Ah Ku and Karayuki-san: Prostitution in Singapore, 1870-1940Among the many groups of workers whose labor built Singapore in the 20th century, there may be none as marginalized in memory as the women who travelled from China and Japan to work in Singapore as prostitutes. This study sketches in the trade in women and children in Asia, and - making innovative use of Coroner's Inquests and other records - hones in on the details of the prostitutes lives in the colonial city: the daily brothel routine, personal crises and violence, social relations, leisure, mobility, disease and death. The result is a powerful historical account of human nature, of human relationships, of pride, prejudice, struggle and spirit. Ordinary people tumble from the pages of the records: they talk about choice of partners, love and betrayal, desperation and alienation, drawing us into their lives. |
Contents
Prostitution Singapore Society and the Historian | 3 |
Poverty Patriarchy and Prosperity | 25 |
3 | 36 |
Brothels and Prostitutes | 45 |
Human Traffic and Brothel Prostitution | 67 |
Appendices | 96 |
Hardship in the Village | 183 |
The Flesh Trade | 198 |
Appendices | 391 |
Residential Patterns | 393 |
Chinese Prostitutes and Their Clients | 394 |
Japanese Prostitutes and Their Clients | 396 |
Death of Clients in Chinese Brothels | 398 |
Death of Clients in Japanese Brothels | 400 |
Culpable Homicide and Assault | 402 |
Culpable Homicide and Assault | 406 |
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