Shanghai Girls

On the third day, they find signs of destruction by the Japanese army. Corpses of murdered civilians and raped women are lying in the villages they pass. That night, they shelter in an abandoned house. After the Chins settle down to sleep, they hear the sound of men approaching. Their wheelbarrow pusher is killed outside. Mrs. Chin hides the girls in a back bedroom and goes out to act as a decoy. She is soon gang raped by a group of Japanese soldiers. During this ordeal, the soldiers unwrap her malformed feet and stomp on the bones to straighten them out, causing Mrs. Chin unendurable agony.

Pearl can’t stand the sound of her mother’s screams and steps out of the bedroom to help. When the soldiers see her, they gang-rape her repeatedly until an officer arrives and commands the men to leave. Shortly after they depart, Pearl tries to revive her mother. Mrs. Chin tells her eldest daughter to take care of May and dies shortly afterward from her injuries. At this point, Pearl loses consciousness.

Pearl doesn’t awaken until days later in a hospital. When she revives, she learns that May used some of their money to get them to Hangchow. Pearl was feverish and on the point of death. After six weeks and repeated surgeries to repair her ravaged body, she starts to recover.

Shortly after this point, the sisters board a ship that will take them from Hangchow to Hong Kong. During their voyage, the vessel is attacked by pirates. However, Pearl and May had the foresight to hide their remaining money, so the pirates don’t find it. Once in Hong Kong, they board a ship bound for San Francisco. During their voyage, they finally get word of the turmoil in Shanghai and are glad to have escaped in time.

The night before they make port, Pearl takes out a coaching book that her husband Sam gave her. It contains all the facts about his family that Pearl will need to answer when immigration officials question her. May has a book too, but she fails to study it carefully.

Once they arrive, the Chinese passengers are herded like cattle and taken to Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West for processing immigrants. When May and Pearl are questioned, their stories don’t tally completely. They are called back for questioning on multiple occasions until weeks turn into months. After an eight-hour interrogation, Pearl returns to find May in the bunkhouse and complains about her sister’s inability to back her story. May abruptly announces that she is pregnant.

May explains that she got pregnant before the arranged wedding took place. The father is someone Pearl doesn’t know. May wants to make sure the baby is born on the island, so she can’t be sent back to China. Further, she must pass the baby off as belonging to Pearl. That way, Old Man Louie will accept the baby as his grandchild because he knows that Pearl and Sam consummated their marriage, but May didn’t. The sisters start to dress in baggy peasant clothing so that it will appear Pearl is the one who is pregnant. Their detention continues for four months.

In the middle of the night, Pearl finds May in labor in the women’s bathroom. The two sisters manage to deliver the baby without attracting any notice. It’s a girl, and they decide to call her Joy. The other women in the camp don’t suspect that May is actually the mother. Pearl says she will bottle feed the baby as modern women do, so no one notices that she isn’t lactating either.

After the birth, the sisters send a telegram to their spouses. “The message is short and to the point: MAY AND PEARL ARRIVED ANGEL ISLAND. SEND TRAVEL FUNDS. BABY BORN. PREPARE ONE-MONTH BIRTHDAY” (123). During the next round of interrogation, Pearl shows up with a baby. Since Joy was born in America, this makes her a citizen. This is such a bureaucratic nightmare that the officials immediately decide to allow the sisters into the country. Pearl and May collect their belongings and board a ferry to take them to San Francisco.