Tien Fuh Wu
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Tien Fuh Wu | |
|---|---|
| Born | Zhejiang  |
| Died | 1975 |
| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery |
| Occupation | Missionary |
Tien Fuh Wu or Tien Fu Wu (around 1886 – 1975) was a pioneer in the anti-human trafficking movement in San Francisco, California. After being rescued in childhood from her role as a mui tsai (a child servant), she worked for decades to free Chinese immigrant women and girls from sexual slavery and indentured servitude. As the long-time aide to Donaldina Cameron, Wu dedicated her life to helping the residents of the Presbyterian Mission Home, a rescue mission in Chinatown.
Tien Fuh Wu was born in Zhejiang province of China.[1]: 82 She did not know her birthdate, but used January 17 as her birthday as it was the date she was rescued in 1894.[1]: 148 Her gravestone gives her birthyear as 1886.[2] Her parents had survived the upheaval of the Taiping Rebellion with enough wealth to practice the tradition of foot binding on their young daughters.[1]: 82 As a child, she was sold by her father to pay off his gambling debts to become a mui tsai, a child domestic servant.[3] He locked her in a cabin aboard a boat bound for Shanghai, abandoning her without explanation.[2] She may have been between six and ten years old.[1]: 82 In Shanghai, she met a woman who helped her unbind her feet from their tight cloth bindings.[1]: 83 She traveled by steamer to San Francisco in 1892, probably as a paper daughter.[1]: 84
Once in San Francisco, Wu was forced to work as a domestic servant at a brothel called the Peking.[2] When the brothel owner fell into debt, Wu was sold to the owner of a gambling den on Jackson Street.[2] She was forced to do household chores while carrying a baby on her back throughout the day.[1]: 86 By January 1894, her plight was reported by a neighbor, and workers at the mission home planned a rescue, searching the building along with two police officers.[4] When she was rescued, Wu was covered in burns, cuts, and bruises on her face, head, and arms.[1]: 88
Childhood and young adulthood at the Presbyterian Mission Home
At the Presbyterian Mission Home, Wu's burns and cuts were treated.[1]: 90 Along with the other girls at the home, she was protected from the chaotic environment of Chinatown.[1]: 148 The girls had bedtime prayers, chores, and time to play, although scarce funds meant they did not have store-bought toys or enough nourishing food.[1]: 90 Wu called her childhood at the home as "carefree" and described creating a makeshift jump rope and swing in the basement.[1]: 148 She attended the mission's school and learned to read and write Chinese and English.[1]: 148
Donaldina Cameron came to the home in 1895 and would become Superintendent just two years later.[5] Cameron was a strict teacher and initially Wu rebelled against her, but eventually they would grow close, with Wu calling Cameron "Lo Mo," meaning "Old Mother," and Cameron calling her ward "Blessed Tien."[2] Cameron's work required translators and assistants to help her run the home, who were often girls that had grown up there.[2] After Cameron's favorite aide, Leung Yuen Qui, died from tuberculosis, Wu offered to take on the job, making $5 month.[2]
Wu would work to further her education, with scholarships sponsored by a member of a Presbyterian church where Cameron had spoken about her work.[1]: 160 In 1909, she received a diploma from the Stevens School, an elite boarding school in Philadelphia, and she went on to study an additional two years at Toronto Bible College.[1]: 236 After her formal education ended, she decided to continue working at the mission home, returning to San Francisco in June 1911.[1]: 237–238