Rose Chan (1925 – 26 May 1987) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

-born cabaret dancer turned "Queen of Striptease" in her adopted homeland of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Her exploitation of her sexuality garnered her considerable controversy. Her philanthropy gained her the moniker the "Charity Queen".

Childhood

Born Chan Wai Chang () in Suzhou, China, in 1925 to

acrobat Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro d ...

parents, Chan was brought to

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

in 1931, at the age of six, by her adoptive mother. (Chan knew who her birth mother was, but would never reveal her name when asked). She had no formal education, save for eight months of schooling at the age of 12. Even at that young age, she demonstrated an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

ial spirit by taking photographs for classmates, charging them 15 cents, and earning 10 cents a shot. Late for school on a few occasions because she had to collect the photographs from the shop, her mother stopped her schooling after the school complained. Still only 12 years old, she started working in a

button A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...

-making shop, earning six gantangs of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

and one loaf of cornbread a month plus 12 cents per thousand buttons. In a day, she made a few thousand buttons from coconut shells with a machine. She next worked at making mosquito nets, where she was better paid, with eight gantangs of rice, six katis of sugar, two bottles of oil, and one loaf of cornbread a month. In 1941, when Chan was 16, her mother arranged for her to marry an elderly

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

an harbour contractor to become his fourth wife, as her boyfriend could not afford the kind of

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

that was expected. They would later have a son. For her dowry, the contractor offered SGD$3,000, a pair of

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

earrings, a

locket A locket is a pendant that opens to reveal a space used for storing a photograph or other small item such as a lock of hair. Lockets are usually given to loved ones on holidays such as Valentine's Day and occasions such as christenings, wedding ...

, a chain, and a

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, suc ...

, which were taken by her mother. Her marriage, however, would break up after a few months, when her husband got fed up with her mother's constant request for SGD$1,000–$2,000 each time. He sent her back to Kuala Lumpur and gave her SGD$600 a month, on the condition that her mother would get a servant to do the housework. Her mother, however, pocketed the money. One day, when her husband dropped by the house on his way to the Penang races, he saw Chan doing housework. Angered, he not only stopped sending money, but stopped seeing her entirely.

Career years

With her allowances cut, and her finances in dire straits, Chan sold her last gold bracelet for over RM$300, and took a train to Singapore the following year in 1942 to meet her husband. Unfortunately, he refused to accept her. She stayed behind to become a cabaret dancer at the ''

Happy World is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kenjirō Takeshita. It was serialized in Shueisha's '' Ultra Jump''. The manga was adapted into an original video animation by KSS with animation work done by Zexcs. Plot Takeshi Ōmu ...

'', her husband's favourite haunt, in order to spite him. In the cabaret, she proved herself an accomplished dancer, and was

runner-up {{Short pages monitor