[clay dube]

Of course, the custom of footbinding originates and is perpetuated because it signaled beauty and proper upbringing to some. The Chinese practice of footbinding is one of those things that capture people's attention. This can lead to a distorted picture of the social position of women. Here are a few notes:

Footbinding is one of the topics that every teacher needs to discuss when looking at the varying experiences of Chinese women. It emerged about a thousand years ago during the Song dynasty (宋朝，960-1279) and survived into the last century.

Not all women had their feet bound. Many non-Han ethnic groups such as the Hakka and Manchus did not bind their women's feet and it was much less common among ordinary people in the South than it was in the North, probably because women in the South usually joined in agricultural labor.

How are we to understand this custom and role men and women played in perpetuating it? How should we raise the topic with children? Is it enough to note that our own culture imposes standards of beauty that cause some to endure suffering, surgery, or psychological damage?

Below are some web resources on footbinding that you may find interesting.

California resident Beverly Jackson is a longtime collector of the shoes worn by Chinese women with bound feet. She traveled to China and interviewed women who had their feet bound and produced a lavishly illustrated volume Splendid Slippers. Her website offers short excerpts from the book, reviews of it, and -- of course -- a link to buy the volume. Combined with works by Howard Levy and Dorothy Ko, this is a good resource to draw upon in introducing the practice to students.

http://www.silcom.com/~bevjack/

Levy, Howard S. Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom, Foreword by Arthur Waley. Introd. by Wolfram Eberhard. New York, W. Rawls, 1966.

Ko, Dorothy. Every Step a Lotus : Shoes for Bound Feet. Berkeley : University of California Press, 2001. Click here to see the UC Press webpage on the book. You can download and read chapter 2. It includes terrific images. Prof. Ko has also written "The Body as Attire: The Shifting Meanings of Footbinding in Seventeenth-Century China," The Journal of Women's History 8.4.
http://iupjournals.org/jwh/jwh8-4.html

Feng Jicai, one of China's most popular writers, authored an interesting novel on the custom and its place in family and social life. Three Inch Golden Lotus. It was translated by David Wakefield and published by the University of Hawaii press. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0824816064/103-0017646-1395814?v=glance

Yue-qing Yang's recent film Footbinding: The Search for the Three-Inch Golden Lotus is available and includes interviews with Chinese about the custom. In the film, Dorothy Ko argues that footbinding is routinely misunderstood. http://www.movingimages.bc.ca/catalogue/Cultdiverse/footbinding.html

Footbinding can be found in popular literary works/films such as Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

What other resources have you found? How have you raised this topic with students?

[clay dube]

Detail from a New York Times photo by Sim Chi Yin (Aug. 3, 2012), article by Dan Levin, "Beach Essentials in China: Flip Flops, A Towel, and a Sky Mask":
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/world/asia/in-china-sun-protection-can-include-a-mask.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22_20120804)

In China and elsewhere in East Asia, there's long been a bias in favor of light skin. Darker skin has been seen not as indicating health and activity, but rather prestige-free manual labor. In the Shijing (Book of Odes), there are songs celebrating beauties such as the wife of the Marquis of Wei whose "skin was like creamy lotion" or a splendid woman who had "hands white as rush down, skin like lard." These works are thought to date from from before 600 bce. In the poetry of the Tang dynasty (7th-10th centuries ce), we have references to skin like jade (white jade was especially precious and, of course, smooth).

So in much of East Asia, there are many products aimed at helping women, especially, avoid the sun or address its ravages. Visors, long arm coverings for bike or scooter riding, skin-lightening lotions, and more. Perhaps your students can locate advertisements for or photographs of such products.
edited by Clay Dube on 8/4/2012

[clay dube]

People knew that times were tough, but most figured it was a local problem and not a national catastrophe. I asked Sid Rittenberg what he knew about it (http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=2833 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaaNwa5WA-4 ). It's 27.5 minutes into the discussion.

Here's the most recent study (but not the only one): http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6a148d26-7432-11df-87f5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz22XM2MT3w

[clay dube]

People knew that times were tough, but most figured it was a local problem and not a national catastrophe. I asked Sid Rittenberg what he knew about it (http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=2833 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaaNwa5WA-4 ). It's 27.5 minutes into the discussion.

Here's the most recent study (but not the only one): http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6a148d26-7432-11df-87f5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz22XM2MT3w

[clay dube]

I was delighted to see Antonio's post about Mexicali. Some Americans don't realize that Chinese and Japanese migrated to the Americas and not just the US. You'll find Chinese in Cuba and Brazil and many other places. Some 4,000 people of Japanese ancestry were brought from Peru during World War II and interned in the US. A former Japanese Peruvian even became president of that country (it didn't end well, but....). Now some Japanese Brazilians are migrating to Japan (not back to Japan, they were born and grew up in Brazil, most don't even speak Japanese). There are many good books by Lynn Pan and others on these diaspora.

