Amoi, Yuk-Mui Ong
Over 130 interviews with Chinese Canadian women were conducted for the book Jin Guo: Voices of Chinese Canadian Women. Produced in 1992 by the Women’s Book Committee of the Chinese Canadian National Council, Jin Guo was intended to fill the gap in historical accounts of Chinese Canadian women’s history. Researchers traveled across Canada to interview Chinese Canadian women of various ages and backgrounds. The book’s authors, Amy Go, Winnie Ng, Dora Nipp, Julia Tao, Terry Woo and May Yee, organized the book around themes and patterns that emerged across multiple interviews – feelings of isolation and culture shock upon arrival in Canada, memories of parent-child relationships, the importance of education, the working lives of women, discrimination, cultural identity, marriage and dating, family life, perspectives on aging and retirement, and examples community activism. The interviews conducted for this project are stored at the Multicultural History Society of Ontario’s archives. This collections database includes a large cross-section of interviews conducted for Jin Guo – in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
In this interview, Yuk-Mui Amoi talks about growing up in Indonesia, the impact of attending a Dutch-influenced elementary school, the influence of father’s Chinese heritage, and the development of her feminist perspective. Yuk-Mui was born in Indonesia, and moved to Hong Kong in 1963, and Canada in 1971.
Yuk-Mui explains that because the elementary school she attended in Indonesia was strongly influenced by Dutch culture, she felt that influence while growing up. She credits this with her appreciation of cultural diversity, and feels that the discrimination she faced helped her understand her cultural identity. She reflects on the cultural differences between Indonesia and Hong Kong, noting the significant Chinese cultural influence in Hong Kong.
Yuk-Mui notes that even though she feels more Chinese than Indonesian in their heritage, there are aspects of the Chinese culture that she rebelled against, such as patriarchal values. She identifies education as the way to overcome the patriarchal traditions of Chinese culture and move beyond the expected roles of wife and mother.
Yuk-Mui moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba at age 17 in order to pursue a university education in Social Work. She talks about the challenges she faced, living in a new country with an unfamiliar culture, and her struggle to learn English.
Yuk-Moi acknowledges the people who assisted her adjustment to life in Canada. She met her husband, Tony, while both were studying at university, and they married in 1976.
Yuk-Moi describes her career path in gerontology, and her belief in the importance of developing a sense of community responsibility. She also discusses her feminist views on education, the place of women in society, the treatment of ethnocultural groups, and ehtnocultural self-perception.
Yuk-Moi explains her interest in researching issues that will lead to a better understanding of the needs of immigrant women.
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