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Women's History Month • Samsui Women｜红头巾
1. About this Issue • 红头巾
1. About this Issue • 红头巾
We celebrate Women’s History Month with Samsui Women (1986 TV drama series), a beloved Singaporean TV drama series that originally aired in 1986. The 24-episode series centers on a group of migrant women from China who helped build Singapore’s infrastructure before and after World War II. The two theme songs, performed by Sarah Chen, are arguably her most historically significant theme-song work.
As a pre-digital era TV series, Samsui Women has received only sporadic and sometimes distorted online coverage. Its English Wikipedia page provides no plot summary, while its Chinese-language sites reduce the series to a misleading “success versus failure” narrative about two women. Forty years later, we watched the series for the first time to examine its social significance.
2. Samsui Women Plot •《红头巾》剧情
2. Samsui Women Plot •《红头巾》剧情
Some of the main characters in Samsui Women. The two female leads (Zeng Huifen and Hong Huifang) gave outstanding performances.
「红头巾」电视连续剧的一些主要人物。两位女主角由曾慧芬和洪慧芳扮演，表现出色。
Samsui Women was a beloved 24-episode Singaporean TV drama series from 1986. It followed a group of poor Chinese women who worked as construction workers in 1930s–1950s Singapore. They supported each other through wartime as they navigated complex relationships.
《红头巾》是1986年非常受欢迎的24集新加坡电视连续剧。它描述了1930-1950年代中国女工在新加坡作建筑工人的经历和爱情故事。
Plot （English）
Plot （English）
Spoiler alert!
Samsui Women followed the love stories of two poor village girls from Samsui, China, who migrated to Singapore to work in construction around World War II: Dai Ah-Gui (hereafter “Cassia” for “Gui”, portrayed by Zeng Huifen), 18, and Dai Ah-Xiu (“Grace”, portrayed by Hong Huifang), 17. As close as sisters, they were each other’s greatest support. Both found love in Singapore, Cassia with the flamboyant truck driver Su Ah-Zhi (“Arthur”), and Grace with an honest policeman Li Ah-Long (“Long”). But neither could marry the man she loved because of family traditions and wartime circumstances.
Cassia’s engagement to Arthur ended when her family arranged her marriage to Er-Niu, who later came to Singapore with his concubine and their infant son. Feckless and prone to trouble, Er-Niu and his family became Cassia’s new dependents. Although illiterate and performing hard labor, Cassia taught herself to read and write and learned to use the abacus and acquired construction skills. Arthur left Singapore when it fell to Japan and returned after World War II, by which time Er-Niu had died in a revenge killing. Cassia and Arthur got married and adopted Er-Niu’s son after the boy’s mother abandoned him.
Grace, who worked for a time at a coffee shop serving rich men, was rejected by Long’s family. To pay another Samsui woman’s medical bill, she married the wealthy Zhuang Jr., who was dying of tuberculosis. The couple developed genuine affection. During Japan’s invasion of Singapore, she suffered a miscarriage and, after her husband’s death, was expelled from the family. She opened a coffee shop and later married Mr. Luo, a Japanese informant responsible for the death of Long's family. But Luo also saved many others and was the only man who appreciated Grace's courage. Luo was killed when Japan surrendered in 1945.
After the war, Grace rekindled her love with Long, who was then engaged to another woman. Devastated but convinced he would be better off with the other woman, Grace refused Long's proposal and married a construction foreman who already had three wives. She and the third wife, Ah-Rong, despised each other from the time when Ah-Rong worked in Grace's coffee shop. Ah-Rong killed the foreman when he tried to cover his debt by stealing her jewelry. In the ensuing chaos, Grace was pushed down a steep staircase and crashed into Cassia, who was pregnant. Grace broke her leg and was disabled by the fall, and Cassia became infertile.
By the end of the war, Cassia had led several small construction projects but lacked capital to take on larger ones, so Arthur sold his truck to support her first major project. As Cassia became successful, Arthur grew jealous and family tensions rose. With two young daughters, Cassia gave up her career while Arthur launched a successful transportation business. At Grace’s intervention, her former father-in-law persuaded Arthur to let Cassia return to work. She went on to complete some of Singapore’s biggest construction projects.
The blame Grace received from her actions, along with the guilt she felt, turned her into a recluse who often lived on the streets. The only people she loved were Cassia’s children and grandchildren. Decades later, at a Samsui women reunion, she died suddenly while playing with Cassia’s grandchild nearby.
