Bound Feet and Western Dress response
Please respond to Pang-Mei Natasha Chang's oral history-based memoir Bound Feet and Western Dress, a story of two generation of Chinese women told by the Chinese American female author. What is the most intriguing insight you took away from the book? How does this oral history echo recurring issues throughout our class? How might reading this book inform you about your midterm paper? Please use quotes with page numbers from the book to support your response. Due Wednesday March 5 by 10 pm for one extra credit.
One thing I found informative about the book in terms of oral history was the relative inconsistency. The narrative as a whole was fairly unbroken (aside from the fact that it's genuinely difficult to know when the perspective changes sometimes, although reading for a paragraph or two usually resolves the confusion) except toward the end when some of Yu-i's commentary on her feelings toward her ex-husband start to surface. By the final chapter, before the epilogue, she is commentating directly on her confusion regarding these feelings. She tells the author, "You always ask me if I loved Hsu Chih-mo, and you know, I cannot answer this. It confuses me, this questions, because everyone tells me that I did so much for Hsu Chih-mo, I must have loved him" (208). She then confesses to having never really known what love is, having never said she loved anyone in all her life. The author speaks to this inconstancy in chapter fourteen as well, when she says "I did not understand all of the story. Yu-i made Hsu Chih-mo sound so heroic. In the beginning, she maintained that he divorced her because of a girlfriend, but by the end she said he divorced her because he respected women and did not want to see them compromised" (192). In the five years Natasha spent interviewing Yu-i, the narrative changed.
ReplyDeleteI think this is very telling in the context of the story, not to mention the general study of oral narrative/history. The visions of "old China" that we see through Yu-i's stories mirror the author's vision as well, their respective battles with their duty and identity inundating their narration. Both women struggled with a relationship to "China," Yu-i because she did not understand her duty to her country and her family, try as she might to be dutiful and filial in spite of her strong desire to gain knowledge and educate herself and Natasha because she did not understand her Chinese identity, growing up surrounded by Westerners and plagued by her own secret desires to be like them (or with them, in the case of her recurring dream of being married to a Westerner). Both women endured a crisis of self that reflected on the crisis of the nation. I think some of the inconsistencies in their storytelling are probably natural, there isn't a really concrete way to recreate these individual vignettes with academic certainty. And, for some reason, this seems fitting. As China was changing, the stories of women also changed - or at least the context of their narratives changed. What Yu-i says about her life in the latter part of the 20th century reflects differently on the events as they happened in the earlier part of the 20th century.
Women in old Chinese don't know about love clearly. Yu-I followed her Hsu Chih-mo to the England because she just followed her “husband” not the one she love.
DeleteAt the beginning of this article, Chang Yu-I give us a fact about Chinese women at that times, they must comply with “the three obediences and the four vitures”. “In China, a woman is nothing. When she is born, she must obey her father. When she is married, she must obey her husband. And when she is widowed, she must obey her son. A woman is nothing, you see.” (p.6, Pangmei Chang) I think this sentence is also the best description of their marriage and social moral background. Before telling story about their marriage, Chang Yu-I narrated a long background of their family, I think this is important to know about her and social background at that time, too. “The first lesson of filial piety is this: that your life and body are gifts to you from your parents.”(p.9) and “The second less is: you must always inform your parents where you are going and what you are doing”(p.10), these two lessons could explain the reasons why she was difficult to go through her failed marriage. Women were taught that they should be honor and respect their family and elder, so if they divorced, it would disgrace both themselves and their families at that time. In this novel, Chang mentioned the importance about fame for many times.
ReplyDeleteHer mother was promised to marry her dad when she was only two years old, so it seems to be a matter of course that I married at 15. “Flat and soundless, my feet became my talisman, guiding me through a new, large, open world.” (p.23) In fact, Chang Yu-I was only bound feet for three days and didn’t very conservative and unable to alternative as many other women at that time. But for her husband, her feet were bounded, because he thought Chang was conservative and uneducated and described her as “Country bumpkin.” “And now I understood what my amah had meant about being “neither three nor four.” I was supposed to be a modern girl with big feet, but Hsu Chih-mo treated me as though I had bound feet. He thought me old-fashioned and uneducated, and did not care for me. Yet I was not traditional enough for Lao Taitai.” (p. 90) In fact, Chang Yu-I had many new thoughts, but she afraid to express herself to Hsu. The mainly reason is Hsu’s unconcerned behavior to her, when she first time took a plane, she felt terrible. But Hsu shook his head in disgust and say “What a country bumpkin you are.” (p.104), after he said that, he felt sick, too. After read this part, I laughed because I always think Hsu Chiho-Mo liked to put on an act to Chang. He even asked Chang to get an abortion after he knew that she got pregnant. What Hsu really asked is divorce with Chang, because “bound feet and Western dress do not go together”, he thought Chang represents “bound feet” while he represents “western dress”.
