Engendering Chinese Migration History: “Left-Behind Wives of the Nanyang Migrants” in Quanzhou Before and After the Pacific War
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ENGENDERING CHINESE MIGRATION HISTORY: “LEFT-BEHIND WIVES OF THE NANYANG MIGRANTS” IN QUANZHOU BEFORE AND AFTER THE PACIFIC WAR SHEN HUIFEN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2006 ENGENDERING CHINESE MIGRATION HISTORY: “LEFT-BEHIND WIVES OF THE NANYANG MIGRANTS” IN QUANZHOU BEFORE AND AFTER THE PACIFIC WAR SHEN HUIFEN (B. A. & M. A.), FUJIAN NORMAL UNIVERISTY A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE i Acknowledgements The completion of this dissertation would have been impossible without the expert advice, wisdom, criticism, guidance, and encouragement from my dissertation committee, which consisted of Professor Huang Jianli, Professor Ng Chin Keong, and Professor Liu Hong. Prof Huang provided much-needed advice at various stages of the dissertation. I also benefited greatly from his knowledge of the Republican period. Prof Ng was an early supporter of the ideas that eventually culminated in this dissertation. He also provided intellectual guidance and encouragement during my study in Singapore. Prof Liu was another early supporter who saw the value of this project, and his support over the years has been generous. I am grateful to the Department and the University for providing me a generous NUS Research Scholarship and an environment of intellectual stimulation for my study. I am also thankful for the support of the Asia Research Institute, NUS, which granted me generous funding in support of my fieldtrip to China. Special thanks go to Liao Bolun, Edgar and Sandra Khor Manickam who kindly read through my drafts, provided valuable advice on my writing, and offered encouragement and support. I am indebted to many institutions and individuals. Firstly, I was the happy beneficiary of the amazingly resource-rich libraries/archives and the assistance of their ever-helpful staff in NUS Central Library and Chinese Library, Fujian Normal University Library, Fujian Provincial Library, Xiamen University Library, Library of the Research Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Xiamen University, Xiamen Municipal Library, the Libraries of Quanzhou city, Zhangzhou city, Jinjiang city, Shishi city, and Zhao’an County, Hong Kong University Library, Fujian Provincial Archives and Jinjiang Municipal Archives. Secondly, I am grateful to several other individuals who helped me a lot. I would have never have studied in NUS if Professor Huang Guosheng had not taken the time to tell me about the Department of History in NUS in addition to his generous assistance during my Master’s studies at Fujian Normal University. Furthermore, I have a circle of teachers and friends who helped me gain important resources and channels of data collection in China: they were Professor Lu Jianyi, Professor Huang Yinghu, Professor Xie Shuishun, Professor ii Wang Ming, Li Mingshan, Guo Shengyang, Lin Zhanghua, Huang Jianping, Li Qi, and Wang Aiji in Fuzhou; Zeng Kunluo, Zheng Bingshan, Cai Shijia, Hong Zuliang, Su Yaodong, Huang Xiangfei, Liu Bozi, Guo Yongtong, Chen Ronglong, Zeng Lina, Xu Jiazhong, Huang Longquan, Xu Tianzeng, Liu Yide, Lin Yanteng, Yang Yijia, Lin Jianlai, Lou Zhengquan, Zhang Huixin, Huang Yali, Li Hongxia and Cai Yuzhang in Quanzhou; Professor Liao Dake, Professor Zeng Ling, Mr. Hong Puren, Li Xuehua, Zhang Changhong, Shen Yi and Huang Yongfeng in Xiamen; Tang Xiaoqing, Shen Yinna, Wu Fengji, Shen Yiqiong, and Shen Jianchen in Zhangzhou. Many women in Quanzhou and Zhangzhou granted me the privilege of interviewing them. I thank them for taking time to share with me their memories and experiences. Yang Zhiqiang, Huang Pingshi, Lin Jianlai, Huang Yali, and Lin Yanteng spent a lot of time in helping me prepare transcripts of the recorded interviews. Li Xuehua, Yang Zhiqiang and Zheng Zhenqing provided much help in finding materials in libraries. I also wish to extend my thanks to Prof Tan Tai Yong, Prof Ian L. Gordon, Prof Albert Lau, Prof Brian Farrell, Prof Paul Kratoska, Dr Stephen Keck, Dr Thomas DuBois, and Ms Kelly Lau, for their kind assistance and guidance throughout the duration of my study in Singapore. Living in a foreign country could have been a frustrating experience had I not met many caring individuals. During my stay in Singapore, Prof Ng Chin Keong met me frequently to answer my inquiries. I also met his wife and his grand-children. Through the years, I was taken care of by my aunt, Sim Ang Boi and her big family, with whom I enjoyed almost every Chinese festival in Singapore and lived like a welcome member of the big family, rather than being a lonely stranger in a foreign country. I am grateful for the two families’ love, care, and help. I am also thankful to my friends who made my stay in Singapore a pleasure: Didi Kwartanada, Kunakorn Vanichviroon, Naoko Iioka, Sandra Manickam, Leander Seah, Haydon Cherry, Eric Holmberg, Tan Li-Jen, Seah Bee Leng, Claudine Ang, Deepa Nair, Ong Zhen Min, Chen Liyuan, Fang Xiaoping, Hu Wen, Jiang Na, Liu Li, Qian Bo, Ren Jianhua, Ren Na, Zhang Huimei, Zhang Leiping, Zhu Chongke, Xia Jing and Xu Ke. Finally, my parents and parents-in-law make up the other part of my support network. My husband, Rongzu, gave me his deep understanding and infallible support which enabled and empowered me in engaging my work fully. Without their love and support in all respects, the completion of this dissertation would have been much tougher. