Foot Binding: A Custom Becomes a Metaphor

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the ancient Chinese custom of foot binding. The paper details the history of this ritual and the socio-cultural role it played in Chinese society. Then the paper turns to an analysis of the metaphoric significance of foot binding in literature and on film. Works studied include the James Michener epic novel "Hawaii" and the film "The Hawaiians", which is based on the novel and the film "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness".

From the Paper:

"James Michener explored the Chinese culture in his epic novel Hawaii, which was made into two films, the second of which, The Hawaiians, dealt with the Chinese woman Char Nyuk Tsin, and her husband, Kee Mun Ki. While the practice of foot binding is never a central theme or issue of either the novel or the film, it is an underlying element in the plot structure and character development. Char Nyuk Tsin is a peasant woman of Hakka, a mountain village that traditionally does not bind the feet of their women, since they are required to carry heavy loads up and down steep and rocky terrain. A rival neighboring village practices the custom, considering it a mark of ignorance that their neighbors leave their women's feet to grow naturally.When the Chinese are imported to Hawaii to work in the fields, the first women allowed on the islands are the women with strong, unbound feet. Chinese women with bound feet are not among the early Chinese allowed to relocate in the Hawaiian Islands, since their usefulness as laborers is limited."

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