中文剧情 （展开）
中文剧情 （展开）
故事情节如下（含剧透）：
《红头巾》主要讲述从三水来的两个山村姑娘，于二战期间在新加坡作建筑工人的遭遇：18岁的戴阿桂（曾慧芬扮演）和17岁的戴阿秀（洪慧芳扮演）。她俩情同姐妹，彼此照顾。在新加坡都遇到了相爱的人：阿桂的恋人是开机车的热血青年苏阿治，阿秀的恋人是正直的警察李阿龙。但由于家庭传统和战时变故，两人都嫁给了他人，引来无数的烦恼。
在阿桂和阿治刚要成亲前夕，家乡来信说已将她许配给陈二牛。阿桂遵循传统断掉了和阿治的亲事，攒钱将二牛接到新加坡，没料到他真是个二流子，带来小老婆和儿子不说，还好吃懒做，到处惹是生非，一家三口成了阿桂的负担。阿桂很上进，学会了认字和算盘，还从阿秀的前公公那里学到建筑知识。日本占据新加坡后，阿治离开国土，战争结束后回家来发现陈二牛遭人报复身亡。阿桂和阿治终于成亲，领养了二牛小老婆抛弃的儿子。他俩生了两个女儿。
阿秀来新后，因经济所迫曾做过一段咖啡妹，应付有钱的花花公子。阿龙家嫌弃她品行不正，不赞成娶她。一次，三水女人的领头英姐大病，为了负她的医疗费，阿秀嫁给了建筑商的儿子、肺病晚期的庄少爷，夫妻俩感情不错。日本侵占新加坡时，动乱中阿秀流产；庄少爷不久便去世了，庄母得知阿秀已经没了胎儿便将她驱逐出家。阿秀开了一家咖啡店，然后嫁给了日本汉奸骆老板，他害死了阿龙一家十四口，但也救了不少人，是唯一欣赏阿秀的胆识的人。1945年日本投降后，骆老板被人打死。
二战结束后，阿秀和阿龙重温故情，但阿龙在战争期间已经有了未婚妻。阿秀唯一的真爱是阿龙，虽然阿龙的亲事让她心碎，她觉得阿龙跟那个女人一起会更幸福。阿龙转念后想和她成亲，但阿秀拒绝了他，为了让他死心便嫁给了已经有三个老婆的包工头。她和三姨太阿荣是冤家，挑衅中各自被包工头毒打了一顿。阿秀怂恿欠债的包工头偷阿荣的首饰，阿荣发现后将他打死，并将阿秀打下很高的台阶，撞到了怀有身孕的阿桂身上。阿秀从此瘸了腿，而阿桂丢了胎儿，此后不育。
到二战结束时，阿桂已经开始带领一些小的建筑项目，但没有本钱接大项目。阿治卖掉了他的机车，凑钱让她做了第一个大项目。但阿桂事业的成功给阿治带来心理不平衡，觉得自己像是个家庭妇女。为了阿治的幸福，阿桂放弃了她的事业，而阿治开启了成功的交通业。阿秀偶遇前公公庄老板，要他帮阿桂。庄老板说服了阿治，阿桂重回建筑业，和庄老板联手建筑了新加坡最高的大厦之一。
大家不理解阿秀的作为，责怪她，她自己对阿荣和包工头也内疚，从此她不愿和他人打交道，时常流落在街头。唯一让她心疼的人是阿桂的儿孙。数十年后，一次三水女人聚会时，阿秀和阿桂的孙子在一边玩儿，她突然死去。
3. Review of Samsui Women • 《红头巾》评论
3. Review of Samsui Women • 《红头巾》评论
The five Samsui Women: (from left) Sisters Silver and Gold, Grace, Cassia, and Sister Ying. 五位红头巾（自左）：翠银，翠金，阿秀，阿桂，英姐。
Review（click for English）
Review（click for English）
Samsui Women was a highly successful TV drama series in Singapore in the 1980s, in part because it gave voice to women at the bottom of society – uneducated migrant laborers working in construction. But how well does the series stand the test of time? What insights do we gain from watching it decades later, from a 21st-century perspective?
At the time of this review, the series was forty years old and its storyline nearly a century removed from the present. Traditions that restricted women a century ago – arranged marriage and polygyny – seem unimaginable today. While romantic love, such as that between Cassia and Arthur, eventually prevailed, Cassia chose to honor her arranged marriage. Polygyny, the practice of a man having multiple wives, was made worse by those men publicly asserting their right to abuse their wives. Today, such traditions are widely rejected, making Cassia’s acceptance of her arranged marriage hard to believe, even unjustifiable.
Those changing values, in which women’s agency is increasingly recognized, place Grace’s actions in a more favorable light today than a century ago. Despite her tragic end, Grace was the one who frequently challenged traditions, doing what she believed was right even when others judged her immoral. As beloved as Cassia was for her selflessness, Grace may be the drama’s understated hero – saving the Samsui women from the Japanese and paying their expenses at critical moments. Even her vices – vengeance toward those who wronged her and jealousy of Cassia – felt human. Notably, the only person who appreciated her character was her second husband, the Japanese informant whom everyone else despised.
Earlier plot summaries framed Cassia as a self-righteous, successful businesswoman, while Grace is described as making repeated misjudgments in her three failed marriages. Yet these summaries reflect less the perspective of the drama itself than a projection of the commentators’ own moral values. Samsui Women was successful because it resisted rigid moral judgment. The “good” characters – Cassia, Arthur, Long, and Sister Ying – were flawed in their own way. In contrast, the actions of its “villains” were rational, even heroic, given the circumstances.
While presenting these moral dilemmas, Samsui Women withheld final judgment. Instead, it granted humanity to all its characters by focusing on the love among them: romantic love between Cassia and Arthur, and Grace and Long; familial love between Sister Ying and her son, and Grandpa Su and Arthur; and the sisterhood among the Samsui women themselves. Herein lies the timeless value of Samsui Women – a tribute to the enduring love among people, even when they are imperfect and followed outdated traditions.