Here's a great interactive map from the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369390660095122.html#articleTabs%3Dinteractive

[clay dube]

I was delighted to see Antonio's post about Mexicali. Some Americans don't realize that Chinese and Japanese migrated to the Americas and not just the US. You'll find Chinese in Cuba and Brazil and many other places. Some 4,000 people of Japanese ancestry were brought from Peru during World War II and interned in the US. A former Japanese Peruvian even became president of that country (it didn't end well, but....). Now some Japanese Brazilians are migrating to Japan (not back to Japan, they were born and grew up in Brazil, most don't even speak Japanese). There are many good books by Lynn Pan and others on these diaspora.

Here's a great interactive map from the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704682604575369390660095122.html#articleTabs%3Dinteractive

[clay dube]

Mao had to share power with Liu Shaoqi after 1959 and he was far from happy about that. Peng's letter is attached (two pictures). The translation is in DeBary, Sources of Chinese Tradition. The third attachment shows how uneasy the situation was for Liu. In 1962, he gave a speech at a meeting of top leaders in which he talked about Peng. It was an awkward moment - he says that Peng was factually correct and that it was okay for him to write such a letter, since he was a politburo member. But he condemns Peng for being part of a clique that was "anti-party." This speech isn't in Liu's official collected works, because now Peng is celebrated as a hero. Liu was probably sympathetic to Peng, but didn't defend him in 1962. And it didn't matter that he condemned Peng then. Mao was still unhappy and Liu would be taken down in 1966.

The current official line on Peng can be seen here: http://english.people.com.cn/data/people/pengdehuai.shtml .

The 4th attachment is of a photo of Liu's wife, Wang Guangmei being paraded around with a necklace of ping pong balls.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[clay dube]

Mao had to share power with Liu Shaoqi after 1959 and he was far from happy about that. Peng's letter is attached (two pictures). The translation is in DeBary, Sources of Chinese Tradition. The third attachment shows how uneasy the situation was for Liu. In 1962, he gave a speech at a meeting of top leaders in which he talked about Peng. It was an awkward moment - he says that Peng was factually correct and that it was okay for him to write such a letter, since he was a politburo member. But he condemns Peng for being part of a clique that was "anti-party." This speech isn't in Liu's official collected works, because now Peng is celebrated as a hero. Liu was probably sympathetic to Peng, but didn't defend him in 1962. And it didn't matter that he condemned Peng then. Mao was still unhappy and Liu would be taken down in 1966.

The current official line on Peng can be seen here: http://english.people.com.cn/data/people/pengdehuai.shtml .

The 4th attachment is of a photo of Liu's wife, Wang Guangmei being paraded around with a necklace of ping pong balls.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[clay dube]

This is something on which much has been written. Can anyone offer some good articles? (Suicide is more common in the US than in East Asia, especially among young people. In China, rural women commit suicide at a higher rate than other groups of people.)

[clay dube]

This is something on which much has been written. Can anyone offer some good articles? (Suicide is more common in the US than in East Asia, especially among young people. In China, rural women commit suicide at a higher rate than other groups of people.)

[clay dube]

He was targeted because Mao resented having his power curtailed and because Mao argued Liu was following a Soviet model of emphasizing the development of a bureaucratic state. You can find and read documents listing Liu's supposed faults and crimes against the proletariat. Liu's 1969 death was not acknowledged at the time. He was formally rehabilitated in about 1980 and a memorial service was held.

[clay dube]

He was targeted because Mao resented having his power curtailed and because Mao argued Liu was following a Soviet model of emphasizing the development of a bureaucratic state. You can find and read documents listing Liu's supposed faults and crimes against the proletariat. Liu's 1969 death was not acknowledged at the time. He was formally rehabilitated in about 1980 and a memorial service was held.

[clay dube]

Hi Folks,
The human rights documents are in this collection:
http://china.usc.edu/Resources21.aspx

[clay dube]

Hi Folks,
The human rights documents are in this collection:
http://china.usc.edu/Resources21.aspx

[clay dube]

Antonio asks a good question (should have raised it in class, since like many of the comments from this group, it was written during class). Does anyone have an answer as to why China doesn't become rich. After all, it had land reform.

The answer, of course, is that two other reforms were quickly undertaken that took away the land that had been distributed to peasant households. First, the cooperatives, and then the communes. So land was redistributed and a couple years later taken back. In other parts of East Asia land reform helped create a decent pool of rural consumers. In all of East Asia, it was an important signal that there was a new political order.

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