1. As Equals: The Oei Women of Java – A Book Talk by Daryl Yeap
- Author:
- Daryl Yeap, Lien-Hang Nguyen, and Jim Cheng
- Publication Date:
- 11-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- In this talk, Daryl Yeap presents her new book “As Equals: The Oei Women of Java”. The book tells the fascinating story of Oei Hui-lan (aka Madame Wellington Koo), Ida Oei and Lucy Ho Oei, daughters and wife of Asia's richest man at the turn of the 20th century -- Oei Tiong-ham. Born at the height of Sinophobic fears and at a time when the great majority of Chinese women continued to live under the Confucian veil, the three women defied social conventions and punctured through cultural stereotypes – showing to the world that they were the epitome of the modern woman - - sophisticated, educated, sexually aware, and above all, fiercely independent. The talk will focus on the early years and the circumstances that shaped their lives – from the elaborate social networks of the Chinese community in the Dutch East Indies to the colonial policies in South East Asia.
- Topic:
- Women, History, Colonialism, Book Talk, and Sinophobia
- Political Geography:
- China, Southeast Asia, and Rojava