straits, Chan sold her last gold bracelet for over RM$300, and took a train to Singapore the following year in 1942 to meet her husband. Unfortunately, he refused to accept her. She stayed behind to become a cabaret dancer at the Happy World, her husband's favourite haunt, in order to spite him. In the cabaret, she proved herself an accomplished dancer, and was runner-up in two national championships: All-Women's Ballroom Dancing Championships in Singapore in 1949; Miss Singapore beauty contest in 1950. As a result of her success, she was in great demand, and started dancing at as many as five cabarets at a time. In 1951, Chan opened her own show, The Rose Chan Revue, touring the whole of then-Malaya. The turning point of her career came unexpectedly the following year, and transformed her from a cabaret girl to the "Queen of Striptease" at the age of 27. It happened to be a wardrobe malfunction. While performing at the Majestic Theatre in Ipoh, her brassiere snapped. The enthusiastic applause from the audience caught her by surprise, and set her thinking: "Here I dance all night and sweat so much, and nobody claps. My bra breaks and they clap". Spotting a market for snapping-underwear, Chan shot to fame overnight with an act like no other in Malaya. Hence the "Striptease Queen" was born. She was just as quick to earn the "Charity Queen" moniker. Even before her unexpected fame, she had started to do charitable work by dancing in aid of the Nanyang University Fund. A Rose Chan show Once the music starts, the troupe emerges from behind the curtains, and parade on stage, clad only in panties, and a star covering each nipple. Dancing slowly to the tune of Chinese music, typically cha-cha and mambo rock, they strip naked the moment a voice booms "Hoi!" (Cantonese: "open") over the microphone. The opening striptease is followed by various sideshows — standup comedians, clowns, archery performance, fire performance and jugglers — which served to prolong the mounting anticipation for the star attraction. When Chan comes on stage, she moves subtly, gently swaying in a slow dance, all by herself. As she removes one piece of clothing after another, the tempo gradually picks up. When she reaches the point of removing her brassiere, she holds back. That is when her stagehands bring in the pythons, and she dances with the snakes wrapped