As Equals: The Oei Women of Java is the story of Hui-Lan, Ida and Lucy, daughters and wife of Java's Sugar King and Asia's richest man at the turn of the 20th century -- Oei Tiong Ham. Born at the height of Sinophobic fears and the eugenics movement, the three became the epitome of the modern woman. They punctured through cultural stereotypes, defied social conventions and boldly brushed aside the double burden of being born Chinese and female. Their life stories, intertwined with two parallel narratives: the glamourous and dark sides of modernity.