Bound Feet & Western Dress: A Memoir

Change can be a frightening affair, and looking back at change can be something that seems almost alien when beheld in the light of certain convictions. That seems to encapsulate the whole of the experience that Chang Yu-I talks about as she tries to explain something of who she is to her granddaughter, Pang-Mei, and it is one of the things that seemed to haunt me as a reader as I listened to Yu-I's tale. The chapters switch from Yu-I to Pang-Mei to give you and idea of how things have changed and to try to identify one person with the other, and I have to say that I found myself glued to the pages and not able to stop reading this book. At first I simply thought it was a story about a granddaughter wanting to explore her grandmother's life because she was the first person to have a Western-style divorce in China, and maybe that was her reason beginning the book. Still, the book goes well beyond that and touches on the dynamics of change and strength and how strong a person can be even when they think they are at their weakest.Honestly, I thought I could vicariously feel my heart cracking under the weight of some of Yu-I's confessions, amazed by some of the things she was able to tell her granddaughter.One of the best things about this tale is the detail that Yu-I goes into about China, and about the way things were seen in the past versus the way things became seen as war loomed on the horizon. Yu-I gives a great amount of detail about what it was like to be a child in a country like China, and she vividly recollects what its like to have one's feet bound and the reasons why this practice took place. All that breaking and rebreaking, the tying of the big toe over and over again; when I read this I cringed because it seemed so debilitating just to have a crescent-shape added to the foot. Furthering this are pictures in the book, showing what the feet actually look like when this happens - you can see the shriveled remains of feet that look almost mummified, and you can tell some of the extremes that went into making a foot look like that. Yu-I talks about the pain that's she, herself, experienced because of this practice, too; she tells her granddaughter about being three and having her mother try to bind her feet, and then talks about the torment of those moments and how it was her brother that made her stop this because he couldn't deal with her suffering. Yu-I goes on to tell of the pain that this caused her, too, with her always feeling as if she were ugly because she had "big feet" and "big feet" made a person almost untouchable when it comes to marriage. Still, she does marry the poet Hsu Chi-Mo and, for a time, she thinks this is perfect and learns the rites of being a wife. She cares for the mother-in-law, she takes care of the husband's family; basically she becomes a slave and thinks that this dedication is seem by her husband as love. It is only when she moves to a foreign country with her husband that she finds out what he is like and how she is alone, and when she understands that she is utterly abandoned she explains how it feels to want to die.There are other painful things in the book, too, things I can't disclose without messing up part of the tale, but I can say that when she is in Germany and loses something more dear to her than anything that this was devastating to read, making the book almost too heavy to pick up because its honesty was like a barb in the soul. I appreciated that, to be honest, and can say that I have read a lot of pieces of literature but that I have rarely encountered a person like Yu-I that both loves the world she lives in, understands the things that she has experienced, and even knows what forgiveness is like.While this normally would not be something I would recommend, it has my highest recommendation and the most humble form of respect I can give, thinking it an enduring read that really has something to say.I cannot give the book or the voice behind it enough praise.

The popularity of Asian stories has increased over the last few years and Bound Feet and Western Dress, A Memoir is certainly one of the most endearing. The story of Chang U-i, a woman born in a traditional China who was trained in traditional Chinese thought and responsibility, but whose life spanned both the traditional and the modern--western--world, highlights the difficulty of bridging the very distant gap between ancient Chinese custom and the vast changes thrust upon it by the emerging western world. Married off at the early age of fifteen to a man she had never seen--as was the custom--U-i was left with her in-laws while her husband continued his education in the West. Even though she bore his family two sons, she scarcely knew her husband and was shocked when he demanded a divorce, as he put it, "the first couple in China to get a divorce." It is also the story of Pang-Mei, U-i's grand niece, who grew up in the United States and became interested in her great aunt's story. The juxtaposition of their lives and the corresponding parallels are not only interesting but also revealing of just how far U-i came from a young girl in China through her interesting and challenging life to the end where she was loved and cherished by many.

The author and her great aunt are the main characters in this book about the Westernization of Chinese women. Women in China (as in the Middle East) are second rate citizens. Chinese women have a medival system of allegiance to the men in the family. This caused the great aunt much trouble as she sees her husband cheating on her, and then ultimately divorces her while she was pregnant. Her loyalty is still to the ex-husband's family, since she is still officially a member of that. Both women ultimately had to establish their own identity before they could go out and confront the world.I liked the read of this book, and finished it the same day I started it. It is a good human interest story about the westernization of a Chinese woman. It shows the difficult emotional journey from the ancient east to the modern west.

An extremely informative and interesting story. Engagingly written however I found myself often confused as the writer is telling the story from two people's points of view...the person it happened to and the girl who is writing the story of her relative. The problem is that no matter who is "speaking" in the book, it is told in the first person and as the names are Chinese (so I am not familiar with them) it is easy to start wondering if the young girl is speaking about her thoughts on the old aunt or if it is the old aunt speaking about herself as a young girl.Nevertheless an excellent read which I couldn't put down. Very interesting cultural, historical content and a very sad story as is the case so often with modern women living within ancient cultures.

Very disappointed with this book, it's a very poor copy not an original. The photos are photocopied and blurred. I brought this to replace one that was damaged during a holiday and although I will be able to finish this amazing story the quality of this horrible copy is very disappointing.

The book arrived very quickly and was as recommended by a friend. We are researching Xu Zhimo's stay in Sawston during 1920 and gained interesting information from this book. A good insight into the struggle by old school Chinese to come to terms with Western ways.

Quite an interesting story. Also interesting parallel to 'Pearl of China'. Same mention of Hsu Chi Mo . Took a little moment to get used to the fact that the author is actually story telling in parts :- Youi's voice and the author's voice.

Ein ausgezeichnetes Buch. Unverzichtbar für China Reisende aus dem Westen oder für Reisende in USA Gegenden wo es viele Chinesen gibt. Bound Feet and Western DressBound Feet and Western Dress

タイトルから表紙の女性が纏足かと思ったらさにあらず。1965年生まれの中国系アメリカ人の女性が大叔母にあたる女性（1900年生まれ）の人生にひかれインタビューを重ねて本にしたもの。二人の女性のストーリーのどちらも一人称で語られるので、最初はかなり混乱した。１５歳で結婚した夫に「田舎者」と見下され、無視されて、２１歳で離婚に同意させられ（中国初の離婚のよう）、その後も次々にこの元・夫とその両親に振り回される日々の話は読んでいるほうもストレスになる。タイトルはフランス滞在中に夫が家に連れてきた女性を評した言葉。西洋のスーツを着て西洋風の化粧をほどこしている足元は纏足靴！この時代に裕福な家庭に生まれた女性たちのある者は纏足を施され、免れた（大足と呼ばれた）者も封建的家長制度の下で両親、男兄弟、夫、舅姑に従う人生を送るしかなかった（例外のモダンガールもいたが）。上海近辺で生まれ育ち、結婚後、短期間イギリス、フランス（ここで第二子妊娠中に夫に捨てられる）、で暮らし、兄弟のいるドイツで数年働きながら子育てした後、帰国、元夫の飛行機事故死、両親、義両親を看取り、共産体制になる直前に香港に逃れ再婚、夫を看取って７０代でアメリカに渡ったという波乱に満ちた人生の物語。オススメ