After finish reading this book, I think this oral history echo recurring issues about women’s inferior position and harmed in marriage through our class. This book gives an important reason for those tragic women roles, “I was born into changing times and had two faces, one that heard talk of the old and the other that listened for talk of the new, the part of me that stayed East and the other that looked West, the spirit in me that was woman and the other that was man.” (p.15) I think this article is great for me to write my paper, and I plan to write something about the women’s transition during 1910s-1940s. Chang Yu-I was born in 1900 and great changes happened to her, so I think the story of Chang Yu-i is an important information for me to understand the women’s transition at that time. Also, this oral history based article is a good example for me to know about how to write a good oral history paper.
I liked you point out that “bound feet and western dress does not go together”. Hsu Chi-mo thought Yu-I as a traditional Chinese girl, by not even bother to know his wife. But Hsu Chi-mo himself was affected by Chinese culture although he shows all the modern way of thinking, living and all the perspective he has.
Delete"Bound Feet and Western Dress" tells the story of the author's great-aunt.In the biography “Bound Feet and Western Dress”, the main character Chang Yu-I grew up in a traditional Chinese family. She was the first girl to avoid foot-binding but nevertheless her parents still believed that a woman was nothing. Yu-I accepted the arranged marriage at 15 to Hsu Chi-mo and then divorced at age 22. She made history by becoming the first Chinese woman to have a western-style (without parents' permission) divorce. No one in her family truly knows her story until her great-niece asks her to tell it. After her second son death, Yu-I returned to China and became a successful businesswoman and the first woman vice-president of the Shanghai Women's Bank based on her traditional Chinese background and Western knowledge.This book illustrates how Chang Yu-I deals with many unforeseen circumstances.
ReplyDeleteLooking at Chinese culture as it is depicted in “Bound Feet, Western Dress”; Women with small feet were seen as delicate. “Who will marry her with big feet?” (Bound Feet and Western Dress, Pg22) Men came to believe that tiny feet were beautiful, women with big feet was hard to get married in old china. Chinese women who have bound feet, giving people a sense of losing freedom. Having experienced three days of foot binding, Yu-I‘s mom allowed them to stop binding foot after the Empress Dowager announced banning foot binding, the bindings are permanently removed. As she tells Chang, "My feet became my talisman, guiding me through a new, large, open world." (Bound Feet and Western Dress, Pg23) YU-I is allowed by her parents to gain a very rudimentary education by working marginally with her brothers' tutor and attending for a time a school for women is indeed somewhat progressive for a Chinese family of this time period. After moved out to England, she found that her previous traditional values prevent her from adapting to her new life in England. She shared her most time with Hsu Chih-mo in the first few months' life in the West. As she comments, "I do not know why I did nothing except wait for Hsu Chih-mo. It did not even occur to me that I could have been independent" (Bound Feet and Western Dress, Pg 105). That could be the reason why Yu-I tried to accept Western culture and become a more independent, modern woman. Chinese women in the past was ignored，their ideologies was locked even their behaviors was restricted by foot binding .
I think that bound feet is an important thing that represents the old time China
DeleteI agree with you that "Chinese women who have bound feet, giving people a sense of losing freedom". I also think that bound feet is an example of Chinese women's inferior position and "bound thought" in society at that time.
Delete“ I listed so closely to tales of small feel that my own big feet lost their magic for me. I had thought they made me modern, but instead they became my enemy.” (pg 89) In Bound Feet and Western Dress, I was had more pity and respect for Yu-I than any of the women from the story. It takes courage to stick to your aspirations or freedom that you want to achieve. But it takes dedication to achieve your goals as well as keeping your loyalty to the people that you care about. Yu-I was dedicated and loyal. It is important to have courage in what you want to achieve, for a new life or a new way of thinking. But being a western and eastern woman is dedication. People say that straddling the fence between two views shows fickleness, but in my opinion Yu-I being a woman that embraces Western thinking and traditional ways shows that she is a woman that can look at two different worlds and embrace both, negative and positive.
ReplyDeleteYu-I was a woman that had, “ big feet,” but had an arranged marriage. She saw the big feet as her enemy, but while reading I thought of the big feet as establish of courage. If her brother did not stop the mother to unbound her feet, I believe Yu-I would not have the initiative to have the courage to study in a school and to be audacious. Another situation in which Yu-I learned the indifference she will receive when she had; “ big feet” was when her father hit her because she accidently dropped her sister. “ Wiping away my tears with her hand, she held my close and said that it was hard to be as few as the sisters in the sky…the sisters were there, dancing and playing happily in their new home.” (pg 24) The mother was explaining to Yu-I the consequences of having non-bound feet. But with every tribulation that she goes through she becomes stronger with standing the difficulties.