中文评论
中文评论
《红头巾》的成功部分来自选题，将重心放在位居社会底层的建筑女民工。但四十年后，这个电视剧是否还值得一看？从二十一世纪的角度来看，《红头巾》的价值在哪里？
在我们今天做这段评述时，《红头巾》已经四十年，而故事情节来自百年前。那时框在女人身上的一些习俗，比如包办婚姻和娶小老婆，如今很难想象。虽然在故事里阿桂和阿治的真爱最终实现了，但之前阿桂还是选择了包办婚姻。男人不仅娶小老婆，还在街上动粗，声称他打她们谁也管不了。这些习俗早已被否定，从现代角度看，阿桂嫁给二牛是最难接受的决定。
随着价值观的改变，女人自主的观念增强，阿秀那时的抉择如今看来更容易理解。虽然剧中阿秀下落凄惨，但她勇于违背常规，做她认为正确的事，不在乎别人怎么看。虽然《红头巾》的第一女主角是善良的阿桂，剧本显然将阿秀定位为被人忽视的英雄。是她将三水女人从日本人手中救出，也是她在关键的时候凑钱救人。连她的弱点，比如向阿荣报仇和嫉妒阿桂，都可以理解。值得一提的是，剧中唯一欣赏阿秀为人的人是她的第二个丈夫、大家都憎恨的日本汉奸骆老板。
过去网上的短评通常将阿桂描述成上进、成功的榜样，而阿秀则是三次嫁错了人、失败的例子。但这些总结并不是剧本的观点，而是写短评的人自己的道德观。事实上，《红头巾》之所以成功是因为它的道德观念非常成熟，不为传统道义所束。剧中善良的人，如阿桂，阿治，阿龙，还有英姐，都有明显的弱点。而那些看似不道德的人有时却是英雄，做出的选择通常是环境所迫。
虽然《红头巾》给大家呈现了道义问题，剧本自身并不作定论。它的重心不是道义，而是给所有的剧中人赋予人情。《红头巾》的根本是一系列爱的故事：浪漫的爱情（如阿桂和阿治，阿秀和阿龙）、母子情和爷孙情、三水女人之间的姐妹情，甚至养父养子的亲情。《红头巾》永恒的秘诀是它成熟的道德观以及对人情的贴切描述，哪怕大家都有缺陷，还遵循了早已过时的习俗。
4. Theme Songs • 陈淑桦的《红头巾》
4. Theme Songs • 陈淑桦的《红头巾》
The title theme of Samsui Women.
红头巾主题曲。词：程浩茵； 曲：李思菘
The second theme song Days Under the Sun.
插曲「艳阳下的日子」。词：嘉澄；曲：甄静
Theme Songs （click for English）
Theme Songs （click for English）
The main soundtracks of Samsui Women were two oustanding theme songs performed by Sarah Chen. The title track, Red Bandana, focuses on the Samsui women’s experiences, their longing for the home they left behind, and their hard-earned achievements in construction. The song served as both the opening and ending theme, with its music appearing frequently throughout the series. Decades after its airing, Red Bandana was voted as a top-five theme song in the quarter-century survey of Singapore’s films and television. One video shows thousands of people singing it in a large stadium, a testament to the song's place in Singapore's mainstream culture.
The secondary theme, Days Under the Sun, provides the emotional backbone of the series. Heard in isolation, the song feels like a philosophical take on life, lamenting that life is but a dream and asking why people take such divergent paths despite sharing the same beginnings. But within the drama, Days Under the Sun becomes an emotional outlet for both characters and audience. It is strategically placed, often when tragic circumstances become overwhelming: the death of Grace’s first husband; when Cassia finally decides to go with Arthur, only to find he had left an hour earlier; and when Grace becomes homeless.
Magazine clippings from 1986 carried short reports on Sarah Chen performing the themes for Samsui Women, noting that her voice was a good fit for the drama. Indeed, they could not have chosen a better singer. The quality of Chen’s voice – purely feminine yet surprisingly strong – is a perfect match for the Samsui women themselves. Chen, a Taiwanese singer who struggled for years before breaking through with EMI Singapore, was herself a “migrant worker” building a different kind of enterprise. Her ability to capture subtle emotions shines through in both songs. It is hard to imagine watching the grieving Grace without hearing Chen’s voice, the voice that wept with us as time and emotions froze.
The two themes for Samsui Women were Sarah Chen’s only studio recordings in 1986, when her career was momentarily interrupted by structural changes at her label. Outside Singapore, they did not receive widespread market exposure. Chen would go on to perform many popular theme songs, her best known being the 1990 Red Dust, another love story set during World War II. But her contribution to Samsui Women was on a completely different level. Chen was the voice of Grace, Cassia, and all the Samsui women, and of the audience engrossed in their stories. Her songs carried women's labor history to the popular culture.
