Chinese foot binding. The vanishing lotus
Description
A pair of small feet -- three-inch golden lilies -- were once the male-designated yardstick for feminine beauty in China. A young girl s feet were broken and bound inwards along the instep, a process that caused excruciating pain. Systematically bound, day after day, the stunted feet began to take on the coveted look of that profoundly sensuous image, the lotus bulb. Today there are fewer than 400 women with bound feet among the 1.25 billion people of China. Most of them are over 80 years old. Some of these women tell us of the event that branded their lives with its singular mark. Once an erotic symbol of beauty and eligibility, the bound foot confronts us with a custom that subjugated women to a brutal beauty myth.
Runtime
53 min
Creator
Joani, Tang Yuen Mei
Subjects
Geography
Genre
Date of Publication
2004
Database
Alexander Street
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