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Table of Contents iii Summary iv List of Maps and Tables v Weights, Measures and Currencies vi I. Introduction 1 Significance, Definitions and Periodization 1 Literary Review 22 Research Questions 39 Methodology & Data 41 Scope and Content 47 II. Reasons for Being Left-behind 49 Sojourning and Transnational Nature of Migration 51 Cultural Restrictions and Social Norms 54 Economic Rationale 59 Personal Circumstances 62 Institutional Barriers to Migration 63 III. Binding Ties and Isolated Lives 68 Arranged Marriages 69 Long-distance Relationship 80 Special Connectivity through Remittances and Letters 87 Strictness of Surveillance Culture 99 IV. Strategies to Cope with Separation 105 Adoption of Sons 106 Escaping through Leisure and Religious Rituals 112 Adultery 118 Returning to the Natal Family 125 Dealing with Dual Marriages 133 Divorces & Remarriages 144 V. Striving for Socio-Economic Survival and a Better Future 154 Expansion of Socio-Economic Activities 154 Surviving the Pacific War 163 Living through the Early Years of Communist China 173 Transcending Boundaries for a New World in Hong Kong 190 VI. The Evolution of a Qiaojuan Discourse 213 Shift of Emphasis from Sojourners to Their Relatives 215 Fujian Province’s Implementation of Protection and Relief Policies 246 Implementation of the 1950 Marriage Law 261 VII. Conclusion: Engendering Chinese Migration History 279 Glossary 288 Bibliography 295 iv Summary In southern China, a large number of women were left-behind by their migrant spouses who departed for Southeast Asia (the Nanyang) in the first half of the twentieth century. The vital role of these women in sustaining their husbands’ migration has not been fully recognized. Using archival documents, local gazetteers, literary and historical documents, newspapers, periodicals, oral history, personal writings, and other materials, this study describes and analyses the history of these “left-behind wives of the Nanyang migrants”, who were known as fankeshen 番客婶 in Quanzhou, Fujian, China, before and after the Pacific War. It seeks to shed light on the impact of migration on these wives and their responses, thus providing an account of the historic lives and roles of these women, consequently engendering Chinese migration history. Adopting a gendered perspective, this study examines the reasons why the women were left-behind. Then it focuses on their marital situation and the strategies they used to deal with the conjugal separation, to ensure survival when their husbands failed to provide sufficient financial support, and to struggle for a better future in the post-1949 era. It also investigates how the state and local governments such as the Fujian provincial government formulated a qiaojuan discourse to control the resources of Overseas Chinese through their relatives/wives in China, demonstrating the intricate relationship between migration, left-behind wives and politics. The study shows that the fankeshen were important participants in, and contributors to, Chinese migration history. The migration of their husbands had inevitably affected them and the impact was multi-layered and complex. Most of them suffered from the absence of husbands in their daily lives and adopted various methods and strategies to endure the hardships and to maintain their marriages. Some of them chose to escape their painful conjugal lives through committing adultery or divorcing. Economically, they participated in various socio-economic spheres to make a living, and contributed to the maintenance of their households and the development of their hometowns. Their socio-economic activities re-shaped the gender roles within the migrant families, empowering the women within their families and the socio- economic spheres they were involved in. Nevertheless, the significance of these women was not recognized fully by the state, although the state and local government adopted and implemented a series of Overseas Chinese policies to protect or benefit the qiaojuan . Women’ interests were protected only when they coincided with those of the state. However, despite their marginal position in both state and provincial policies, the women found space to actively use their identity and the policies to protect the interests of their families and to fulfill their ambitions. Thus, the migration of their spouses became an important variable in the women’s lives, complicated by events in modern China, Southeast Asia and the wider world, especially during the Pacific War and the period shortly after. The women responded to their husbands’ migration in various ways and developed their autonomy, independence, knowledge, and skills in the process. The history of these women should not be seen merely as an appendix to the male-dominated migration history.