End foot binding

Author: Qin Jiaxiong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: When reading the history of different countries, we find that, like individuals, they each have their own whimsical and peculiar traits. When they are indifferent to their actions, they also have periods of excitement and recklessness. People suddenly find their entire society's attention drawn to something, and they pursue it with madness. Millions are simultaneously captivated by this deception and flock to it until their attention is drawn to a new, even more mesmerizing folly. How many "bound feet" women are still left in China? The author of this book spent 17 years interacting with over 400 elderly women, not only documenting their images through photography but also presenting the lives of bound feet women through their own words. Such a text undoubtedly holds documentary value. Foot-binding of women was a cruel and inhumane custom unique to China's feudal society, a festering wound in the history of Chinese civilization that spanned thousands of years. With the arrival of the 21st century, the last generation of bound feet women in China has reached the end of history and will forever step out of people's lives. As the millennium-long history of Chinese foot-binding is coming to an end, presenting and analyzing the last generation of bound feet women through the vivid and direct medium of photography will undoubtedly help in examining and critiquing this cultural phenomenon and contribute to establishing a better, more harmonious, and humane way of life. This book is a result of the author's extensive tracking interviews and records of the last generation of bound feet women in China, serving as a historical witness to their lives. The book is preface by Feng Jicai and written by Li Jiangshu, offering a strong indictment and condemnation of the feudal cultural evils that persisted for a thousand years in China.