ipl-logo

China Chic East Meets West Summary

579 Words3 Pages

The essay “China Chic: East meets West” by Valerie Steele and John S. Major is immensely about the practice of foot binding in China. Foot binding is described as when a girl’s toes are tightly bandaged together under the soles of their feet. This leaves only the big toe visible at the beginning of the feet and this practice also breaks the arch of their foot. Foot binding began towards the end of the Tang Dynasty and did not begin to disappear until the middle of the twentieth century. This practice is said to have begun with dancers and professional female entertainers, but during the Song Dynasty it became familiar with those who lived in palaces and the elite. Within a few years it was carried out by almost the entirety of the Chinese population. …show more content…

Although the text, described it as “barbaric” from a western missionary view; I do believe that it is quite similar to wearing a corset. This is also a point made in the essay by the authors at the beginning of paragraph 15. It should be evident that both practices displayed the insecurities of women of that culture/ society—Chinese women wanted smaller feet and to have a more successful chance at marriage and western women believed that a small waist was more attractive. I would not say that the practice was ‘barbaric’ because in a strange way the families were doing it for the betterment of their daughters’ life. The girls and their families knew what they were doing and trying to achieve by doing so. It can absolutely be agreed upon that it is an extreme form of body modification when compared to other forms. Dorothy Ko, a scholar, loosely suggested that foot binding was not an uncomfortable ritual that every woman in each dynasty went through, but more of a “amorphous” practice that varies from situation to situation. I agree with Ko; the practice went from being associated with the wealthy (most likely those who could afford such a practice and the complications that came along with it) to everyday people (most likely those where trying to achieve the status of wealth). It started as a trend (innovative and new) and became a ritual (mothers and daughters seemed to have bonded over this

Show More
Related
999 Words | 4 Pages

Before Buddhism’s rise to popularity, Han China focused on distinctive practices, such as the Confucian way. This raises the question, how did Buddhism affect the role of women in China after the popularity of the Confucian practices in the Han Dynasty? Ban Zhao’s Lessons for a Woman explain how based on the Confucian doctrines, a woman’s fundamental duty was to serve others by putting others before herself, and this is observed even from their birth, all the way to their duties as a wife. In contrast, Buddhism, would change women’s role positively because they were regarded as equals to men, and they had agency, as illustrated in the Buddhist Doctrines and Practices by Wei Shou et al. However, some scholars may argue that Buddhism did not

Read More
894 Words | 4 Pages

The broken leg technique leg bent, foot flexed) is seen a lot in the choreography of this sequence. Ochres yellow dance sequence shows all 7 dancers staying very close to the ground, crawling and grabbing these movements effectively represent the role of the females in the culture which is predominantly as gatherers of food from the earth. Movements close to the ground are able to show their strong connection to the land and how they live off it. “The sun and seasons she nourishes gathering, nesting and birthing along her travels”.

Read More
962 Words | 4 Pages

The idea of heels being dangerous s an uncommon Belief in the United

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

The practice, according to Ahmed, was not generally observed in her society and was seen by women who practiced Islam as a cultural tradition that was not mandated by the religion. Instead of being a religious requirement, circumcision was viewed as a cultural rite of passage for women. In contrast, male Islam routinely performed female circumcision and considered it as a religious need. Men felt that female circumcision was required to preserve a woman's chastity and purity and to keep her from having sex before marriage. Ahmed claims that female circumcision is not an essential Islamic ritual because of the harm it might cause and because of her own experience with it.

Read More
1530 Words | 7 Pages

Because the Buddha himself was Indian rather than Chinese, he did not dress according to the Chinese fashion (document #4). Han Yu, an elite Chinese scholar who practiced Confucianism, angrily claimed in document #4 that Buddhism should remain in India, and be discontinued in China. This document was written in 819 C.E for his fellow officials and any Buddhist followers with the purpose of making them turn away from Buddhist beliefs, and return to Confucianism. Because people in China were following Buddhism and viewed the Buddha as a teacher, they would most likely adapt to his fashion, turning them away from the style of dress of their culture. Education was very important in China, especially during the rule of the Han Dynasty who followed Confucian rules.

