Playing Mrs. Spring Fragrance: In the Land of the Free

Beginning in the 1850s, Chinese immigrants entered the United States to work as railroad builders, factory workers, miners, fishermen, and small business owners. However, from the 1870s to the 1940s, the United States government severely limited immigration from China to the United States. During this period, agencies like the Customs Service were particularly active in implementing Federal regulations in inspecting and excluding Chinese immigrants. Life was also not easy for those who landed in the U.S. Chinese immigrants were often seen as an inferior population and a threat to American society. This period was also when the Yellow Peril novels gained popularity. Situated in a nexus of racial, social, economic, and gender tensions, the English-born Chinese-Canadian-American writer Sui Sin Far (Edith Maude Eaton, 1865–1914) published a series of stories of Chinese life to address concerns of immigrants and people of mixed heritage, especially of Asian women in a marginalized position. This game is adapted from a short story collection named Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912) by Sui Sin Far. You are going to undertake an unpredictable journey. Perhaps you will experience discrimination, death, or isolation, but let's see how you look back on this life.