Footbinding, Feminism and Freedom - The Liberation of Women's Bodies in Modern China (Paperback, annotated edition)

This text brings Chinese women to the centre of the Chinese cultural stage by examining the role which exercise and, subsequently, sport played in their liberation. Physical emancipation, particularly in the custom of footbinding, which continued to be practised to some extent in China until 1949, was the prerequisite for wider emancipation. Through the medium of women's bodies, Fan Hong explores the significance of religious beliefs, cultural codes and political dogmas for gender relations, gender concepts and the human body in an Asian setting. Inquiry into the evolving relationship between women's emancipation and exercise over this period is necessary if there is to be a full understanding of China in an era of gender role reconstruction.