Opposition to mui tsai

Beginning in the late 1800s, there were a number of attempts to abolish the mui tsai system. Mui tsai (Chinese: 妹仔; Cantonese Yale: mūi jái; lit. 'little sister') describes Chinese girls who were purchased at a young age by affluent Chinese households to work as domestic servants, and who would later be married off or sold to brothels. The mui tsai system spread to other parts of the world through immigration and colonization, causing it to become a human rights issue in countries such as Great Britain and America.