陈淑桦的红头巾
陈淑桦的红头巾
《红头巾》不仅编剧和扮演成功，它的两首由陈淑桦演唱的主题曲和插曲也非常出色。主题曲名为「红头巾」，讲述女工的经历、思乡之情、和辛苦换来的大厦。这首歌通常出现在片头和片尾，曲调在剧中反复。二十几年后，新加坡观众将这首歌选成过去25年来主题曲的前五名。几千观众曾在体育馆里合唱「红头巾」，足见歌曲已经进入新加坡文化的主流。
插曲，「艳阳下的日子」，是电视剧的情感后盾。如果你只听歌，不知道《红头巾》的剧情，也许会觉得这是首有哲理、感叹人生的歌，尤其是那句“人生的开始本来相同，渐渐地朝着各自方向，同样是苦苦挣扎追求理想，结果是完全两样“。但在剧中，「艳阳下的日子」给人物和观众都提供了倾诉情感的方式。这首歌有系统性的安排，通常播放在悲痛难以继续下去的时候，比如阿秀失去了庄少爷时，阿桂决定跟阿治走却去晚了，或阿秀流落街头。
1986年的报刊曾提到 《红头巾》里的歌，说陈淑桦的歌声适合这两首歌。的确如此。陈淑桦的歌声是单纯的女声，然而轻柔中又非常强韧，配上了三水女人的特性。陈淑桦本人在台湾唱了几年不温不火的歌，她的突破来自签约于新加坡百代唱片公司，可以说她自己是漂流到新加坡来创建了另一种产业。她的演唱精确地把握了《红头巾》两首歌中细微而多样的情感。许多剧幕，比如阿秀悼念庄少爷那一幕，没了陈淑桦的歌声就很难卸去那份伤感。当时间和情感都突然停住了时，她的歌声倾诉了演员和观众共有的悲泣。
1986年，除了《红头巾》里的两首歌，陈淑桦没有发别的录音棚歌曲。那时百代唱片中断了四海在台湾的代理，她的生涯暂停。《红头巾》的歌除了在新加坡外没有广泛推出。陈淑桦后来演唱了不少更有名的主题曲，其中传唱最广的是《滚滚红尘》，也是二战时的爱情故事。但陈淑桦对《红头巾》的贡献远远超出《滚滚红尘》那一幕。她的歌声装满了近二十个小时的电视剧，唱出了阿桂、阿秀和所有三水女人的心声，为听众带来心理安慰，还将女工的历史传到了主流文化里。
1986年关于「红头巾」歌曲的报道。Magazine report on the theme songs from 1986.
Ref: 任翔. EMI 红头巾 意犹未足. 新加坡报刊 (1986).
5. Blog - Migrant Workers • 游工
5. Blog - Migrant Workers • 游工
The ultimate solution – perhaps only imaginable in our dreams – is the recognition of all people as human beings: born equal, deserving equal dignity and rights. In the end, this is what Samsui Women was about.
My first “job” was as a night watcher, where we slept inside a local shop to deter thieves. Beneath the shop was a lodging house for migrants, people who came through with their goods, animals, and musical instruments. The neighing of horses and the quacking of ducks at night were the most calming sounds I ever heard, accompanying us through those dark, anxious nights. Some days I wanted to join the migrants, especially the street performers; their songs of the past were some of the best history lessons I ever received.
By the time I took my second “job” doing writing work, the migrant population had changed – from people moving through towns to laborers staying behind for odd jobs. One of my most enduring pieces was on the homecoming of migrant workers during the holiday seasons. The sheer number of people moving through the system overwhelmed transportation networks, and the prevailing commentary at the time placed the blame on the migrants. My work struck a sympathetic tone and took a harder look at the system driving migration. It drew on interviews with migrant women traveling home with small children, often crammed into trains for days without a seat. The experience ultimately led me to change directions – there is only so much human suffering one could bear witness to.
This journal on Samsui Women is the first time that I have returned to migration as a subject, one that has since become a global issue. The structural forces that produce such suffering remain as pressing as ever, and I am not nearer to offering the kind of help I once hoped to give. The ultimate solution – perhaps only imaginable in our dreams – is the recognition of all people as human beings: born equal, deserving equal dignity and rights. In the end, this is what Samsui Women was about.
我的第一份“工作”是守夜，睡在商店里以防小偷。商店底下是游动工人的居所，时常有人带着产品、家禽、和乐器住在那里。夜里的马啸、鸭鸣是黑暗、焦虑中令人宽慰的伴侣。有时我想成为游工的一员，尤其是演唱团——从他们的民歌里我学了不少历史知识。
当我开始第二份、写作的“工作”时，游工的性质已经改变。他们不再是从一地走到另一地，而是留在了城市里做零工。那时我做的最深入的一篇是关于游工节日返乡的经历。由于大量的人员走动，交通赶不上，整个系统承受不住。那时主流观点是责怪游工。我做的访谈比较独特，从游工的角度来，探讨的是社会体制的问题。那时我接触了不少贫困女工带着小孩回家，在拥挤的车里一站就是一两天。那段工作也改变了我的方向；毕竟人世间的凄凉不是那么容易承受。
本期的《红头巾》是从那以后我第一次重新回到游工这个话题，如今它已成全球关于移民的讨论。社会体制的问题没有解决，我也没有找到当年探索的答案。也许只是梦寐以求，但游工的问题最终只有一个解答：承认所有的人都是人：生而平等，理应享有同等的尊严与权利。归根到底，这就是当年《红头巾》给予的答案。
也许只是梦寐以求，但游工的问题最终只有一个解答：承认所有的人都是人：生而平等，理应享有同等的尊严与权利。归根到底，这就是《红头巾》给予的答案。
Appendix - Detailed Plot of Samsui Women
Appendix - Detailed Plot of Samsui Women
This following is a note taken while watching Samsui Women, provided for future references. We gave the main characters English names to preserve their semantic distinction. Chapter titles are ours.
