ABSTRACT
The lower classes had more freedom of action, as they were not confined to the compound, but went about to perform such duties as were necessary towards contributing to the household budget. Seamstresses sat at street corners repairing clothes, and farmers' wives helped in the operations in the fields. Goat-footed women ravaged the hillsides for sticks for fuel, or cut grass for fodder. In Hong Kong the Boat girls did all the sampan rowing, their menfolk being employed on junks for the heavy work of cargo handling. It was impossible, however, to generalise on the subject of female employment in tasks usually performed by men for, whilst in the Canton delta they were everywhere to be seen, in the neighbourhood of Swatow they were conspicuous by their absence in the fields.
