The associations that primarily catered to the needs o f the immigrant communities normally engaged in particular religious and social activities that subscribed to the village origin o f their members, or to their sex and status. Qualification for membership in the associations might range from common interests in religious matters, belief in a particular ideology and often an appreciation o f secular concerns such as old age care to a narrower definition o f membership limited to only one gender or an occupational group.9 Some o f these associations functioned as the centre for social and religious gatherings, while others provided economic benefits that helped the members to cope with their work and living arrangements.
6.3.1 Coolie Fong and Sister Houses
Many small informal organizations with less than ten members were managed by unwed Cantonese women working in the same occupation.10 Some were attached to the
coolie fong or hostels which the women managed. The coolie fong usually consisted of cubicles or rooms in a tenement building, where the women kept their personal belongings while at work and where they lived for short periods when not working." These arrangements were mainly for the Cantonese domestic amahs who had live-in jobs. Other working women who did not have a live-in arrangement with their employers returned to sleep in the coolie fong at night. Many o f the hostels’ operations were based on a particular territorial and subdialect basis, and sisterhood affiliations. Therefore, recruitment for members was closely linked with interests in certain occupational trades and limited to one regional group o f women that women’s hostels served. Subsequently,
^M arjone Topley, “Chinese Religious Associations in Singapore,” in L.A. Fallers (ed.),
Immigrants and Associations, The Hague, Pans: Mouton & Co., 1967, pp. 57-9.
luOnly associations with ten members or more need to be registered with the Singapore Registrar o f Societies. Topley, “Chinese Religious Associations,” pp. 67-8.
these buildings were similarly identified with the specific vocation o f the women immigrants such as the "domestic amah coolie fong", "construction coolie fong" and
"coolie fong o f mixed occupations" . 12
M ost jobs were obtained as a result o f personal recommendation through a chi mui, relative, a friend, an acquaintance or a sui haak. The sisters’ networking within a particular dialect and subdialect group was a simple but effective method o f getting jobs. An employed chi mui who knew o f existing vacancies in her line o f work would most likely disseminate the information in their coolie fong and among the sisters themselves. As a result, the recipient o f a job would very likely reciprocate the favour by performing well at work because o f a sense o f gratitude or moral obligation to the sister who assisted her in getting employment. A working chi mui would normally recommend an unemployed sister from the same village, speech or lineage group to a job in a similar capacity. The process o f subdialect occupational induction had resulted in the spinsters and bndedaughters filtering into the field of paid domestic service and the Sanshui women in construction work.
Sister houses also operated along the same functions as the coolie fong. However, unlike the coolie fong with the number o f members ranging between two and fifty, and o f mixed sisterhoods, the members o f a sister house usually comprised o f members that belonged to a sisterhood or a couple o f sisterhoods. The members in each sisterhood comprised of women who shared the same sisterhood ties in their home village in China. A small sisterhood with three or four members would normally combine with another small group o f sisterhood to set up a sister house. Sometimes a sisterhood would gather five or six members together and run their own sister house. The bond o f sisterhood that brought members o f a group together in a sister house served to keep harmony and peace in the household as well. The sister houses generally had more binding commitments to each o f their members due to the presence o f the existing bond between the sisters and the smaller number o f members. The sister houses and coolie fong organized social and religious functions, and benefits schemes for their members.
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Some coolie fo n g and sister houses conducted post-mortuary rites for their deceased boarders. In a discussion Topley had with the Cantonese spinsters and bridedaughters in Singapore, most o f them stressed their preference for female mourners. It was not surprising that there was a marked absence o f male mourners attending the funeral rites for unmarried Cantonese female servants.13 The importance o f observing the appropriate mourning rites should not be overlooked because it was for this purpose that a coolie fo n g or a sister house functioned as a place that provided female mourners for its deceased member. In China, the sisterhoods in the women’s houses (gupowu) would arrange for the funeral rites to be held in their premises. Mourning rites would be carried out and the gupowu provided a permanent place for the placement and worship o f the soul tablets as well. In Malaya, however, the owners o f rented sister houses and coolie fongs strictly forbade any arrangements for funeral rites on their premises. Thus, funeral rites for a deceased member o f the coolie fong or sister house were held in a rented place. Thereafter, the soul tablet would be placed in a temple and looked after by either by the temple caretaker, the nuns or monks who lived in temples.
6.3.2 Sisters’ Associations
The coolie fo n g and sister houses were the major bases for recruitment o f members for regional groupings such as the Sisters’ Association. Since members o f the Sisters Associations had to make a monthly monetary contribution, not every woman belonged to one. The memberships were largely restricted to the unattached Cantonese female domestic servants and female labourers under the age o f 45. The money was then used as payment for the maintenance o f a m em bers’ room. Members who were unemployed or taken ill may occupy the members’ room for free for a duration o f tim e.14 In between the 1930s and the 1950s, the associations were reportedly equipped with functions o f providing mutual help such as the protection o f their female wage earning members against work exploitation and work place accidents.15 However, it was doubtful if any o f the associations were ever involved in any enterprise bargaining on the behalf o f its
l3Op. cit., p. 68.
l4Wong, A Cycle o f Chinese Festivals, p. 133.
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members although there was a high possibility that it was affliated to loan societies or womens’ hostels.16
The Sisters’Association was primarily associated with the celebrations o f popular folk beliefs such as the Festival o f the Seven Sisters. The best known was the Seven Sisters Associations in Singapore and Penang. A Seven Sisters club attracted a large group o f followers among unmarried women and the bridedaughters. This was partially because these immigrant women were cut off from many celebrations that would otherwise have normally occured in a family setting. These women who lived on their own had to rely largely on outside organisations for socialisation and other forms o f entertainm ent.17 Moreover, the Seven Sisters Associations were not a novelty in Malaya since it was first established in the marriage resistance areas in the Pearl River Delta. In the late 1930s, prior to the Japanese occupation in Malaya, groups o f senior female vegetarians together with unwed women, would hold needle works and embriodery exhibitions in vegetarian house,18 a tradition commonly observed in Quangdong. It was later replaced with food and fruits offerings and the practice seance among the virgin women in order to communicate with the spirits o f the Seven Sisters. Topley suggested that the function o f the associations was “to perpetuate the religious memory” of a particular spiritual b ein g .19 We may further add to that with the emphasis on the folk beliefs that perpetuated the marital status o f unmarried women. The celebration o f this particular religious belief enhanced the legitimation o f the zishunu and buluojia group identity. After all, the sisters mentioned in the legend o f the Seven sisters remained as unmarried maidens with the exception o f the youngest sister, the Weaving Lady who apparently became a bridedaughter.