View credit here
1. Early days
1. Early days
Dai Ah-Gui (hereafter “Cassia” for “Gui”) and Dai Ah-Xiu (“Grace” for “Xiu”) were two village girls from Samsui, China in the 1930s. Grace was adopted by a local couple after being found by the roadside. Cassia, the third girl in her family, escaped infanticide and early marriage under the protection of her grandfather. The girls were good friends and helped their families out, but poverty prevented them from going to school.
When Cassia was 14, a flood destroyed her family’s food reserves. They took out a high-interest loan to send her to Singapore for work. She did odd jobs for four years before joining a group of Samsui women working in construction. Grace, who had run away from an arranged marriage, soon joined her. They lived in a shared room with sisters Jin and Yin (“Gold” and “Silver”), along with their leader, Sister Ying, a middle-aged woman with a troubled teenage son. The women wore red bandanas as a sunshield and good-luck charm, alongside workers from other regions wearing blue bandanas. Their workdays were long, often from sunrise to sundown, with a single lunch break.
The women befriended Su Ah-Zhi (“Arthur” for “Zhi”), the grandson of a tofu restaurant owner, Mr. Su. Arthur was a truck driver and occasionally gave the women a free ride to work. He and Cassia fell in love. Cassia was illiterate and unable to write letters. Arthur offered to write a letter to her mom, but he could barely write himself and ended up drawing her messages with visual symbols. The neighbors mistook the letter for Arthur’s love letter to Cassia. Embarrassed by their jeers, Arthur tore the letter up angrily, even rejecting Cassia’s apologies. Cassia started to teach herself how to read and write.
The town hired a new policeman, Li Ah-Long (“Long”). Unlike the other policemen, Long refused bribes and acted on principle. That principle led him to arrest Sister Ying’s son, Ah-Bin, when he was caught stealing Grace’s earring. Despite pleas from Sister Ying and Grace herself, Long refused to let Ah-Bin go. Ah-Bin faced years in prison.
On the day of the trial, Long took the witness stand. His sympathy for Sister Ying overcame his principles, and he equivocated, resulting in Ah-Bin’s release. Long was reprimanded at work, but gained acceptance from Arthur and others, as well as Grace’s heart. Long and Grace fell in love. But upon learning that Long was the eldest of a poor family of thirteen children, Grace hesitated about committing to their relationship.
2. Coffee girl & the arranged marriage
2. Coffee girl & the arranged marriage
Despite the low pay, construction work was hard to come by, and the Samsui women often had to compete with the blue bandana women for work. Their competition boiled over when the blue bandanas, led by Ah-Rong, got into a big fight with the Gold and Silver sisters, crashing the scaffold and injuring the men on it. The women lost their jobs and had to pay the men’s hefty medical bills. With no jobs and no money, Grace, still underage, took a job as a “coffee girl” [1] in a shop serving rich men. She was accosted by a powerful man, Brother Hua, who showered her with money and gifts. Hua’s connections with the police prevented Long from arresting him.
Long sought help from Arthur to talk Grace out of her job. Not close to her, Arthur instead confronted the owner of the construction project. He broke into the office and accused management of depriving the hardworking women of their livelihood. The owner’s son, Zhuang Jr., a kind-hearted young man with tuberculosis, reinstated the women. Grace, however, refused to return to the low-paying job and moved out to live with the other coffee girls.
At the threat of the matchmaker finding Cassia a husband, Arthur proposed and was readily accepted. They were to marry, but first Cassia had to write to her grandpa for his blessing. Not knowing enough words, it took her days to write the letter. On the day she was to deliver it, she received a letter from her grandpa informing her that he was gravely ill and had arranged a marriage for her as his final wish. Cassia was caught between honoring family tradition and her own wishes. A sense of duty pushed her toward accepting the arranged marriage and calling off her relationship with Arthur. Crushed, Arthur left Singapore. The neighbors held a marriage ceremony for Cassia without her husband.
Grace faced increasing harassment from Brother Hua at work. One day, no longer able to evade him, she went with him and was forced into his room under the pretense of giving her a necklace. Grace tricked Hua into the washroom and escaped with the necklace. Enraged, Hua sent two hitmen after her. Their plan was overheard by Ah-Bin, who found Long in time to save Grace. Hua then took revenge on Long, who was severely injured in an attack. On a visit to Long’s home, Grace overheard his parents’ disparaging remarks about her moral failure as a coffee girl.
3. Grace got married
3. Grace got married
No longer safe returning to the coffee shop, Grace rejoined the Samsui women at the construction site. The women were sent to renovate the garden of the construction owner. Zhuang Jr.’s illness had progressed and he was given just a year to live. With no heir, the Zhuangs were eager to arrange a marriage for their son, hoping that he might leave offspring. But matchmaking failed as none of the women wanted to marry a dying man.
Looking out the window, the young man told his mother that he wished he could be as healthy as the Samsui women. This gave his mother an idea. She eyed the two younger women, but news of Cassia’s marriage led her to settle on Grace. Soon the matchmaker was sent to propose to Grace’s elder, Sister Ying. Unsure what to make of a proposal from such a great family, Grace asked for more time.
