UCLA Center for East Asian Studies Educational Resources

Lesson Three,
Bound Feet

Objectives:  Student will be able to identify the cultural motives behind the Chinese practice of foot binding; explain which Chinese women did and did not have their feet bound and why; compare foot binding with the modern use of restrictive clothing in the U.S.

Materials:  Background information handout; article, "Those Doll-sized Feet," slide of bound feet and the shows that fit them.

Focus:  Why would Chinese women practice, in effect, self mutilation?

Time	Teacher Procedure	Student Activity
5 min.	Read background handout aloud to students.  Show slide.	Listen, follow along.  Look at slide.
10 min.	Call on volunteers to read the article, "Those Doll-sized Feet."	Read article.
10 min.	Lead discussion on modern fashion items/practices that are restrictive. For example;  girdles and corsets, neckties, platform and high-heeled shoes, skin-tight jeans and skirts. Discuss kinds of practices used today to make ourselves attractive:  hairstyles (cuts and perms, toupees, wigs), pierced ears/nose/etc., diets, exercise classes, brand-name clothing, shaving, makeup, plastic surgery.	Participate in discussion.
5 min.	Explain assignment:  Students will be writing persuasive essays on BOTH sides of the issue:  pro foot binding and anti foot binding.  The essays are to be at least half a page each, and each must attempt to thoroughly convince the reader of the correctness of its position on this issue.  Lists of reasons should be included.  Counter arguments should be addressed.	Listen to directions.  Write down assignment.
20 min.	Circulate to help students.	Write argumentative/persuasive essays.
	The next day, quickly preview some students' essays and call on the best ones to read their arguments aloud, in an informal debate setting.

Assessment:  Read the essays to determine if students absorbed the lesson.  Pro arguments should cite the role culture played in how small, delicate feet, and demure, restrained women were highly valued.  Con arguments should cite the practical limitations (pain, immobility, etc.) as well as modern views of female liberations. (Make sure students know that no one would have argued for female liberation in medieval China.)

Japanese and Chinese Index