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Foot Binding 缠足

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Lotus Shoes, Treasures found in Special Collection, Samford University Library. Special Collection Treasures Published in May–June 2008 by Jennifer Taylor Share this on:

Lotus Shoes, Treasures found in Special Collection, Samford University Library

Online Professional Development Courses: Log in to the site. In Yunnan, China's Last Foot-Bound Women. Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES. This article and corresponding letter were both written in response to J.

Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES

Dudgeon’s piece, “The Small Feet of Chinese Women,” The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal 2 (1869): 93-96. This journal was printed in the cities of Fuzhou and Shanghai between 1868 and 1912. It was read by English-speakers living in the major cities of China as well as abroad. Dr. Kerr responds to Dr. Small Feet By J.G. Two or three articles have appeared in the Recorder on the subject of compressing women’s feet. With such a view I cannot agree. Allow me to give some reasons. 1st. Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES.

This article was published in a missionary journal printed in the cities of Fuzhou and Shanghai.

Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES

The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal operated between 1868 and 1912. It was read by English-speakers living in the major cities of China as well as abroad. The article takes up a subject that excited great interest among Western residents of China: foot binding. The author begins with a review of the origins of the practice, discusses it as current fashion, relates the practice to public health, and concludes with a detailed description of the bound foot.

The author pronounces a relatively benign interpretation of the practice (compared to “Small feet of the Chinese females…,” The Chinese Repository 3 (1835): 537-539 for example), noting that it does not render women incapacitated. Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES. This article was published in a Protestant missionary journal, based in Canton, that operated from 1832 until 1851.

Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES

Its readership included both the foreigners living in Canton and home religious communities in Britain and the United States. The author begins the piece with the shocking statement that the Chinese are both physically and morally deformed and goes on to present the practice of foot binding among Chinese women as proof for his remarks. This article, which presents foot binding in a negative light, is noteworthy in two aspects. First, in asserting authoritative knowledge about foot binding, the author only cites texts by Western authors.

Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES. This photograph presents a very different vision of foot binding from that depicted by Western observers in the 19th century.

Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES

Whereas Western visitors to China seemed most interested in the bound foot unbound, as deformity or fetish, this photo shows the bound foot as it had meaning in Chinese culture: as part of clothing or fashion. In this image, “small feet” are put into their proper cultural context as a form of female adornment. The emphasis here is on the apparel: shoes, sashes, and leggings. Women in Traditional China. By Patricia Ebrey In China from very early times, men have been seen as the core of the family.

Women in Traditional China

The ancestors to whom a Shang or Zhou dynasty king made sacrifices were his patrilineal ancestors, that is, his ancestors linked exclusively through men (his father’s father, his father’s father’s father, and so on). When women enter the early historical record, it is often because they caused men problems. Some women schemed to advance their own sons when their husband had sons by several women.

Women’s loyalties were often in question. Confucius probably took for granted these sorts of attitudes toward women, common in his society. In the centuries after Confucius, it became common for writers to discuss gender in terms of yin and yang. Maintaining a physical separation between the worlds of men and the worlds of women was viewed as an important first step toward assuring that yin would not dominate yang.

The Peculiar History of Foot Binding in China. In the 12th century, foot binding had become much more widespread, and by the early Qing Dynasty (in the mid-17th century), every girl who wished to marry had her feet bound.

The Peculiar History of Foot Binding in China

The only people who didn't bind their feet were the very poor, ethnic Hakka people, and women who worked in fishing because they had needed to have normal feet in order to balance themselves on boats. At what age did girls get their feet bound? Why Footbinding Persisted in China for a Millennium. For the past year I have been working with Britain’s BBC television to make a documentary series on the history of women.

Why Footbinding Persisted in China for a Millennium

In the latest round of filming there was an incident that haunts me. It took place during a segment on the social changes that affected Chinese women in the late 13th century. These changes can be illustrated by the practice of female foot-binding. Some early evidence for it comes from the tomb of Lady Huang Sheng, the wife of an imperial clansman, who died in 1243. Archaeologists discovered tiny, misshapen feet that had been wrapped in gauze and placed inside specially shaped “lotus shoes.” Foot-binding is said to have been inspired by a tenth-century court dancer named Yao Niang who bound her feet into the shape of a new moon. A small foot in China, no different from a tiny waist in Victorian England, represented the height of female refinement. First, her feet were plunged into hot water and her toenails clipped short. Unbound: China's last 'lotus feet' – in pictures.