Tiny Shoes, Embroidery, and Dolls

As we related in our last excerpt, during her 1926-1927 fundraising tour in America, Anna Bøg showed various items from China to the audiences that attended her presentations. The visual aids she used included tiny shoes that had been worn by women whose feet had been bound, as well as pieces of embroidery, and dolls representing Chinese people in various walks of life. Anna Bøg described how a 30-year old woman she had worked with had presented her with a five-inch shoe that she had worn when her feet had been bound.

Traditionally, the feet of Manchu women were not bound. According to James, in the old days, “Manchu women . . . walked about freely in the cities and fields, and rode on horseback armed with bow and arrow, and even hazarded their lives in battle[.]” The Han Chinese immigrants into Manchuria practiced footbinding, however, and the Manchus began imitating the Han custom. During the Qing Dynasty when the Manchus ruled all of China, there were various imperial efforts to end footbinding but the practice continued. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, the Nationalists passed laws forbidding footbinding but the populace continued to resist the law. Concerted efforts had to be made to obtain compliance. The Christian missionaries, including Anna Bøg, were active in the efforts to stop the practice as it is inconsistent with the dignity of persons created in the image of God.

Referenced source:
James, H.E.M.; The Long White Mountain (Longmans, Green and Co., 1888; First Greenwood Reprinting, 1968), pp. 58, 110-111.

Images:
(1) Photograph of five-inch embroidered foot-binding shoe
(2) Two Chinese dolls
(3) Three Chinese dolls
All items brought to America by Anna Bøg. Photographs courtesy of Ruth Macaulay and her son David Macaulay.