bound foot.ppt

A Thousand years of bound feet As evidenced by the creation of “Lotus Shoes”Song paintings indicate that most women had tianzu (heavenly or natural feet) rather than chanzu (bound beet) or sancun jinlian (the three-inch golden lotus)“Spinning Wheel”, Wang Juzheng, Southern Song“Variety showBeating Flower Drum,” anonymous, SongOccasionally, some paintings indicate that some women had chanzuAnti-footbinding Rhetoric and Movement Began from late 19th to early 20th century Characterized by: the absence of “authentic” female voice. Hubris of western (Christian) and modernized sense of gender equality and body freedom Newly invented terms denoting the liberation of bound feettiangzu (heavenly feet), fangzu ( freed feet or letting feet out) Condemnation of the shame it brought to the patriarchal nation Claim that it hurts democracy formation of a denigrating, insulting, and erroneous image of womenExaggeration of womens ordeal as inferior and oppressed sex and of mens position as superior and oppressive sex Criminalization of Chanzu Creation of two diametrically opposed female subject position, highlighted by chanzu inspectors. Expression of the movements misogynist attitude toward women with bound feet“Yaoniang wrapping her feet”Chairs used to wrap feetBound foot women in late QingBound feet women in Modern TimesOnly ten-millimeters longBronze Sculpture The size of “Lotus Shoes”Granny Wu inspected Maiden Liang Yings bodyFoodbinding in Fiction:Examples of Illustrated Fiction: (left) Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou meng); (right) The Plum in the Golden Vase (Jinping Mei)Fiction provides information which is of dubious historical veracity:“Feet Contests” (saijiao hui) in Datong caused the production of distinct lotus shoes with regional reputation“Feet contest” took various forms for various reasons and occasionsCompetitors were judged by the following attributes of their feet:Small, slender (narrow), pointy, arched, fragrant, soft, correct (proper, balanced)Competition also promoted footbindingFiction depicting footbinding as an important element of culture:Li YU (1610-80), Xianqing ouji (Casual Expressions of Idle Feeling), demonstrates the authors connoisseurship of bound feet.Connoisseur will watch, smell, touch, discern the bound feet Will also look at the full body in movementLi remains keen on the balance between beauty and function of bound feet.Bound feet, although small, serve their function in altering the gait and enhancing the grace of the womanWang Jingqi (1672-1726), Jottings on My Westward Journey (Dushutang xizhengsuibi)Tiny-feet northern womenwere bandits with bound feetTheir femininity did not impede their agility They would rob andkill northern men Pu Songling (1640-1715), Vernacular Plays from Liaozhai (Liaozhai liqu ji) Beautiful women or courtesans wore high-heeled lotus shoes Footbinding was a fashion, identity, and representation of social statusFiction shows that footbinding is characterized by: Status distinctions Regional diversities: north vs. southImpacts of footbinding: Caring of bound foot including a wide array of medical treatments: powder, broth, ointment Eroticization of female body Mass production of lotus shoes