In a meeting with Long, Grace said she had not accepted Zhuang Jr.’s proposal because she loved Long. He took her home, but his parents vehemently objected, loudly telling him from behind a curtain that women like Grace were immoral and that they would never accept her. Heartbroken, Grace walked home alone and was attacked by Hua. As she ran away, she was hit by an oncoming car and momentarily lost consciousness. It was Zhuang Jr.’s car. He saved her and gave her a ride home.
The women soon fell into severe financial trouble. After Ah-Bin was expelled from school, Sister Ying borrowed money from the other women to send him to an expensive school. But the construction foreman ran off with the women’s pay, leaving everyone in debt. Sister Ying soon discovered that her son never went to the new school. Her health began to fail; she would die if not sent to the hospital.
To get money for Sister Ying, Grace went to the Zhuangs to ask for an engagement fee, thereby accepting their proposal. Sister Ying recovered, and a date was picked for Grace and Zhuang Jr.’s wedding. But when Cassia went to return the wedding acceptance, she found out about Zhuang Jr.’s illness and took the acceptance back. The women tried to talk Grace out of the marriage. Realizing that Grace had been kept uninformed of his condition, Zhuang Jr. asked his parents to release her from the engagement.
Grace went to the Zhuangs. Mr. Zhuang told her that his son had only a year to live and could die at any time. He let her keep the money and gifts and told her that she could walk out and be free of the engagement. Hearing Zhuang Jr.’s coughing overwhelmed Grace: memories of Long, the construction site, Hua’s threats, and her recent meeting with Zhuang Jr. She stepped one foot out the door, then slowly pulled it back.
On Grace’s wedding day, Long, on patrol duty, escorted Grace and Zhuang Jr. to the wedding. After the guests left, Zhuang Jr. moved to sleep alone in the study. He told Grace it would be better for her to marry Long. Grace said that she had moved on from her previous relationship and that she would never leave him. He embraced her.
Their wedding brought another piece of good news: Mr. Zhuang had secured his biggest construction project, contracted with the British government. The Samsui women began to receive better pay. Sister Ying’s son Ah-Bin, however, became tangled in a gang fight and landed in prison. Daily beatings continued until he gained the other prisoners’ trust, drawing him deeper into criminal life. After his release, he stole metal from the Samsui women’s construction site, injuring the watchman. Unaware of the truth, Sister Ying arranged a marriage for Ah-Bin with a gentle young woman older than him, hoping to rein him in.
4. The husband and his concubine
4. The husband and his concubine
Arthur returned from a long time away, bringing a leased lorry to start a business. By then, Cassia’s grandfather had died. Soon, she began receiving letters from her husband Er-Niu asking her for travel money to Singapore. When she fell short, Arthur sold his lorry to bring Er-Niu over. He helped clean up the unit Cassia rented as her home with Er-Niu.
Er-Niu arrived and caused a scene at the tofu house, accusing Mr. Su of serving him spoiled tofu, a trick that got him another bowl for free. Cassia arrived only to discover that Er-Niu had brought a concubine, Ah-Jiao (“Gia”), and their infant son. Cassia settled them in the unit she had prepared but returned to live with the Samsui women, keeping the marriage on paper only.
With Grace’s help, Er-Niu got a desk job with Mr. Zhuang, but he was soon fired for making mistakes. Cassia found him work as a teacher, but he lost the job after slapping a student. With no income and being too lazy to work, Er-Niu and his family lived off Cassia’s meager pay. Feeling entitled to more than her money, he forced himself on Cassia. She escaped and warned him that she would abandon his family if he disrespected her again.
Still trying to help, Cassia persuaded the lorry owner to hire Er-Niu as Arthur’s helper. On a trip to a border town, Er-Niu took money from a drug trafficker and hid a shipment of opioids in Arthur’s truck. The police discovered the opioids, but Er-Niu slipped away. Arthur narrowly escaped gunshots by jumping into a river, and the lorry was destroyed. The financial ruin that Er-Niu caused left Cassia in deep debt. She began working as a cleaning lady at the coffee shop at night.
It was 1941. Despite British protection, Singapore was bombed by Japan. Mr. Zhuang’s project halted, and the Samsui women were sent to dig war tunnels. They soon lost their jobs when Britain abandoned the defense. During a bombing incident, Grace, pregnant with Zhuang Jr.’s child, hid in a bunker with him. She miscarried after lifting a heavy log to help save a child. The couple hid the pregnancy loss from the older Zhuangs.
The Zhuangs arranged to leave for Indonesia. But locals filled the boat they had rented, leaving room only for Grace and Zhuang Jr. As the boat left the dock, Japanese bombers attacked. The boat capsized. Grace pulled the drowning Zhuang Jr. from the water. Unable to find a doctor, he died giving his final good wishes to Grace and his father.
5. Japanese occupation
5. Japanese occupation
In February 1942, Singapore fell to Japan. The Japanese started to round up former anti-Japanese forces with the help of a local informant, Mr. Luo. Luo had worked with Japan before; Long once caught him and sent him to prison. After the Japanese soldiers freed Luo, he led them to Long’s home, murdering all fourteen members of his family. Long returned in time to learn from his dying brother that Luo was responsible.
