Shanghai Girls

Content Warning: Chapter 6 depicts rape and sexual violence.

Pearl goes to the steamship office to try to exchange their tickets with no success. The clerk tells her it is becoming impossible to get out of the city. Meanwhile, millions of refugees from the countryside are fleeing to Shanghai to escape the advancing Japanese army. Back at home, Pearl learns that Mr. Chin hasn’t come back. May, Pearl, and Mrs. Chin wait up until past midnight, but he never arrives. Mrs. Chin decides that something has happened to him, so the women of the family must save themselves.

She reveals a hidden stash of money to tide them over. Then, she packs her jewelry and the marriage papers of May and Pearl. They hire a wheelbarrow pusher to take them to the Grand Canal, where they can get a boat bound for Hong Kong. Mrs. Chin has bound feet, which have become infected, so she must sit in the wheelbarrow while the others walk. For two nights, they travel by foot and lodge with impoverished farm families.