I like the analyse you did in the second paragraph
DeleteI don't think Yu-I saw her big feet as her enemy, and I also disagree with you that " If her brother did not stop the mother to unbound her feet, I believe Yu-I would not have the initiative to have the courage to study in a school and to be audacious." I think women went to school at that time didn't have much relation to big feet or bound feet, such as Hsu Chi-mo's girl friend in Cambridge, I forgot her name, but she could study abroad in England with her bound feet.
DeleteWhile reading "Bound Feet and Western Dress" the author walked the audience through the life of Chang Yu-I who wished us to learn that a woman is nothing. This seemed harsh at the beginning but throughout her story, understanding her statement became more clear at what she meant. One aspect of "Bound Feet and Western Dress" that stuck out to me is the focus on filial piety. Filial piety for a woman to first to obey her parents, when she is married: obedience to her husband; when she is widowed: obedience to her son. Even through her hard life she never thought about suicide because "your life and your body are gifts to you from your parents." (pg 9) Although Chang Yu-I was divorced from Hsu Chih-mo, even after the divorce she continued to serve them and care for them. Why? She was no longer their daughter-in-law, it seemed that she did not have to fulfill that duty. However, Chang Yu-I saw it differently, she had to care for the Lao Ye and Lao Taitai because they were her son's grandparents.
ReplyDelete"I grew up with these traditional values; I could not discard them, no matter how Western I became." pg 201 Chang Yu-I's ideal's of filial piety was strong within her moral conduct. I believe her duties to her family were more honorable than the duties of Hsu Chih-mo to his family. Was this because he was more influenced by the West? This is a question I want to go more in depth with for my midterm paper. How those who grew up in China value filial piety versus those who grew up in the West understand filial piety and whether or not they see it as their duty.
In my opinion, feet binding is one of the important things that represents the females in old China. in the article"bound feet and west dresses", the main charater was the first woman who did not bind her feet. In old Chinese peoples's eyes, they think that bound feet are pretty and delicate. So parents force their kid(if its a girl) to bind the feet. however, it is terrible. because when they bind their feet, they use a long strip of cloth, and the cloth break your bones and make them grew into the shape. At that time, a girl who doesnt have bound feet were considered ugly. Which is a female discrimination, people took girls rights to choose wether to bind the feet r not.
ReplyDeletethe tilte of the article is very intersting, "bound feet and west dresses", because the bound feet does not go with the western dresses. I guess that kind of became the reason why she left for the US.however, becuase as the book states in P22."who will marry her with big feet?"
I have seen some pictures of women with bound feet. with the view of today, I do not think that is pretty, on the contrary, I think they are very ugly, I mean the feet.
Bound Feet and Western Dress is the story of Chang Yu-I, a woman who grew up in a traditional Chinese family. She was lucky in the sense that she was able to avoid the incredibly painful fate of foot bidding due to her older brother’s insistence. However, she was still married of at the young age of 15 to a man named Hsu Chi-mo. In her early 20s, she does something that not many people have the courage to do, she gets a divorce. In the Chinese culture (and many other Asian cultures), a woman has the burden of the family’s “honor” and “respect”. In receiving a divorce, they go against their family and against their society. Thus, they bring the family “dishonor” which is why many women choose not to go that route. The structure of this piece made it difficult to understand the content.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this story exemplifies the status of a traditional woman in Chinese society, and even many other cultures. At no one point in her life is a woman able to make her own choice. In class we mentioned the three people a woman is subjugated to: her father, her husband and even her son. It seems that the first step Chang Yu-I’s ability to dictate her life was that she did not have bound feet. Granted, this was due to her western educated brother, I believe that it set the stage for her to make her own choices later. As said in the reading, “My feet became my talisman, guiding me through a new, large, open world” (pg. 23). Yu-I is then able to convince her family to let her get an education. While all of this may suggest that Yu-I is able to break free from the binds of traditional values, she is still very attached to her roots (even if she did not want to be). “I grew up with these traditional values; I could not discard them, no matter how Western I became.” (pg. 201) Personally, I think this is a problem for many of us who travel from a conservative country to the Western world (myself included).
Chang Yu-I’s husband, Hsu Chih-mo, did not see her as a (somewhat) progressive woman. Clearly, she had broken through some boundaries by avoiding foot binding and being able to receive an education but he did not see her this way. “I was supposed with a modern girl with big feet but Hsu Chih-mo treated me as if I had bound feet” (pg. 90). To him, Yu-I’s feet were bound in a metaphorical sense. In the media, arranged marriage wives are often portrayed as the antagonists. I think it is important to note that she probably did not want this marriage (which is extremely sexist in my opinion). While the man, in this case Hsu Chih-mo, is able to do anything he wishes in the name of “free love” Chang Yu-I still has to abide by the customs in traditions. That, I believe, is a true testament to her character.
In regards to my midterm paper, this will aid in my understanding of the issues that women had to go through during this time. Even though Chang Yu-I is able to travel to the western world, she is still plagued (in a sense) by her past. That is something I might focus on in my paper. I'm not quiet sure yet as I'm still dabbling with other ideas.
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