One of Chinatown's quieter side streets is about to carry a very loud history. A three-block stretch of Joice Street between Clay and Sacramento will soon get a commemorative label as Tien Fuh Wu Way, honoring a woman who spent decades rescuing trafficked women and girls while working at the Occidental Mission Home, later known as Donaldina Cameron House. City and community leaders plan to unveil the new street signs outside Cameron House at 920 Sacramento Street on Friday at noon.
The renaming arrived at City Hall as a commemorative street-name resolution, item 260096, and made its way through the Board of Supervisors' legislative process, according to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter partnered with Cameron House staff to guide the measure through the board.
Local Campaign and Ceremony
The push to honor Wu started inside Cameron House itself. Manager of special projects Liane Ma floated the idea in summer 2025, sparking a staff-led campaign to rename the Chinatown alley, Ma told KQED. The organization then worked with Supervisor Sauter's office to secure approval for the commemorative name, and the signs are set to be unveiled outside Cameron House this Friday at noon, according to that reporting.
Tien Fuh Wu's Life and Work
Tien Fuh Wu's path to that street sign began in brutal circumstances. As a child, she was sold by her father to pay gambling debts and brought to San Francisco, where she was eventually rescued in the 1890s. She went on to spend much of her life at the Mission Home at 920 Sacramento Street, serving as a translator, aide and travel guardian for women escaping forced servitude. Historical accounts credit Wu with decades of rescue work, accompanying survivors to court, fundraising and comforting women who feared retaliation from traffickers, as described in reporting on the Mission Home's history.
Why the Rename Matters
The new designation also taps into a broader debate about who gets honored in San Francisco's public spaces. A 2020 study by the city's Department on the Status of Women found that only seven percent of city streets are named after people who honor women, a gap that supervisors and advocates say efforts like this can help close, according to KQED. Placing an Asian American woman who risked her life to protect others on the map in Chinatown nudges local memory toward stories long pushed to the margins.
The signs are also meant as a standing invitation to learn more about the neighborhood's past. Cameron House and its earlier incarnations sheltered and advocated for thousands of women and girls, and staff say the renaming is intended to restore visibility to a leader who has rarely appeared on public markers. The community unveiling at Cameron House (920 Sacramento Street) is scheduled for Friday at noon, and Cameron House staff say the event will feature remarks about Wu's life and the home's ongoing services.
