PART I. CHINESE EROTICISM AND FEMALE ALLURE: Three-Inch Golden Lotuses: Achieving Beauty through Violence -- A Brief History of Footbinding -- Footbinding and the Cult of the Exemplary Woman -- Edible Beauty: Food and Foot Fetishes in China -- Silken Slippers: Footbinding in Chinese Erotica --PART II. FOOT BINDING IN WOMEN'S LITERARY TRADITIONS: Binding, Weaving, Chatting: Female Bonding and Writing -- From Golden Lotus to Prime Minister: A Woman's Tale Living from Mouth to Mouth -- The Fabric of Masquerade -- Conclusion: Aching for Beauty and Beyond
Summary
"Wang Ping interprets the mystery of footbinding as part of a womanly heritage - "a roaring ocean current of female language and culture." She claims that footbinding should not be viewed merely as a function of men's oppression of women, but rather as a phenomenon of male and female desire deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture."--Jacket
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-257) and index
