| Splendid Slippers | |
Footbinding existed not too long ago in China. I lived with my grand mother for about two years
when I was a little kid. I still remember she had bound feet, but never think
about it until I read
Beverley Jackson's new book,
'Splendid Slippers : A Thousand Years of an Erotic Tradition.'
'How and why did the torturous tradition of footbinding evolve and continue
well into the 20th century? Did the men make them do it? Was it an erotic
turn-on? Or was it a way to keep women and girls under male control?'
The book has ten chapters:
The shoe likes the person. 'Shoemaking reached its height of importance in preparation for a girl's marriage.
Her finest embroidery skills were called into play to decorate the dowry shoes, for these
shoes would be examined very closely by the bride's new family and their friends.'
The vast collection of photographs is fascinating, including many pictures of
rare shoes in the book. This review is only a glimpse of the book and there are just
a lot more you can learn from the book. It is truly a great book. Here is the link
if you would like to
buy the book.
Many thanks to Beverley Jackson for giving me permission to use the two nice pictures in
this review from her book.
There are few studies about footbinding though it existed for almost a thousand years.
The book is a great effort of Beverley Jackson for people to know this topic and to
understand Chinese culture and Chinese women. The author wrote the book with the
following questions in mind:
1. The treasure was her tiny feet
In the first chapter, the author gives some general information on footbinding, including
the theory of the origin and a list of reasons for footbinding.
2. The three-inch golden lily
3. Splendid slippers for lotus feet
4. Gilding the lily
5. Spinning cloud silk for the Gods
6. A night at the opera
7. Sex and the bound-footed girl
8. Sacrifice at the altar of beauty
9. The end of an era
10. One Door closes, another door opens
'Small is beauty' can be applied to footbinding.
As the author stated 'The key attribute of the perfectly bound foot, of course,
was the length. Three inches, or even less, was the ideal, and only a foot this size earned
the title of Golden Lily.' The author did an in-depth research about the three-inch golden lily,
including the procedures of footbinding and how to make a lotus shoe.