The first recorded binding occurred in the Five Dynasties and the Ten States period in the 10thcentury. It was widespread by 1130 AD at the latest and may have existed as far back as the 12th century BC (Levy 1966). According to the story, an emperor had a favorite concubine, a dancer who built a gilded stage in the shape of a lotus flower. When she bound her feet into a hoof-like shape and danced on the lotus, the practice became very fashionable; after all, she was the emperor's favorite concubine and the other concubines attempted to imitate her to gain the emperor's favor. The king then wrote verses about the beauty of the dancer's feet, calling them "little golden lotus flowers" or, sometimes, "little golden lilies." Thus because of the beautiful verses, written by the king, …show more content…
Another story how foot binding started involving an empress during the Shang dynasty. She had club feet and was very ashamed of them and was also, jealous of the other women on the court. Consequently, she forced all other women to bind their feet so that they too would become deformed. The unfortunate Chinese tradition of foot binding was one that, however, severe and painful, was present for much of the country’s history. The state of the practice can be traced back to 700 AD, and was not legally banned until 1911. The convention of foot binding was bolstered by the Neo-Confucian principle which was predominant in China around then. According to the teachings, a perfect lady was dependable, faithful and not easy to grip sufferings. Diligence in bearing the agony came about because of foot binding which was considered as a decent character that ought to be created in each young lady. Since their legs were bound, the young ladies couldn't walk too much so they would remain home more often. This made a lady rich and unadulterated esteemed by society. In addition, the open door for swindling or doing undesirable things became
I will be explaining the role of women in society in Bound Feet and Western Dress. The Chinese have traditions that are generations old and are very serious in their culture. These Chinese traditions have been deeply established. In Bound feet and Western Dress, a dispute between Chinese traditions and Westernization of Chinese women begin to emerge. The women in traditional China were treated unequally and were basically looked upon as property for their husband. The women were taken in by the husband’s family and had to always obey their husband and also had to take orders from the husband’s family as well.
was frowned on. Skirts would fly upward and legs would show! And it was not
Years later during the Ming and Ch’ing eras it became wide spread among all status levels. Footbinding is a mutilation of the feet by wrapping them up weeks upon weeks to force them into the shape of a lotus flower and keep them at a length of three inches. (p.366) “Small feet became a prestige item to such an extent that a girl without them could not achieve a good marriage arrangement and was subjected to the disrespect and taunts of the community.” (p.364). Eventually lower-class women began using binding to find wealthy husbands.
Following a rough period of half a century, the Song dynasty took power in 960. This began a “Golden Age” of Chinese society. However, the role of women did not advance all across the board. It was more in the northern regions that were influenced by nomads. Unfortunately, the new Neo-Confucian influences held almost everywhere else, with the new influences of Buddhism and Daoism. (Strayer 371) In fact, conditions were terrible everywhere else, if not more so than they ever had been before. One example of the terrible factors women had to deal with was foot binding. Foot binding involved the wrapping feet tightly with gauze and stuffing them into specially designed “lotus shoes”. (Foreman) his process, repeated over many years, shrunk a woman’s feet at the expenditure of vast amounts of pain and broken bones. An outside onlooker would ask themselves ‘Why would people do this to their daughters?’, and the answer is quite
Traditions in Chinese culture are long-rooted and are taken very seriously from generation to generation. However, there must always be room for modern change in order for society to grow and strive across the globe. In Bound Feet and Western Dress the conflict between Chinese traditions and modern change arises. With this conflict it is important to discuss the different meanings of liberation for men and women and they way in which Chang Yu-I was able to obtain liberation throughout her life.
Common in premodern China was the heavy discrimination of women and a strict social role that they were obligated to follow in order to survive. Women were assigned a limiting job at birth: be a good and faithful wife. For thousands of years, women were portrayed more as employees of their husbands than lovers or partners, and this is prevalent in imperial Chinese literature.
