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1/4. The Unnoticed Crying
Foot-binding has a 900-year history in China and is a very old tradition among Han Chinese girls that was not abolished until the early 20th century. There are many theories about the origin of this custom, and all of them are invariably related to male needs. The “three-inch golden lotus” pursued by men is a centuries-old shackle that not only binds women's ability to act, but also binds their courage to think. In order to get the “three-inch golden lotus”, the girls' foot bones were broken by the foot-wrapping cloth at a very young age. In modern society, all information about foot binding exists only in words and old photographs. No one can imagine the pain they once endured because we no longer have the opportunity to listen to the cries that once went unnoticed. Their tears are buried forever in history.
2/4. You Can’t Always Keep Us Silent
Nüshu, also known as the Womanese, a phonetic script derived from the Jiangyong dialect of Hunan Province, is used exclusively among women. Women in the past lacked access to education, so they created their own characters, written on folding fans and embroidered on fabric, to communicate with their sisters and friends who had married far away. They used Nüshu to compose their own poems, write down their own thoughts, and preserve their lives that should have been washed away by the history of men.
3/4. We Comb Ourselves, We Live Ourselves
In the late 19th century, a custom called "self-combing" emerged in Guangdong. “Self-combed girls" combed their hair into the bun of married women to avow that they would never get married. They resisted the feudal institution of marriage and the secular discipline for women by taking an oath not to marry. They worked and used their earnings to build a community dedicated to the “Comb Sisters.” They lived in groups and also protected women who did not want to marry to do so of their own free will. They didn't rely on the male-dominated family to live, they lived together and cared for each other as they grew old. They were one of the first independent groups of women in China.
4/4. Free Your MInd to That Strawberry!
In this work, I have referenced the idea of the strawberry outside the fence as a symbol of the desires of women who are afraid to reach out in the poem Over the Fence by the American feminist poet Emily Dickinson. In the early twentieth century, foreign ideas were introduced into China, and women who were hungry for knowledge followed the example of men by wearing Cheongsam, fighting for rights and opportunities equal to those of men. Knowledge gave them the courage and confidence to express themselves, speak out about social taboos, and reveal the shapes of their bodies that had been hidden by traditional costumes. Later, women's cheongsams were distinguished from men's cheongsams by the input of a feminine aesthetic, and for modern China, Cheongsam is still a significant testimony to the advancement of female consciousness.
1/4. The Unnoticed Crying
2/4. You Can’t Always Keep Us Silent
3/4. We Comb Ourselves, We Live Ourselves
4/4. Free Your MInd to That Strawberry!