Seen and Unseen: The Chinese Lady at Stages

In 1834, when she was 14 years old, Afong Moy sailed from China to New York City and became the first Chinese woman to set foot in America. Promoters brought there, officially anyhow, as a liaison to bridge the gap between East and West.

She toured the country and was famous until she wasn’t. Eventually the same crowds that watched her eat with chopsticks and walk across the floor in the unnatural motion caused by her bound feet, moved on to other exotica.  In time, she ended up with P.T. Barnum’s circus before she disappeared into history.

In The Chinese Lady about to open at Stages theater, acclaimed playwright Lloyd Suh tells Moy’s story. Without any sort of diary or journal ever kept by Moy, most of the accounts of her extraordinary life came in the form of newspaper clippings.