Learning the Samsui women had dug tunnels for the British, the Japanese went after them. They captured Gold as the others went into hiding. Grace asked Mr. Zhuang to talk to Luo. With Luo’s help, they saved Ah-Bin’s pregnant wife from being taken and exonerated the Samsui women. Grateful, Ah-Bin agreed to sell his unborn child to Grace. His wife, however, was distraught. She went to ask Mrs. Zhuang not to adopt her baby. Mrs. Zhuang realized that Grace had hidden her miscarriage. She ordered Grace to leave.
With the money that Mr. Zhuang gave her, Grace opened a coffee shop. Enraged by the competition, her former boss sent hitmen to destroy her tables. Luo arrived with Japanese soldiers and took the boss away. Grace thanked Luo with money and gifts. Admitting that many people hated him for collaborating with Japan, Luo told Grace that he admired her courage. They began a relationship.
Pressured by a large fee imposed by the Japanese, Mr. Zhuang tried to raise money, but he was arrested for past anti-Japanese activities. Mrs. Zhuang was killed during the arrest. After burying Mrs. Zhuang, Grace visited Mr. Zhuang in prison and then turned to Mr. Luo for help. Luo managed to secure Mr. Zhuang’s release. Mr. Zhuang promised to help Grace in the future.
Under Japanese occupation, food became scarce. Er-Niu learned that spent shells could be traded for food on the black market. He took Gia to dig shells and brought home an enormous bomb. Trying to stop him from setting it off, Arthur ended up pinned by it. Japanese soldiers arrived and took Arthur to prison. He was freed with Luo’s help but returned home after receiving a severe beating. Cassia’s concern for Arthur sent Er-Niu into a jealous rage. Arthur fought Er-Niu after Cassia escaped another assault.
That evening, Arthur asked Cassia to leave Singapore with him. Still feeling bound by her marriage, Cassia refused. Grace later found a tearful Cassia and urged her to seek her true love. Late at night, Cassia decided to leave with Arthur. She packed and went to his apartment, only to learn that he had left an hour earlier. She sat and wept at the bottom of the stairs.
With no jobs and no money, Sister Ying’s health worsened. A doctor warned Ah-Bin that without proper nutrition she might die within a year. In desperation, Ah-Bin robbed an older woman of eggs, aggravating Sister Ying’s sorrow. While sitting in Grace’s coffee shop, Ah-Bin and Er-Niu noticed a wealthy man showing jewelry to coffee girls. Ah-Bin joined two accomplices in a robbery; Er-Niu also went to steal that night. The theft turned violent: the rich man woke, and in the scuffle one accomplice killed him. The four escaped with jewelry.
As Gia showed off the pork and goods bought with stolen money, suspicion grew. Cassia confronted Er-Niu, who tried to placate her with jewelry; she refused. Gia then accused Cassia of stealing her jewelry, but the women rallied to Cassia’s defense. In her bitterness, Gia revealed to Sister Ying that Er-Niu’s money had come from Ah-Bin, and that Ah-Bin had been involved in the death of the rich man. Sister Ying gathered the neighbors, summoned Ah-Bin, and publicly denounced herself and him. She then severed their relationship.
Heartbroken, Ah-Bin gave his remaining money to his pregnant wife. Soon after, he joined Er-Niu and the two accomplices on a nighttime raid of Japanese goods. As Er-Niu lagged behind, Ah-Bin returned to help him and was shot dead. The loss devastated his widow and mother. Still gravely ill, Sister Ying insisted on returning to work to raise her grandson. She died at the construction site at the age of 45. Cassia took over the financial responsibility for Ah-Bin’s wife and son.
6. Japan surrendered, husbands died
6. Japan surrendered, husbands died
By 1945, Grace had married Mr. Luo, with the blue-bandana Ah-Rong as her housekeeper. Grace fired Ah-Rong after she stole food and goods from the household. After Grace refused to give him money, Er-Niu forced Gia to work in Grace’s shop, where she met a childhood friend, a sailor who admired her. Enraged by their dining together, Er-Niu went to the restaurant again the next day, where he spotted the two former accomplices. Fearing their revenge, he informed Mr. Luo that the men were anti-Japanese activists. Japanese soldiers went after them; one was killed. The other survived long enough to hunt Er-Niu down and kill him.
Soon after, news spread that Japan had lost the war. As chaos broke out and people raided shops, Mr. Luo tried to flee with Grace but was recognized and beaten to death. A mob then came after Grace, led by her former coffee shop boss. The neighbors and Long prevented them from taking her.
Grace moved back to live with Cassia. Under Cassia’s urging, she returned to construction. There, she ran into Ah-Rong, now the third of three wives of the construction foreman, Brother Jun. The two women despised each other and fought frequently.
Outside of work, Grace rekindled her relationship with Long. Long, however, was already engaged to a young woman who had saved his life during the war. After seeing Long with his fiancée, Grace confronted him while partially drunk and begged him not to leave her. They spent the night together. Long tried to break off his engagement to marry Grace. But convinced that he would be happier with the other woman, Grace refused him. To end the relationship, she married Brother Jun and became his fourth wife.
7. New husbands
7. New husbands
Arthur finally returned after years working on projects abroad. He delighted the household with stories, souvenirs, and a medal for good work. News of Er-Niu’s death gave him a jolt of relief. To test Cassia, Arthur’s friends claimed that Arthur had died and showed her his medal, asking if she would have married him. The grief-struck Cassia said yes. Arthur then revealed himself and they resumed their love.
