UCLA Center for East Asian Studies
Golden Legacy Curriculum sample lesson plan:
Bound FeetSource: Chinese Historical and Cultural Project
This lesson is a sample from the CHCP's curriculum project Golden Legacy. Contact the project to order a copy of this curriculum guide which offers an additional 30 lessons. The kit includes slides, some of which are referred to below.Chinese Historical and Cultural Project
P.O. Box 70746
Sunnyvale, CA 94086-0746
Phone/Fax: 408-735-9417Vocabulary
Materials
ProceduresStudents will become aware of the old Chinese custom of foot binding.
Students will become aware that few Chinese women in American had bound feet, although in the early days
wives of merchants usually did;
Students will compare foot binding with restrictive clothing in use today and in the past.Background Information for This Lesson
In the tenth century in China, a prince began the practice of foot binding because he loved the small 'lily feet' of his concubine. Thus traditional Chinese values for over 1000 years dictated that the feet of young girls should be bound to keep them small. 'Lily feet', as they were called, were thought to be very dainty and beautiful and a symbol of gentility and high-class. Although the term sounded harmless, it was really very cruel. It began when a girl was between three and eleven years old. First her foot was washed in hot water and massaged. Then the child's toes were turned under and pressed against the bottom of her foot. The arches were broken as the foot was pulled straight with the leg, and a long narrow cotton bandage would be tightly wound around the foot from the toes to the ankle to hold the toes in place.
After two or three years, a girl's feet actually shrank -- until they could fit into shoes just three inches long. This resulted in feet that were very deformed and unbearably painful to walk on. Sometimes the toes even fell off, because blood could no longer reach them. Besides identifying women of gentility or high-class, it prevented women from "wandering," since the bound with bound feet was unable to walk unassisted, and even going a short distance was very painful. These women had to walk with very short mincing steps and could stand only with great difficulty.
Tiny 3-inch-long shoes, called 'lotus shoes', were made of silk and were beautifully embroidered. In the upper classes in China, a good marriage wound be impossible to arrange if the girl had "big ugly feet." The practice of foot binding continued in China for over 1000 years until the Manchu Dynasty was toppled in 1911 and the new republic was formed. Foot binding was then outlawed.
Few Chinese women and girls who came to California had their feet bound as small children in China, but those who did had to spend their lives with the tiny useless feet. However, many of them did manage to walk and could do light household tasks and cook ing. Sometimes, the young girls would have the bindings removed and often their feet would grow enough to permit normal walking. Most of these people migrated to San Francisco and other cities where the upper class Chinese ran lucrative businesses.
Women from the peasant and working classes did not have their feet bound as children because if was necessary for them to be able to work in the home and fields. As these were more frequently the women who came to America, most of the immigrant women did not have bound feet. Most of the Chinese who migrated to the Santa Clara Valley were form this class.
(NOTE: The San Jose Historical Museum has a pair of 'lotus shoes' on display in the Ng Shing Gung located on the museum grounds. The shoes are three inches long, the actual size used. The students may see them when they visit the museum, or refer to #6 on the Slide Set included with this curriculum kit.)
concubine
A women who is a secondary wife to a married Chinese man.
foot binding
An old Chinese custom of wrapping a girl's feet so that they would not grow.
gentility
"Of gentle birth" and refinement; of upper-class status.
lucrative
Producing wealth, profitable.
mincing
Walking or moving with short, affectedly dainty steps.
restrictive
Confined or kept within limits.Materials Needed to Complete the Lesson
Those Doll-Sized Feet, (below). This is an article written by Jane Am Pang about her grandmother in Hawaii. For young students, you may wish to change a few of the words that describe the way bound feet made women walk.
Picture of Chinese Foot Binding (below -- discretionary for very young students)1.Read Those Doll-Sized Feet, and show pictures.
2.Discuss why this was done. Children must understand that this practice was discontinued about 80 years ago.
3.Discuss kinds of restrictive clothing used in our society today. For example:
girdles and corsets
neckties
platform and high-heeled shoes
skin-tight jeans and skirts
4.Discuss kinds of practices used today to make ourselves attractive:
hairstyles (cutting and permanents, toupees, and wigs)
pierced ears/noses
diets
exercise classes
brand-name clothing
shaving
5.With an advanced student, research on unusual or unique practices from other cultures in the world could be an interesting project.Those Doll-Sized Feet...
Jane Kam PangAhPo's house was next door to mine for the first decade of my life. For as long as I can remember, my mother and I spent a part of each day visiting her.
AhPo had seven children. My mother was the eldest. She sewed, she cleaned, she cooked, and she had those "doll-sized" feet. She was always clad in dark traditional Chinese pajamas, unless she 'went out'; then it was a long, dark cheongsam. Her long hair w as pulled back to form a pug. Her skin, like my mother's, was almost flawless. And she always wore those small, small black leather shoes. Some were laced; others hand a narrow strap across the instep.
Wooden stools were strategically placed around her kitchen so AhPo could kneel from ice-box to sink to table to stove, and not have to walk on those tiny feet of hers. Her knees were usually swollen or blistered. In the late afternoon. AhPo would hobble o ut to the back yard, carrying a big, big black pot to cook the evening's rice. She tended the fire, fueled with wood, while sitting on a small bench. I can still see that black, black pot that contained the whitest, hottest rice.
It was years later, when I saw her bare feet, that I started to understand the effort and the pain that must have accompanied her every step. Her feet were smaller than my hands. The big toe was where it should be, but the other four toes were folded under the sole of the foot. The big toe and the heel of the foot were pushed very close together. The arch of the foot was very high.
When very young, about age six, girls like my grandmother had their feet bound. Long, narrow strips of cloth were wrapped in a figure eight over the instep, around the heel, under the foot. These bandages were tightened daily until the foot measured less than four inches.
Historically, some believe this practice started around the Sahng Dynasty. This extremely painful custom lasted over a thousand years. Mothers wished their daughters to be in a 'state of refinement and grace'. The swaying walk that necessarily developed w as thought to be erotic and sensuous. Foot binding was beyond fashion. Words like feminine, sexy, dignified, fragile, delicate, gentle must be used to depict the qualities women hoped for with bound feet.
Although AhPo lived over 80 years, I do not remember her as being old or handicapped. She had a regal look and did all her household chores without the aid of computerized appliances. She was truly a lady by all standards -- yes, with those "doll-sized fe et."
Bibliography
Associated Chinese University Women, Traditions for Living, A Booklet of Chinese Customs and Folk Practices in Hawaii. Volume Two. Honolulu, 1989.
American Girl. Middleton, WI. Pleasant Company Publications, Article (Sampler, pg. 36), 1992.
Chinn, Thomas. Bridging the Pacific: San Francisco Chinatown and Its People. San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of American, 1989.
Dicker, Laverne Mau. The Chinese in San Francisco: A Pictorial History. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1979.
diFranco, Toni L. Chinese Clothing and Theatrical Costumes. San Joaquin, CA: San Joaquin County Historical Museum, 1981.
Yu Young, Connie. Chinatown, San Jose, USA. San Jose, CA: San Jose Historical Museum Association, 1991.
Yung, Judy. The Chinese Women of America: A Pictorial History. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1986.
Go to the institute page.
Go to the Center home page.