In the late nineteenth century, a young girl named Tien Fuh Wu was sold by her father to settle a gambling debt. She was shipped from China to San Francisco, where she endured years of domestic slavery and physical abuse. Today, the city of San Francisco is ensuring that her story of survival and service is never forgotten.
This Women’s History Month, the city officially dedicated a portion of Joice Street as “Tien Fuh Wu Way.” The new street sign stands outside the red-brick building known as Cameron House, which has served as a sanctuary for trafficked and abused women since 1874.
From Victim to Rescuer
Tien Fuh Wu’s journey began in tragedy. Sold between the ages of six and ten, she was told she was visiting her grandmother, only to be locked in a steamship cabin and sent across the Pacific. She never saw her parents again. In San Francisco, she was forced into labor in a Chinatown brothel before being sold again to a gambling den.
When police finally rescued her in 1894, her body was covered in burns and bruises. She was taken to the Presbyterian Mission House, where she met Donaldina Cameron. While the two initially clashed, they eventually formed a bond like mother and daughter. Wu refused many suitors throughout her life, once dryly noting that “men are very useful when it comes to moving furniture,” and instead devoted herself to the Mission House.
The Danger of the Work
As Wu grew, she became the indispensable “right-hand woman” to the mission’s efforts. Her role was dangerous; as a Chinese woman helping “White Devils” (the missionaries) take “property” away from brothel owners, she was viewed as a traitor by traffickers. She received constant death threats and racist hate mail, yet she never wavered.
Wu was often the only person who could convince terrified girls to leave their captors. She would show them her own scars as proof that she understood their pain. During her career, she helped rescue an estimated 3,000 women and girls. She acted as a translator in court, a nurse during the 1918 flu pandemic, and a mentor to those finding their footing in a new country.
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Liane Ma, a manager at Cameron House, worked to bring Wu’s story to the public’s attention after seeing her “majestic” portrait on the office wall. Ma believes Wu offers a different model of leadership for women today.
“There are many touching moments of Tien Fuh Wu just serving quietly, but strongly and boldly,” Ma says. “Reading her story, I realized leadership doesn’t have to be loud. It can look like quiet servitude.”
Preserving History
Cameron House continues to serve the Chinatown community today, offering counseling, food distribution, and domestic violence intervention. The building still contains a secret portal in the basement—a remnant of the days when Wu would hide dozens of girls in the narrow walls to protect them from traffickers searching the premises.
Tien Fuh Wu passed away in 1975 at the age of 89. She is buried in Los Angeles next to her lifelong friend and mentor, Donaldina Cameron. While her headstone is small, her impact on the thousands of families she helped build remains a cornerstone of San Francisco’s history.
