A sisterhood house collective photo salvaged from a gupouk (communal home) on Lorong Pasar in George Town in Penang. Photo: Chen Jialu
Over 3,400km separate Guangdong, China, and George Town, Penang. Yet in the early 1900s, groups of single women from this Chinese province journeyed south to Malaya and Singapore seeking work and a better life.
Known as majie, they took vows of celibacy in ceremonies where they combed their hair into buns – signalling their choice to remain unmarried, unlike the traditional long braids worn by single women.
