Kelly Tsai

2021, Digital color photo

When my dad was growing up in rural central Taiwan, he said the first deity they always prayed to was Mazu, the goddess of the sea and protector of all fisherman.

As I researched her more, I found out that Mazu was a real human being, who lived from 960-987 and was later deified.

Although stories differ, her legend includes the unusual observation that she never cried as a child. She became a protector of the sea after falling into a trance in her teen years and telepathically lifting sailors out of a storm to safety.

Mazu is depicted in many ways, but she is often seen roaming the seas while holding a golden lantern.

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2021, Digital color photo

Cheryl Song grew up in Crenshaw, Los Angeles and went to Dorsey High School, where she was classmates with R & B singers Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel. Growing up in an ultra-strict Asian household, her parents owned a Chinese restaurant in Crenshaw.

She landed on “Soul Train” after some of her high school friends brought her onto the show, curious to see what would happen since she wasn’t Black.

Cheryl became a long-standing regular on “Soul Train,” often referred to as “the Asian lady with the long hair.” She went on to dance and choreograph for Michael Jackson, Rick James, Lionel Richie, the Commodores, and more. She danced on the show from 1976 to 1990.

Cheryl said in an interview: “I was never allowed to voice my opinion or speak up…I usually faced the backlash from my parents and ended up regretting it. But when I heard music, I felt this enormous freedom, because I could for once express myself without speaking.”

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2021, Digital color photo

An orphan in Yangzhou in 1908, Pan Yuliang was sold to a brothel at age 13. A customs officer bought her (making her his 2nd wife) and paid for her education in Shanghai. She was accepted into Shanghai Art College’s 1st class of women in 1920. Classmates still looked down on her as an orphan, ex-prostitute, and concubine.

In 1921, she won a French scholarship and got into prestigious European art schools. She returned to China in 1928 and widely exhibited her work, praised as “The 1st Artist of Chinese Impressionism.” She taught Western painting at colleges, yet was denigrated for her past.

Due to stigma, she had few students and was paid 1/10th of fellow professors’ salaries. In her resignation letter, she wrote, “I have forgone all pointless commitments”

In 1937, Pan Yuliang moved to Paris, showing her award-winning work across Europe. Her work struggled to sell, but she still made 4000+ works over her life. Over half were nudes of Asian and different BIPOC women.

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2022, Digital color photo

Sister Ping - mastermind of one of the largest human smuggling rings of all time - was born to a Fuzhou farming family in 1949. She married Cheung Yick from a local village and had four kids. In 1974, they moved to Hong Kong, where she was a successful factory owner.

In 1981, they moved to NYC. Sister Ping started as a “snakehead” (human smuggler), charging $35K for false docs and plane tickets to the US. She amassed $40M over 10 years across Asia, Africa, and South America.

Feds underestimated her as a “little old lady” in the violent world of tongs and gangs. She lent money to those out of work and hated flashiness (except her Rolexes). Sister Ping said: “I know it’s difficult to be in a foreign land with few acquaintances.”

In 2000, she was arrested at Hong Kong airport by 40 agents and extradited to the US. At age 56, she was sentenced to 35 years and gave an hour monologue via interpreter stating: “My life remains valuable.”

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2023, Digital Color Photo

Lady Qiguan was the wife of influential philosopher Confucius (551-479 BCE). They married when he was 19. She gave birth to their only son a year later.

Some scholars say they split right after marrying. Others say they endured twenty unhappy years before Confucius divorced her. Some say Lady Qiguan packed and left. Records report they had two daughters too.

Confucius did not address women in The Analects except: "Women & servants are difficult to deal with: if you get too close to them, they become disrespectful; if you get too distant, they resent it."

Although Confucius rhetorically centered family and its role in self and society, he did not keep his own family intact and spent his life traveling with his male disciples.

Lady Qiguan’s story speaks to how cis men and their ideas are historicized in a philosophical vacuum, while those who could challenge them are erased.

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