With more educational opportunities for girls and the arrival of female immigrants from China in the 1920s, women began to occupy more visible public roles in a previously patriarchal society. Some of these women later made important contributions in various women’s causes, such as education and charity, which helped to enhance the welfare of women at that time.

Through an array of personal belongings ranging from richly embroidered cheongsams, intricately crafted shoes to simple personal trinkets, discover how both the affluent Straits-born and migrant Chinese fought to express their modern identities and the challenges they faced in working out their roles.