Sculpture of a Samsui woman, taken at the entrance of Chinatown Heritage Centre
The Samsui women (三水妇女; 三水婦女; Sān shuǐ fùnǚ; 'Samshui Women'),
best known for their Red Headscarf (红头巾; 紅頭巾; hóng tóu jīn; 'red headscarf'), were a group of Chinese female immigrants who came to Malaya and Singapore between the 1920s and 1940s in search of construction and industrial jobs.[1] These women hailed mostly from the Sanshui District of modern-day Guangdong, a province in southern China. Other areas of origin include Shunde and Dongguan, Fujian and Chao’an, although labourers from these regions were relatively few in number. Their hard work contributed to the development of the Straits Settlements, both as colonies and later as the new nations of Singapore and Malaysia. Samsui women did manual labour similar to coolies but were considered to be more independent.
