Rose Chan (1925 – 26 May 1987) was a Chinese-born cabaret dancer turned "Queen of Striptease" in her adopted homeland of Malaysia. Her exploitation of her sexuality garnered her considerable controversy. Her philanthropy gained her the moniker the "Charity Queen". Childhood Born Chan Wai Chang () in Suzhou, China, in 1925 to acrobat parents, Chan was brought to Kuala Lumpur in 1931, at the age of six, by her adoptive mother. (Chan knew who her birth mother was, but would never reveal her name when asked). She had no formal education, save for eight months of schooling at the age of 12. Even at that young age, she demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit by taking photographs for classmates, charging them 15 cents, and earning 10 cents a shot. Late for school on a few occasions because she had to collect the photographs from the shop, her mother stopped her schooling after the school complained. Still only 12 years old, she started working in a button-making shop, earning six gantangs of rice and one loaf of cornbread a month plus 12 cents per thousand buttons. In a day, she made a few thousand buttons from coconut shells with a machine. She next worked at making mosquito nets, where she was better paid, with eight gantangs of rice, six katis of sugar, two bottles of oil, and one loaf of cornbread a month. In 1941, when Chan was 16, her mother arranged for her to marry an elderly Chinese Singaporean harbour contractor to become his fourth wife, as her boyfriend could not afford the kind of dowry that was expected. They would later have a son. For her dowry, the contractor offered SGD$3,000, a pair of diamond earrings, a locket, a chain, and a bracelet, which were taken by her mother. Her marriage, however, would break up after a few months, when her husband got fed up with her mother's constant request for SGD$1,000–$2,000 each time. He sent her back to Kuala Lumpur and gave her SGD$600 a month, on the condition that her mother would get a servant to do the housework. Her mother, however, pocketed the money. One day, when her husband dropped by the house on his way to the Penang races, he saw Chan doing housework. Angered, he not only stopped sending money, but stopped seeing her entirely. Career years With her allowances cut, and her finances in dire