their knowledge of some of the very real and universal struggles that immigrants faced 70 years ago.
Her use of the metaphor of unbound (and concurrently, bound) feet is a prevalent theme throughout the book. She states that bound feet typically belonged to and are associated with the upper class as they demonstrate that those women will never need to partake in manual labor or stand on their feet for long periods of time. However, she also argues that the lower class counterparts to these upper class women also led restrictive lives, in terms of job opportunities and social equality. In her words, “Wives of merchants, who were at the top of the social hierarchy in Chinatown, usually had bound feet and led bound lives. But even women of the laboring class – without bound feet – found themselves confined to the domestic sphere within Chinatown” (16). She skillfully argues these points, utilizing a wide array of examples ranging from the plights and lack of social mobility of prostitutes to the domestic constraints of merchant wives.
Aware of the biases and unobjective viewpoints that inevitably are intertwined with oral histories and partial written historical documents, I was at first concerned about the dependability and legitimacy of this book. However, my worries were put to rest as Yung directly addresses these issues in her introduction and clearly states how she worked against them to provide an accurate depiction of Chinese immigrant women at the time. In addition, she drew upon a vast amount of research material which lent her arguments a great amount of credibility, as each point was supported by factual evidence. The wealth of examples and vast array of topics she used and covered also solidified her assertions. For instance, she did not just discuss one or two examples of Chinese women in each of the different social classes, but rather showcased many examples to demonstrate that her analysis of those women and their problems as not just specific to one person, but rather to society as a whole. This can be seen in her mentions of both Ah Toy and Suey Hin prominent prostitutes in society (33), as well as her connection of their issues to other female Chinese immigrants such as La Yun Oi (49). I liked that she joined her analyses of Chinese women in different situations together because it gave her book a sense of continuity and fluidity.
However that being said, I felt as if her prose was at times heavy and too factually oriented. It made it very difficult to keep track of all of the people that she mentioned and their individual stories. In addition, no matter how hard she tried to neutral her own biases and the biases in the historical sources she worked with, this book cannot be read from a completely objective viewpoint as this subject is one that is personal to Yung (multiple times, she uses the word “our” to describe the history being told).
Nonetheless, despite the occasional sluggish parts of this book I would definitely recommend this as a read to anyone who is looking to learn more about the struggles of Chinese immigrant women in San Francisco as they tried to establish their lives in America. Her book is aptly named, as the overarching metaphor of bound and unbound feet set the tone for the entire book which was highly informative; it condensed a lot of material that I would personally have had time to cover on my own. It should be noted that this is more of an academic read, and not targeted towards readers who are seeking a light, fictionalized story. It is however, for anyone who is looking to enrich their knowledge of some of the very real and universal struggles that immigrants faced 70 years ago.
April 12, 2022
Here are the questions discussed at the Reading the Western Landscape Community Book Discussion on Zoom Wednesday, November 17, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. PDT.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews