Topic Parameters

Time Period: Qing Dynasty to PRC

Area: China

Proposed Title:
● The fall of the lost art of footbinding from the last dynasty to the present

Specific Questions:
I. What was the cultural significance of China’s footbinding practice during the Qing
dynasty?
II. What impetused the creation of the anti-footbinding movement during the end of
the Qing dynasty?
III. How did the anti-footbinding movement lead to cultural reformation of China;s
footbinding practice at the start of 20th century Republic China?

Proposed Research Question:

● How did the cultural significance of footbinding in China change between the end
of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China in the 20th
century?

Background/Context: Footbinding is one of the most controversial cultural practices that

existed in China from the 10th century until the establishment of the People's Republic of
China in 1949. It consisted of tightly bandaging women's feet for aesthetic purposes in
order to alter their shape. In light of this, the research question seeks to shed light on how
the cultural significance of this practice changed between the end of the Qing Dynasty and
the start of the Republic of China in the 20th century.

Primary Sources:
● Howard L. Levy, Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom
(NY: Walton Books, 1966); 224-227.
● Lim L. Painful memories for China's footbinding survivors. Morning Edition,
March 19, 2007. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8966942
Accessed March 9, 2023.
● Richardson, M. L. (2009). Chinese Foot Binding: Radiographic Findings and Case
Report. Radiology Case Reports, 4(1), 270. https://doi.org/10.2484/rcr.v4i1.270
● Mackie, G. (1996). Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account.
American Sociological Review, 61(6), 999–1017. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096305
● Blake, C. F. (1994). Foot-binding in neo-Confucian China and the appropriation of
female labor. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 19(3), 676-712.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3174774.pdf
● Sun, X., Man, X., Liao, X., Yang, J., Cao, J., Zhu, H., ... & Wang, Q. (2021).
Footbinding and non-footbinding Han Chinese females in the Qing Dynasty
(1644–1912 CE) Xifengbu cemetery: a skeletal and mortuary analysis.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 13, 1-40. [PDF] jhu.edu
 ● Schiavenza, Matt. “The Peculiar History of Foot Binding in China.” The Atlantic.
theatlantic, September 16, 2013.
https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-peculiar-history-of-foot-bin
ding-in-china/279718/.
● Devotion To Indigenous. “THE LAST GENERATION: The Lives of Foot-Bound
Women.” YouTube Video. YouTube, April 12, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eG2kZ4iM-c.
● News, ITV. “Banned Practice of Foot Binding Blighting China’s Oldest Women |
ITV News.” YouTube Video. YouTube, January 3, 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuuIoJGPjBA.

Secondary Sources:
● Malchik, A. (2020, February 14). The Medical Consequences of Foot-Binding. The
Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/lasting-damage-foot-binding/6
06439/

● Lee, Y. (2009). Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation. By

Li-Hsiang L. Rosenlee. pp. ix, 200. Albany, State University of New York Press,
2006. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 19(2), 273-275.
doi:10.1017/S1356186308009577
http://www.aulibrary.au.edu/multim1/ABAC_Pub/Asian-Journal-of-Literature-Cult
ure-and-Society/v3-n2-2.pdf
● Fordham University. (1998, March 7). Marie Vento: One Thousand Years of
Chinese Footbinding: Its Origins, Popularity and Demise.
Sourcebooks.fordham.edu.
● McMahon, K. (2012). Polygyny, Bound Feet, and Perversion. Extrême-Orient
Extrême-Occident, 159–187.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42636051?searchText=qing%20dynasty%20foot&searc
hUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dqing%2Bdynasty%2Bfoot&ab
_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A6821
98c919c0ac16ce6d9c4f56be9c66
● Blake, C. F. (1994). Foot-Binding in Neo-Confucian China and the Appropriation
of Female Labor. Signs, 19(3), 676–712. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3174774
● Sun, X., Man, X., Liao, X., Yang, J., Cao, J., Zhu, H., Zhang, Q., & Wang, Q.

(2021). Footbinding and non-footbinding Han Chinese females in the Qing Dynasty

(1644–1912 CE) Xifengbu cemetery: a skeletal and mortuary analysis.

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 13(1).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01241-9