Bound Feet & Western Dress A Memoir

by CHANG, PANG-MEI

• ISBN13: 9780385479646
• ISBN10: 0385479646
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-09-15
• Publisher: Anchor

Summary

"In China, a woman is nothing." Thus begins the saga of a woman born at the turn of the century to a well-to-do, highly respected Chinese family, a woman who continually defied the expectations of her family and the traditions of her culture. Growing up in the perilous years between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Chang Yu-i's life is marked by a series of rebellions: her refusal as a child to let her mother bind her feet, her scandalous divorce, and her rise to Vice President of China's first women's bank in her later years. In the alternating voices of two generations, this dual memoir brings together a deeply textured portrait of a woman's life in China with the very American story of Yu-i's brilliant and assimilated grandniece, struggling with her own search for identity and belonging. Written in pitch-perfect prose and alive with detail,Bound Feet and Western Dressis the story of independent women struggling to emerge from centuries of customs and duty.

Author Biography

Pang-Mei Natasha Chang was raised in Connecticut. She received her B.A. in Chinese Studies from Harvard and a J.D. degree from Columbia University School of Law. She practiced law in New York City before moving to Moscow, where she currently resides with her husband. <i>Bound Feet and Western Dress</i> is her first book.

Table of Contents

Chronology of Events	xiii
Prologue	1	(5)
A Woman is Nothing	6	(10)
Lotus Petals	16	(9)
Fortune, Rank, Longevity, Happiness	25	(13)
Beautiful Country, Bright Nation	38	(12)
A Girl's Education	50	(13)
Plum Blossom in Snow	63	(19)
Neither Three Nor Four	82	(12)
According to Your Wishes	94	(15)
Bound Feet and Western Dress	109	(19)
A Better Wife	128	(18)
O Poet!	146	(14)
Sentimental Journey	160	(14)
A Person's Title	174	(18)
The End of My Story	192	(17)
Epilogue	209	(4)
Acknowledgments	213