Aching for Beauty

by PING, WANG

• ISBN13: 9780385721363
• ISBN10: 0385721366
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-03-12
• Publisher: Anchor

Summary

When Wang Ping was nine years old, she secretly set about binding her feet with elastic bands. Footbinding had by then been outlawed in China, women's feet "liberated," but at that young age she desperately wanted the tiny feet her grandmother haddeformed and malodorous as they were. By first examining the root of her own girlhood desire, Wang unleashes a fascinating inquiry into a centuries-old custom. Aching for Beautycombines Wang's unique perspective and remarkable literary gifts in an award-winning exploration of the history and culture surrounding footbinding. In setting out to demystify this reviled tradition, Wang probes an astonishing range of literary references, addresses the relationship between beauty and pain, and discusses the intense female bonds that footbinding fostered. Her comprehensive examination of the notions of hierarchy, femininity, and fetish bound up in the tradition places footbinding in its proper context in Chinese history and opens a window onto an intriguing culture.

Author Biography

Wang Ping’s books include <i>American Visa, </i>a collection of short stories; <i>Foreign Devil, </i>a novel; and <i>Of Flesh and Spirit, </i>a collection of poetry. Born in Shanghai, she holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from New York University and teaches creative writing at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
PART I. CHINESE EROTICISM AND FEMALE ALLURE
Three-Inch Golden Lotuses: Achieving Beauty through Violence	3	(26)
A Brief History of Footbinding	29	(26)
Footbinding and the Cult of the Exemplary Woman	55	(24)
Edible Beauty: Food and Foot Fetishes in China	79	(20)
Silken Slippers: Footbinding in Chinese Erotica	99	(46)
PART II. FOOTBINDING IN WOMEN'S LITERARY TRADITIONS
Binding, Weaving, Chatting: Female Bonding and Writing	145	(30)
From Golden Lotus to Prime Minister: A Woman's Tale Living from Mouth to Mouth	175	(24)
The Fabric of Masquerade	199	(26)
Conclusion: Aching for Beauty and Beyond	225	(10)
Notes	235	(14)
Bibliography	249	(10)
Index	259