CHINESE WOMEN IN HAWAI`I:
A BRIEF HISTORY

Very little has been written about the early history of Chinese women in Hawai`i. Tin-Yuke Char, in his book The Sandalwood Mountains, says the first Chinese woman entered Hawai`i in 1837 as a family servant to an American family. The Hawai`i State Archives lists the first Chinese woman as "Lady of Ayum", showing her date of entry as August 19, 1855.

The first Asians in Hawai`i were the Chinese men who crewed merchant ships. Records from the late 1700's show the original Chinese in Hawai`i owned stores and businesses. The Chinese women mainly came to Hawai`i either to be married or already as wives to join their husbands. The earliest Chinese women in Hawai`i spent their time sewing work clothes for their husbands and some made money as dressmakers.






Some of the first sugar mills were owned by Chinese. They brought technical skills in sugar manufacturing with them from China. Many of these men married Hawaiian women. By 1838, approximately 35 Chinese males resided in Hawai`i. In 1865, Commissioner of Immigration William Hillebrand brought 473 male Chinese and 52 women (wives of these laborers) from China. There was only one Chinese woman for every 17 Chinese men by 1884. By 1920, less than a third of the Chinese men had Chinese wives living in the islands. Many of the Chinese who became naturalized citizens married Hawaiian women.






New diseases brought by all the new peoples coming to Hawai`i devastated the native Hawaiian population. In 1850 Hawai`i passed the "Act of Government of Masters and Slaves" allowing the Plantation owners to bring foreign laborers into Hawai`i for contract labor. The first ship, carrying 200 Chinese workers, came to Hawai`i in 1852. There were no laws in Hawai`i against women working so many of the laborers were women. Between the years of 1852 and 1929 over 45,000 Chinese came to Hawai`i.






The Chinese brought with them their own cultural perspectives on life, health, and philosophy. Like Master Chang, women in Chinese families used a Taoist approach to health. They brought with them from China their own herbs for medicines and cooking, religious shrines, and religious practices. These cultural practices survive today and are still practiced in many homes.