women in east asian history

[clay dube]

For reasons of space, not all the readings Morgan would like you to have were included in the reader. The full readings and a couple not included at all are available to you as .pdf downloads.

You need Adobe's free Acrobat reader to see and print these. You probably already have a copy on your computer. If not, you can get a copy at:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Go to this page to download the articles:

http://www.asia.ucla.edu/ncta/utla/readings/pitelka_index.asp

Please note that these are provided for your educational use only.

This is not a public webpage and sshould not be circulated.

[clay dube]

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. Let's discuss it in the Asia in My Classroom forum. Here I wanted to remind you of the Pitelka readings (see above) and to provide some additional resources:

Footbinding is one of the topics that every teacher needs to discuss when looking at the varying experiences of Chinese women. It emerges about a thousand years ago 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

[clay dube]

Hi Folks,

Morgan's provided us with a copy of his annotated bibliography. You may find it useful and can download it by clicking on the icon below.

[Anonymous]

In reading Pillow Talk, I found that the story was as beautifully depicted as the paintings, poetry, and movies of Asian culture. The treatment of women is also quite similar, poor of course. I know this all too well yet I am compelled to dark feelings and despair when I read about women like the maid in Pillow Talk. When a maid assigned to caring for a cat can be summarily dismissed because the dog bit the cat it seems so very disgraceful to me. I suppose that I am pleased that she was not treated as the poor dog was, as he was nearly beaten to death. The level of degradation to living things is appallingly disparaging to me.

[Anonymous]

“The Family” Sources of Korean Tradition, Vol.1/Lee
Again not surprised at the depths of degradation of women, I am sad about the assignment to the mundane that they are relegated to. Women who are not compliant are discarded and those who are, are esteemed for working themselves to the bone to wit they succumb to their demise at such an early age (49) that it is despicable. Even in death the devoted wife is remembered only for her filial devotion as if this were all there was to this human being.

[Anonymous]

I found the story “The Confessions of a Lady Nijo” compelling. The ending here is almost best left to the mystery of the missing page. In this one can hope that the baby is fine and the young fourteen year-old girl will be unscathed. I know in my mind that this not true. The story was an easy read and the outcomes somewhat predictable. Once again it saddens me that young girls are simply a commodity, something used by families as a way to elevate their social status. I suppose this is alive and well today, even here in the states albeit disguised in social niceties.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the bibliography. I found the list intriguing personally. Unfortunately, I will be unable to use the texts on this list in my fifth grade classroom.

[Author]

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