1819年，新加坡建埠後，成為英國重要的貿易港埠，因此帶動苦力貿易的發展。由於清朝海禁政策的施行，導致人口販子自中國南部沿海省分，拐賣或販售幼童與年輕女性至新加坡與香港的風氣非常興盛，其中以娼妓與妹仔人數最多。新加坡的妹仔主要從事家務工作，但因主家常為豐厚的利潤，將其賣至妓院從娼，或轉賣至他地，妹仔受虐等問題因此浮現。1920至1930年代，海峽殖民地政府對新加坡的妹仔體制是否為變相的奴隸制度展開討論，希望改善妹仔的處境。之後分別於1925年與1932年頒布「婦女佣工法案」和「妹仔法案」。華人社群亦開始重視此類社會問題，廢婢運動由此展開。本文利用英國官方檔案與華文報紙來檢視妹仔問題，對下述議題進行討論：華人社群對「婦女佣工法案」和「妹仔法案」的看法為何？華人社會與海峽殖民地政府對妹仔的觀感有無差異?是否反映出東西文化價值觀的不同？

After the founding of the port of Singapore in 1819, the British administrators regarded this place as an important commercial center. Many Chinese laborers thus came to Singapore through the coolie trade. Due to the Qing government’s closeddoor policy, human traffickers abducted or purchased children and young women from southern provinces in China and sold them to Singapore and Hong Kong. Most of those females were sold as prostitutes and mui tsais (young maids). The mui tsais mainly worked as domestic servants, but their owners often resold them to brothels or to other places. This often led to ill treatments of the mui tsais. During the 1920s and 1930s, the governments of Straits Settlements began to discuss the links between the mui tsai system and slavery, hoping to improve mui tsais’ living conditions. Under these circumstances, Female Domestic Servants Bill and Mui Tsai Ordinance were enacted in 1925 and 1932, respectively, as a way to find solutions to the mui tsai problem. The Chinese Community in Singapore also became concerned with this social problem, which marked the beginning of the Anti-Mui Tsai Movement. In this study, the Colonial Office records and Chinese newspapers are used to examine the mui tsai question in early 20th Century Singapore, and the following issues are explored: What were the perspectives of the Chinese community regarding Female Domestic Servants Bill and Mui Tsai Ordinance? Did different views on the mui tsais question held by the Chinese community and by the Colonial Government reflect different values in eastern and western cultures?

妹仔; 華文報紙; 「婦女佣工法案」; 「妹仔法案」; 廢婢運動

mui tsais; Chinese newspapers; Female Domestic Servants Bill; Mui Tsai Ordinance; Anti-Mui Tsai Movement