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Journal of Asian American Studies 4.1 (2001) 96-98



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Book Review

Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco


Unbound Voices: A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco. By Judy Yung. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999.

Unbound Voices brings to fruition decades of researching Chinese American women's history and giving an ear to their stories. It consists of selected primary sources Yung used in her earlier work Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco (1995). Together, these two volumes comprise a unique resource in the reconstructing and interpretation of a Chinese American past from a women's-centered perspective from 1850 to 1945. This work mirrors Unbound Feet in organization and in the use of footbinding as a symbol in charting the history of Chinese women in San Francisco. After an introductory section "Lessons from My Mother's Past," the volume moves from the nineteenth century ("Bound Feet") to immigrant women ("Unbound Feet") and the second generation in the early twentieth century ("First Steps"), to the Great Depression ("Long Strides") through World War II ("In Step"). Yung introduces each of the entries with an insightful short essay, often explaining how she came upon the source or how she knew the women she interviewed. At all times, Yung is acutely aware of her role as a historian and especially, an oral historian. When interviewing her mother, Yung states, "As the historian, I had my agenda; as my mother, she had hers." (87) This simple statement can lead to fruitful discussions with students about the nature of history, the construction of narratives, the use of evidence, and the ethics, problems, and magic of using oral histories in writing history.

"Lessons from My Mother's Past" is perhaps the most valuable section of the book. Here, Yung presents a collection of documents pertaining to her family's immigration history. Her mother, born in China, was a derivative U.S. citizen, but because she married a "paper son," had to maintain certain fictions in order to preserve the continuity of the family's "paper history." This section offers a number of documents Yung found in the National Archives in San Bruno, California, such as her great-grandfather's affidavit attesting to his merchant status; her great-grandmother's immigration testimony from 1893; her mother's coaching book (complete with a map of her native village); the immigration testimonies of her parents in 1941; and finally, a composite interview with her mother (from 1982 and 1987) which "serves to flesh out and fill in some gaps in the immigration documents." (88) By making these documents available and providing additional details in the introductory essays and footnotes, the complexities of Chinese immigration and how one studies and analyzes these complexities are brought to life. [End Page 96]

The remaining sections follow the chapter organization of Unbound Feet. The selections and their introductions serve to reinforce Yung's argument that Chinese women in San Francisco gradually achieved liberation due to the interaction of a variety of factors: the rise of Chinese nationalism and the women's movement in China; Protestant missionaries who helped eradicate Chinese prostitution; increased economic opportunities for Chinese American women; the affects of acculturation on the American-born generations; and the more favorable attitude toward Chinese Americans which began to take hold during World War II.

"Bound Feet" features a list of Chinese proverbs and maxims which illustrate the subordinate position of women in traditional Chinese society; an interview with a woman whose husband had left to work for an American business and who did not see him again after 1942; a prostitute's contract; an essay by Sui Sin Far; and a letter to the San Francisco Board of Education from Mary Tape, in protest against the city because her daughter was denied entry into the public schools in 1885. "Unbound Feet" covers the years from 1902 to 1929 and offers a speech by Sieh King King, an eighteen-year-old student...

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