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Ng Akew

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Ng Akew
吳亞嬌
Bornc. 1820
Diedc. 1880
Occupations
Known forCumsingmum Affair
Children5

Ng Akew[a] (Chinese: 吳亞嬌; c. 1820 – c. 1880) was a Chinese protected woman [zh], opium smuggler and property owner active in British Hong Kong.[1] A central figure in the "Cumsingmum Affair" of 1849, Akew attracted great attention as a cause célèbre.[3][4]

Early life

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Akew was born around 1820 to a Tanka family, and grew up in the Pearl River Delta region of Canton (present-day Guangdong).[1] In 1842, Akew was sold in Canton to James Bridges Endicott (1814–1870), an American captain on the opium-receiving ships of Russell & Company.[1][3][4][5][6]

Akew became a protected women; a women "acquired" by and living under the "protection" of a Western man in a long-term sexual relationship.[1][2][7][8] Almost entirely from the marginalised Tanka ethnic minority[b], protected women were legally distinct from sex workers (who under British Hong Kong law were registered and inspected).[1][2][7][8] Protected women were able to achieve an unofficial yet precarious social status, economic independence and local influence.[1][2][7][8]

Cumsingmum Affair

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Establishing a small opium business using her own boats, Akew proved herself to be a capable trader.[1][9] In 1848, Akew bought eight chests of opium from Endicott.[1] When her boat and cargo was stolen by pirates, she traveled herself to the pirate base and negotiated compensation. Shortly after, an American ship was attacked and its cargo stolen by a pirate ship with Ng Akew present. The stolen cargo was later discovered in her own ship. It was assumed that she had negotiated with the pirates that the cargo from their next pirate attack would go to her as compensation for the cargo they stole from her. Her guilt could not be proven in court and she was therefore freed, but the case became famous in her time.

When Bridges Endicott retired to Macao he provided Ng Akew with property in Hong Kong, including two properties which, in 1852, he had placed in a trust for her.[3]

Personal life

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Akew gave birth to 5 of Endicott's children.[5] Akew died around 1880.[c][1]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Also cited as Ong Akew, Ong Mo Kew, Hung Mo Kew and Hung Mow Kew (red–haired Kew).[1][2]
  2. ↑ In British Hong Kong some protected women were purchased from brothels.[8]
  3. ↑ Also cited as 1914.[5]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sinn, Elizabeth (11 June 2026). "Akew, Ng (b. c.1820, d. in or around 1880), opium smuggler and property owner". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000383182. Retrieved 1 July 2026. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Heaver, Stuart (13 March 2019). "Hong Kong's 'protected women': the forgotten females of city's patriarchal 19th-century society". South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 Siu, Helen F. (1 March 2010). Merchants' Daughters: Women, Commerce, and Regional Culture in South China. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-988-8083-48-0.
  4. 1 2 Kwan, C. Nathan (2020). "In the Business of Piracy: Entrepreneurial Women Among Chinese Pirates in the Mid-Nineteenth Century". In Aston, Jennifer; Bishop, Catherine (eds.). Female Entrepreneurs in the Long Nineteenth Century: A Global Perspective. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 195–218. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33412-3_8. ISBN 978-3-030-33412-3. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Teng, Emma (13 July 2013). Eurasian: Mixed Identities in the United States, China, and Hong Kong, 1842–1943. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-27627-7.
  6. ↑ Chan, Chi Ming (2015). "Ng Akew". In Hong Lee, Lily Xiao; Lau, Clara; Stefanowska, A.D. (eds.). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women. Volume 1: The Qing Period, 1644–1911. Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis. pp. 160–162. ISBN 9780765600431. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 "Mr Stead and The Contagious Diseases Act". The Lancet: 113. 30 October 1897. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Carl T. (1994). "Protected Women in 19th-Century Hong Kong". In Jaschok, Maria; Miers, Suzanne (eds.). Women and Chinese Patriarchy: Submission, Servitude. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 221–237. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  9. ↑ Pik-wan, Wong; Wu, Ka-ming (2011). "Merchants' Daughters: Women, Commerce, and Regional Culture in South China (review)". China Review International. 18 (2): 240–242. ISSN 2996-8593.
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