chinese foot binding
The ancient Chinese custom of footbinding caused severe life-long suffering for the Chinese women involved. When researching the subject of footbinding, one of the difficult things is finding factual knowledge written before the 20th century. Most of the historical data has been gathered from writings, drawings and photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries. The first documented reference to footbinding was from the Southern Tang Dynasty in Nanjing. Although the history of footbinding is very vague it lasted for at least one thousand years.Early text referred to the Han Dynasty as people who preferred that the women have small feet. It also acknowledged the first documented reference to actual binding of the feet was from the Tang Dynasty in Nanjing. Before the Song Dynasty, binding was only slightly constricting, allowing for free movement, they were also thought to have used footbinding to suppress women. The Yuan Dynasty introduced binding into the central and southern parts of China. It may have been emphasized to draw a clear cultural distinction between the Chinese and their large footed conquerors, the Mongols. Footbinding was most popular during the Ming Dynasty, if parents cared for their sons
„h Kam, Nadine. "Oh, how we suffer in the name of beauty." Star Bulletin 10, March, 1998: D-1, D-6. „h Levy, Howard S. Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom. Bell Publishing Company: New York: 1992: 34, 47-49 „h Gottschalk, Mary. "Exploring the mystique of Chinese footbinding." The Honolulu Advertiser 31, March 1998: C-3. As young as four years old, the Chinese girls were forced to bind their feet. None of them asked to have this type of torture placed upon them. However, when they grew up they were very proud to have nicely bound feet. Especially when they were married to the scholars and became part of a well-known, old and big family. Footbinding was an important social custom. What one society feels is wrong another may consider right in the context of their cultural beliefs. „h Aero, Rita. Things Chinese. China Cultural Printing Company: San Francisco: 1980: 112-113.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1701
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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