Bound Feet in China

I came across an article about an old custom where women in china had their feet bound. It was a custom that was outlawed in 1949 during the Cultural Revolution in China.

The bound feet had many meanings. Economically it meant that the women would be considered to be from a higher class and that she was also the property of the family. Socially the girl would be beautiful, the smaller the feet the more attractive and appealing she was.

What struck me the most was that the women would have to endure the pain as they wobbled to get from place to place, and needed help from others to get around. Above all, they were still expected to do the house work and take care of their children. This makes me value my feet more.

What do you think about this old tradition of class and beauty?

Click here for more information on bound feet

Chinese Cultural Taboos

This post we are focusing on overall Chinese cultural taboos.


The following link is an interesting article that we found that may arouse your interest.


http://chineseculture.about.com/od/chinesefestivals/a/Chinese-Taboo.htm


It identifies many different Chinese cultural taboos from an everyday perspective, giving examples from work, food, celebrations, gifts etc.


The most amusing thing we found was the idea that you should not leave chopsticks standing up in a bowl of rice in a restaurant, this is because it is believed it will bring bad luck to the owners of the restaurant, as it looks similar to incence sticks being put in an urn used to bring offerings to past ancestors.


In our point of view, living in Australia, putting chopsticks in a bowl of rice is just convenient and more hygienic than placing it on the table.


Tell us what you think?