FootBinding: Tang & Song Dynasties 618 A.D. -1279 A.D.

Objective: I will know the role of women in China starting in the Tang and Song Dynasties by looking at specifically how they made themselves more marriageable and beautiful. I will be able to read and analyze primary and secondary documents

1. What was the most physically painful thing you ever experienced? Warm-Up 1. What was the most physically painful thing you ever experienced?

Warm-Up 2. Make a list of things that women today do to make themselves more beautiful in the United States?

Reading 15-20 Minutes: Read the text and highlight evidence that Footbinding is a beauty ritual

Foot binding

Origin of Foot Binding In the early 10th century, Emperor Li Yu of the Southern Tang dynasty in China order one of his slave girls to bind her feet in silk ribbons and dance on a platform littered with golden lotus flowers. At first, foot binding was something practiced only by those within the royal court but soon women of all social classes were eager to have dainty, "beautiful" and desirable feet.

Water Lily Lotus Flower

The Process Foot binding was done to make the foot smaller and skinnier so it would look like lotus flower. The goal was for women to get their feet only 3 inches long.

The Process Foot binding usually began around the ages of 4-7 because the feet are not fully developed and are still soft. The foot would be gently massaged and then soaked in hot water to soften the bone tissue. Before the toes were broken the toenails would be clipped very short.

The Process The four little toes would be broken and pushed under the bottom of the foot. The toes would be held in place by wrapping a 10 ft. long bandage around the foot. Every two days the bandages had to be removed so the feet could be massaged and washed to avoid infections. This was the mothers job The arch, or middle, of the foot would also be broken and pulled straight with the leg.

The Process Over time the bandages would be pulled tighter and tighter and the women would be given smaller and smaller shoes. The women or girls would often be forced to walk long distances so they would become used to the little feet. The process took two years to complete, but bandages had to be used for the next ten years to make sure the foot stayed in place. Often women would wear the bandages their whole life.

The Process of Foot Binding NPR: Painful Memories The Atlantic: A particular history 10 most crazy Chinese traditions CNN: Footbinding

Read the Example poems on Footbinding After reading the example poems on Footbinding as a class, review sensory words with students What is the importance of these sensory words in the poems?

Write a FU Lushi Using the found poetry method and the primary documents handed out in class in order to create a FU Lushi on The Beauty of Footbinding This is a summary activity and will be used to assess how much students have learned in class. Words must be found consecutively, selectively (you can cross out words, but cannot change the meanings of the lines used), must contain sensory words

Why did women bind their feet? Women bound their feet because it was a sign of beauty. Often men would not marry a women if her feet were not bound. Men thought the way women with bound feet walked was appealing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDRa1LjluHM During the Sung Dynasty women lost many of their freedoms and men saw foot binding as a way to control women. By binding their feet women couldn’t have a social life and had to stay at home. It was a sign of wealth because it showed the wife did not have to work.

Foot binding was outlawed when after the sun Yat- Sen revolution in 1911 Women were no longer allowed to have their feet bound and younger women with bound feet were forced to remove their bandages. Officials would come around to make sure women were no longer using the bandages and if they were still wearing them they could be fined. Older women were allowed to keep their bandages on. Even after it was banned many women continued to secretly bind their feet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_FYM2Y4AR4