NORTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY FOUNDATION 03/2023
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Story of Cheon Yeon-hee, a picture bride in Hawaii
The Korean Empire was in great crisis after a series of floods and famines. American ambassador to Korea Horace N. Allen and American businessman David W. Deshler proposed to Emperor Gojong the Korean immigration to Hawaii. In December 1902, the first group of Korean immigrants boarded RMS Gaelic for Hawaii. It was the first official immigration of Korea.
Most Korean immigrants in Hawaii were men. They married Korean brides whom they only saw in pictures. Korean women who crossed the Pacific Ocean with a single photograph of their groom given by a matchmaker were called "picture brides." Cheon Yeon-hui was one of the picture brides who left for Hawaii, in hopes to experience a broader world.
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