This book describes the adaptation of American women to cross-cultural situations in Hong Kong from 1921 to 1969. The Maryknoll Sisters were first American Catholic community of women founded for overseas missionary work, and were the first American sisters in Hong Kong. Maryknollers were independent, outgoing, and joyful women who were highly educated, and acted in professional capacities as teachers, social workers and medical personnel. The assertion of this book is that the mission provided Maryknollers what they had long desired - equal emplyment opportunities - which were only later emphasized in the women's liberation movement of the 1960s.

Cindy Yik-yi Chu is a Professor in the Department of History at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Introduction Early Arrival, 1921-1937 Difficult Years, 1937-1951 Extreme Poverty of the 1950s, King's Park and Tung Tau Tsuen Refugee Committees in the 1950s and Chai Wan Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon Tsai, and Social Services in the 1960s Kwun Tong and Chai Wan in the 1960s Conclusion