从《叻报》看早期新马华人妇女生活 = A STUDY OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF CHINESE WOMEN IN SINGAPORE AND MALAYA THROUGH LAT PAU

Abstract

The position of women and female servitude in traditional China have been the subjects of several studies over the past few decades. There have also been a number of useful studies of the Overseas Chinese experience in Southeast Asia. Less well known is what happened to Chinese women in overseas communities. Thus, this dissertation attempts to fill the gap by studying the early history of Chinese women in Colonial Singapore and Malaya, based on Singapore ’s first Chinese daily newspaper, Lat Pau (1881-1932). The reason for using the daily press as the primary source material is that it is a rich mine of information containing news reports and editorials concerning the social life of Chinese women and social problems in the Straits settlement. Besides newspaper, other literatures regarding the history of Chinese women in the region are used as supplementary materials in this study. From a socio-historical approach, this Academic Exercise attempts to provide an insight into the early history of Chinese women, particularly in terms of their social status, social practices and problems that arose from the great influx of Chinese female immigrants in the early twentieth century. Chapter one establishes the research methodology and defines the scope and aim of the study. Quantitative analysis of news content regarding the life of Chinese women will be discussed in Chapter two. Statistics of the number of articles on various subject matters, such as crimes, prostitution and women education will be analyzed. Chapter three examines the news content of the subject matters. However, due to the fact that news content of different subject matters is too extensive to be covered under the constraints on the length of this study, four relatively significant subject matters are being focused. They are “prostitution”, “illegal gambling”, “education and recreation”, and “intriguing news and advertisements”. Chapter four combines both the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the subject matters in an attempt to examine three major aspects of the early history of Chinese women in Singapore and Malaya reflected in the Lat Pau. First of all, the social status of Chinese women in terms of their occupations, educational level, marriage and the government policy will be analyzed. Secondly, we look into the common practices among the Chinese women, such as their superstitious beliefs, entertainment and recreational activities and the way they dress. Thirdly, we discuss the social problems that are faced by the Chinese women, particularly problems associated with the social order, such as theft, robbery, abduction, blackmail and extortion. In the final chapter, the author concludes by giving an overview of this study and points out the limitations of utilizing newspapers as the primary source of information for studying the early history of Chinese Women in Colonial Singapore and Malaya. The position of women and female servitude in traditional China have been the subjects of several studies over the past few decades. There have also been a number of useful studies of the Overseas Chinese experience in Southeast Asia. Less well known is what happened to Chinese women in overseas communities. Thus, this dissertation attempts to fill the gap by studying the early history of Chinese women in Colonial Singapore and Malaya, based on Singapore ’s first Chinese daily newspaper, Lat Pau (1881-1932). The reason for using the daily press as the primary source material is that it is a rich mine of information containing news reports and editorials concerning the social life of Chinese women and social problems in the Straits settlement. Besides newspaper, other literatures regarding the history of Chinese women in the region are used as supplementary materials in this study. From a socio-historical approach, this Academic Exercise attempts to provide an insight into the early history of Chinese women, particularly in terms of their social status, social practices and problems that arose from the great influx of Chinese female immigrants in the early twentieth century. Chapter one establishes the research methodology and defines the scope and aim of the study. Quantitative analysis of news content regarding the life of Chinese women will be discussed in Chapter two. Statistics of the number of articles on various subject matters, such as crimes, prostitution and women education will be analyzed. Chapter three examines the news content of the subject matters. However, due to the fact that news content of different subject matters is too extensive to be covered under the constraints on the length of this study, four relatively significant subject matters are being focused. They are “prostitution”, “illegal gambling”, “education and recreation”, and “intriguing news and advertisements”. Chapter four combines both the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the subject matters in an attempt to examine three major aspects of the early history of Chinese women in Singapore and Malaya reflected in the Lat Pau. First of all, the social status of Chinese women in terms of their occupations, educational level, marriage and the government policy will be analyzed. Secondly, we look into the common practices among the Chinese women, such as their superstitious beliefs, entertainment and recreational activities and the way they dress. Thirdly, we discuss the social problems that are faced by the Chinese women, particularly problems associated with the social order, such as theft, robbery, abduction, blackmail and extortion. In the final chapter, the author concludes by giving an overview of this study and points out the limitations of utilizing newspapers as the primary source of information for studying the early history of Chinese Women in Colonial Singapore and Malaya.