Er-Niu’s death had left Gia in limbo. She tried to win Arthur, scheming repeatedly. But her attempts backfired, and after one humiliating incident, Gia left for Malaysia with her sailor friend, abandoning her son. Cassia became the boy’s mother. The boy’s mischievous behavior prevented Arthur from accepting him, and he became a major obstacle between Cassia and Arthur.
Arthur proposed again. Cassia agreed but only if Arthur would adopt Gia’s son. Arthur resisted because the boy reminded him of Er-Niu. Grace urged Cassia not to let Arthur go. She finally acted: she dressed up, interrupted Arthur’s date, and made clear she wanted him. They married without incident. At the wedding, Gia’s son reluctantly called Arthur “Dada,” and the three formed a family. A year later, they had a baby girl.
In the meantime, Cassia’s work in construction had advanced. Not only had she learned to read and write, and to use the abacus, but she had also accumulated significant construction knowledge. At the urging of Mr. Zhuang, she was given a lead role in several small projects. A larger project came in, but she lacked the capital to secure it. Arthur sold his lorry to raise funds for the project. She became highly successful, but their marriage strained as Arthur felt like a housewife in contrast to his wife’s success. After giving birth to a second daughter, Cassia gave up her career to allow Arthur to expand his transportation business.
8. Tragedies
8. Tragedies
Aunt Chai began matchmaking for Gold and Silver. Gold resisted, but Silver’s matchmaking was successful. Unwilling to leave her sister, Silver tried to negotiate living arrangements, but the man refused to take her sister in. Gold said she would return to China once she saved enough. To help Gold with her trip, Silver overworked herself with night jobs. Exhausted, she fell from the scaffold at the construction site and died in Gold’s arms. Gold then suffered another blow. A young banker gained her trust as a “godson,” then tricked her out of $700 of her hard-earned savings with a fake slip and disappeared. She started to mistake other Samsui women for her sister and would sometimes forget that Silver had died.
In Brother Jun’s household, the wives turned against Grace. They sabotaged her bed and set her up for blame. Ah-Rong planted an old photo of Grace with Long and forged a love letter that appeared recent, then prompted Jun to search Grace’s room. Jun discovered the items and beat Grace savagely. In revenge, Grace hired the former coffee shop owner, now a beggar, to act as Ah-Rong’s relative, coming to Singapore to pass her inheritance. He got Ah-Rong to wait in a hotel room. Brother Jun caught her in the hotel room meeting with a strange man; Ah-Rong, too, received a savage beating.
Brother Jun’s gambling debt accumulated. Creditors came after him and broke one of his legs. He embezzled work funds but still lacked money. Grace hinted that Ah-Rong’s jewelry could help. Jun sent all four wives to the temple. Worried about her jewelry, Ah-Rong rushed home. She caught Jun stealing her jewelry and killed him in a rage. Ah-Rong came after Grace and sent her down a flight of stairs. Grace tumbled into Cassia at the bottom. Cassia, pregnant with her third child, was rushed to the hospital. Cassia lost the baby and could no longer have children. Arthur, devastated, blamed Grace for the loss of his “only son,” after he had recently reluctantly let Gia take his adopted son away.
Grace tried to apologize to Cassia and later visited Ah-Rong in prison, offering legal help. Ah-Rong rejected her, accusing Grace of trying to buy atonement and calling her cursed. With nowhere to go, Grace came home with Cassia, but Arthur refused to accept her. Neighbors attacked Grace’s character until Cassia silenced them and explained the circumstances that had driven Grace into her marriages and misfortunes. Arthur relented, but Grace had already left.
9. Grace's last lifeline
9. Grace's last lifeline
Disabled by her injury, Grace became homeless and lived on the streets, surviving with other homeless women and card games. One day, she ran into Mr. Zhuang, who asked how he could repay her for what she had once done for his family. Grace refused help for herself but asked him to help Cassia instead.
Mr. Zhuang met Cassia and Arthur and asked Cassia to join him in a new project. Cassia declined, saying that she preferred to stay home. Mr. Zhuang then convinced Arthur to support Cassia’s career. With Arthur’s support, Cassia returned to construction with Mr. Zhuang. Their project became one of the first skyscrapers in Singapore, and Cassia continued to thrive in construction.
Gold went to Silver’s grave to say goodbye. Cassia and Grace saw Gold off as she returned to China. Cassia invited Grace to live with her, but Grace once again refused. She ran into Long, now married with a daughter, during a fight among homeless women. She showed no recognition of him.
Grace remained withdrawn, but she loved Cassia’s children and grandchildren and would often bring presents to them. Decades later at a Samsui women reunion, Grace died suddenly while playing with Cassia’s grandson on the side.
[Note 1] The first time Days under the Sun appeared was when Grace went to work at the coffee shop and Long came to give her the earring, but stopped short after seeing she was wearing one. The song then appeared in emotionally intense moments in later episodes.
Chapter Guide: 01 Samsui Women • 02 Plot • 03 Review • 04. Theme Songs • 05 Migrants
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
This site was enriched by the generosity of a long-time Sarah Chen fan from Malaysia, C.Y., who shared her personal collection of clippings and magazine articles spanning much of Chen's career (1983-1996).
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