Chinese Women in the Colonial Life of Singapore

This is an 15 minute episode of the Singapore television series 'Looking Back' from 1987. It is called 'Maids'. The series was a Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore creation and produced by the Department of Educational Technology. The series was meant for use in Singapore schools. It covers the experience of Chinese women during colonial times with a re-enactment of the life of a real 'mui tsai' or young girl from China sold into domestic slavery in Singapore. This is the experience of Janet Lim Chiu Mei (1923-2014) who wrote about her life after coming to Singapore in 1932 as a 'mui tsai' in the best selling memoir 'Sold for Silver' (1958). The short episode covers the abuse of women and forced prostitution, and amahs, or maids. There is an interview with an amah who arrived in Singapore during the 1930s (an 70 year old woman in 1987).The archival footage, re-enactment, and oral history interview are done well. I have put it up for teaching and education purposes in Singapore, which I am involved. The rationale is to restore this interesting episode of the series to the original intent of the series in the 1980s.