Read More
454 Words | 2 Pages

Pueblo men and women both wore deerskin moccasins on their feet. For special occasions, the women painted their moccasins white and wrapped white strips of just deerskin around their legs as leggings. These strips were called

Read More
694 Words | 3 Pages

The causes and effects of the decline and fall of Han China during the classical era had similarities and differences when compared to the political, economic, and social causes and effects of the decline and fall of Rome during the Classical era. First of all, the political causes of China’s decline and fall centered mostly around corrupt government officials. Corrupt officials would not pay taxes which upset the peasants and in turn caused political unrest among the Chinese people. Similarly, Roman emperor Caligula didn’t care about the well-being of the Roman Empire and instead preferred spending his time partying and having orgies which bankrupted Rome and led to a raise in taxes. As a result of raised taxes political unrest began to spread throughout Rome.

Read More
1192 Words | 5 Pages

Confucian ideas highlight the need to have a heir, thus the Emperor need to be sexually active, which explains the very large number of women in the inner court. However, according to Confucian ideals, the Emperor was not supposed to retain any pleasure from this encounters. therefore leading to a paradox hard to overcome by the Emperor and even harder to enforce by the outer court officials depute their moral concerns. Song women were also granted for the first time considerable legal rights. In fact, Song Dynasty is seen as a high point for women property point in China, further challenging Confucian traditional patrilinality.

Read More
689 Words | 3 Pages

“When I did succeed in getting the foot free, it looked queer: I mean it was all twisted and puffy, I didn't even notice then that it had more than the usual number of toes." (wyndham 11) sophie was born with 6 toes instead of the regular 5.This leads to her parents alienating her from everybody for most of her life because if someone were to find out about her toe she would be

Read More
739 Words | 3 Pages

The few personal stories from the women who experienced circumcision offer powerful additions to the horrifying nature of genital mutilation and how the poorly done operation forever ruins the women’s hygiene and health. The result of Soraya Mire’s choice to only showcase the graphic parts of female circumcision takes away the cultural meaning and importance of the practice. Soraya Mire’s strong opinion on female circumcision relates closely with the Western approach to viewing external cultures and disagreeing with practices that

Read More
1861 Words | 8 Pages

Informative Speech: Female Genital Mutilation Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about female genital mutilation and where the controversy of it all lies. Central Idea: Female Genital Mutilation is a tradition in certain parts of the world. Most of the time these procedures aren 't carried out safely and the final outcome of the girls that have been mutilated are to work as sex slaves. INTRODUCTION (Attention Getter)This is Kizibianca of kenya, africa. At a mere fifteen years old she was woken up at 5 am and led outside of her hut by the the local traditional brothers and female elders.

Read More
511 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the ages women have been taught that your body is never perfect and that there is always something that is needed to be fixed. The poets use images of oppression on the female body to show the subjugation they faced as humans. For example, foot binding in China was used as a way for women to achieve social mobility and later economic wealth, thus suggesting that the only way a woman could have status was through her beauty (Foreman). Throughout the poem “Preoccupation” Qiu Jin uses images of foot binding as a way to enhance her struggles in fighting oppression through inhumane beauty standards. Qiu Jin states in her poem “Unbinding my feet I clean out a thousand years of poison” thus by taking the bindings off, Jin is expressing

Read More
1031 Words | 5 Pages

Personal Statement I would like to confirm that it is my motivating of Chinese culture that ignited my passion for cultural and creative industry. As a Tourism Management major student, I was able to explore the Chinese diversified cultures and landscapes, which offered me an insightful understanding of the Chinese cultural development. Under the guidance of commercialization, some cultural heritages have developed into huge tourism souvenir markets full of counterfeit and shoddy products. The over-commercialization reveals the fact that the Chinese culture is facing a severe situation. The country calls for a better cultural development strategy, which cultural and creative industry can offer.

Read More
808 Words | 4 Pages

Identically, pedicure is also a derivative of two Latin words “pedis” which mean foot and “cura” –nurture, it is a set of procedures that restores newness to the feet while beautifying it in the process. For the most part, salons and beauty parlors offer this service while in some isolated instances where complex medical procedures are involved; specialists called podiatrists are involved in the diagnosis and treatment of foot ailments. In view of the dominant influence of pedicure and manicure on fashion, a lot of questions are being asked about its history and origin .People are eager to find out the culture from which nail polishing came

Read More
1243 Words | 5 Pages

The traditional Chinese cultures have a development process for thousand years, now we are creating another kind of traditional culture especially under the wave of globalization. Although the form of expressing or performing the culture experienced some changes but the basic idea and belief behind rarely changed. To promote Chinese culture we would refer to the essence of Chinese wisdom so the following is actual practicing of different dimensions of Chinese traditions which show the beauty of China. The family concept is the essence of Chinese culture.

Read More

More about China Chic East Meets West Summary

Related Topics

Open Document