Shoes for bound feet, gong xie (弓鞋). Small pair of black silk shoes for bound feet with bright pink, yellow and green embroidery of plants. The lining of the shoes indicate they were commercially made in the early 20th century, a time when foot binding was beginning to become controversial in China. Small feet on women were a sign of beauty in China for centuries, with 3 inches being considered an ideal beauty. The practice in which the feet of girls were bound started at an early age to keep them small and pointed is no longer carried out in China. It causes much damage and pain to the women involved. The lotus flower shoes were for bound feet, and they speak to the social boundaries between the Chinese Han majority and the Manchu women, who were forbidden to bound their feet, and so they adopted the platform shoes. Foot binding was banned in China in 1912, and the practice completely died out in the mid-twentieth century.

“This object brought back memories of my grandmother – a woman I had always admired, growing up believing that she had somehow resisted foot binding in her youth. Through the conversations and research prompted by the Bridges to China project, I began to understand that her story was shaped not only by personal strength, but by the social and economic realities of that time in Chinese history. Being part of this project allowed me to see a cherished childhood memory in its fuller historical context. Rather than diminishing her, that understanding deepened my respect for her life and helped me recognise my own connection to that inheritance.”

Connie Tang, Project Participant

 

Take the 3D Tour