When one thinks about female traits or characteristics within the Asian culture you are likely to think of obedience and even docility. This can especially be true of Chinese women. Why is this? Where did this behavior and belief system originate? Many scholars and cultural behaviorists would argue that Ban Zhao and Confucius played a pivotal role in this behavioral construct. Confucian teachings are the foundation upon which much of Asian society and culture have been erected. Confucius’ teachings focused on the importance of family dynamics and the need for children to obey and serve their parental figures. Confucius also stressed the need to exercise restraint and to treat others as you would have them treat you. Ban Zhao was the
Footbinding was most popular during the Ming Dynasty, if parents cared for their sons they would not go easy on their studies and if they cared for their daughters they would not go easy on their footbinding (Levy, 47-49). One recent study estimated that there are still one million women in China with bound feet. The last Chinese women, still living with bound feet in Hawaii, was in 1994 (Kam, D-6).There are many legends of how footbinding began, one such legend is Lady Yao, a dancer and concubine for Prince Li Yu, danced with such grace that the prince required her to bind her feet to resemble new moons all the time. Another, is that it began out of the sympathy for Empress Taki who had club feet (Aero, 112-113). Although it has not been proven how footbinding started, one of the biggest reasons the practice continued for over 1000 years was it's sexual appeal (Kam, D-1).Humans have shown they will do just about anything- good, evil, or in-between for sex. Footbinding is a very bold issue that many Chinese do not like to talk about.
O-lan's physical appearance showed her as a very modest woman. When Wang Lung sees her, he stares at O-lan seeing that, "plain though her face was and rough the skin upon her hands the flesh of her big body was soft and untouched . . . her body was beautiful, spare, and big boned yet rounded and soft" (26). From her physical qualities, it is clear that O-lan isn't a spoiled woman who sits around all day, but a hard worker. She is described as an ugly, flat-footed, stolid-faced woman. Many times, Wang Lung secretly wishes that O-lan didn't have such big feet. During the time of this book, women's feet were bound so they would be smaller. O-lan had big feet because they were never bound. This was another aspect of Chinese life that seemed designed to make women suffer was the practice of altering the feet of girls so they could barely walk. The Chinese custom of foot binding was meant to please men esthetically and to enhance a man's status by showing he was wealthy enough for his wife or concubine not to work.
Also in China girls are made to bind there feet up at an early age so
During the early 1900s, it was expected that all women have their feet bound at a young age to be considered marriage material. Ailin’s sister explained to her that, “women all have to go through this ordeal: Mother, Grandmother, Eldest Sister, Mrs. Liu, your amah. Life is hard on women” (Namioka 21). It was acknowledged that life was not what it should have been for women, and Ailin was able to grasp this concept very early on, which gave her an advantage. She understood that generation after generation had to go through the painful process of having their feet bound, even if it was against their own will. Ailin was almost forced to have her feet bound, as described on page 39: “I began tearing at the cloths around my feet… they tried to hold me down, but I just thrashed and screamed more and more loudly” (Nomiokas 39). Ailin had to conquer many obstacles because she was a girl, but she literally had to fight her way out of this one. She never gave up though, and made the commitment of having unbound feet, no matter what the long term consequences ended up
Daily life was influenced in both Ancient India and China because of religion and philosophies. Their well being, their beliefs, and their caste system were affected by religion and philosophies.
... Song times was sometimes blamed on Neo-Confucianism. Foot-binding also began during the Song Dynasty. This is the practice of binding the feet of girls with long strips of cloth to keep them from growing large. Moms wanted them to be judged more beautiful.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China begins with author Jung Chang’s grandmother, who was born in 1909 with the name Yu-fang. In traditional Chinese culture, for any hopes of marriage, the mother must first bind her daughter’s feet. Though a long and painful process, foot binding was considered a beautiful trait in Chinese men’s eyes. By the age of two, Yu-Fang’s feet were bounded and were referred to as “Lotus Feet”. Having one’s feet bounded during this time period, made it difficult for a woman to walk, and spent their life in pain due to the broken arch and constant bending of the toes. Her father, Yang, was determined to have his daughter’s social status...
But one begins to detect a new theme emerging in society, especially amongst the Chinese reformers: the theme of individualism opposed to familialism. Today, would the Confucian family be more and more aware of abuse of women and children? Rituals and traditions can be seen as both positive and negative. The ways in which women suffered affirm that some rituals were abusive. There are multiple signs indeed that something has gone badly wrong with the Chinese family traditions that led to family instability.