The Good Earth: Chinese Culture and History
The time period of Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth spans 1882-1939. This LibGuide will cover the history of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Boxer Uprising, and the Russo-Japanese War.
Subscription Databases
Here are some suggested articles in these databases:
Student Research Center
The ties that bind
Women's lives in the Song Dynasty
Long march of history catches up with China's last bound feet
The body as attire: The shifting meanings of footbinding in seventeenth-century China
Painful Beauty: How Lotus Feet Are Made
Passwords and Usernames Google Doc
Use this link to access the Usernames and Passwords Google Doc available to anyone with a Concordia email. Most databases DO NOT need passwords if used on campus.
Foot Binding in China
'Historical artwork of a young Chinese woman binding her feet with bandages. In a practice that lasted one thousand years, young girls had their feet tightly bandaged to prevent them growing any longer than 15 centimetres. This led to painful deformities that made walking extremely difficult. It was common amongst the middle and upper classes and was seen as a mark of wealth as the women would need to be carried around and served by attendants. Foot binding was banned in 1912 with the end of imperial Chinese rule."
Foot Binding, China. Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 5 Aug 2012.
NPR Morning Edition
86-year old speaks
Bata Shoe Museum
Virtual View: Qing Dynasty Merchant's House
This house mirrors what Good Earth protagonist Wang Lung's home would have probably looked like once he achieved wealth.
Classroom Video On Demand: Foot-Binding in China
Foot binding
These sources are located in the Phoenix Center Library.
Remember to use quotations around sets of words:
-"foot binding" This term has several variations, so use "OR" when searching for this topic
-"foot binding" OR foot-binding" OR footbinding
-"bound feet"
-"lotus feet"
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Berkshire Encylcopedia of China: Modern and historic views of the world's newest and oldest global power by Call Number: R 951 BER v. 1ISBN: 0977015947Publication Date: 2009Contains eight hundred alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on notable events, concepts, and people in the history of China, and includes sidebars, illustrations, and a comprehensive index.
For this "foot binding" search, use the term "bound feet." Look in volumes 1, 2, 5. (Vol. 5 is the index.) -
Bound feet & Western dress by Call Number: 305.42 CHAISBN: 0553506501Publication Date: 1996Tells the story of the author's great-aunt Chang Yu-i, a woman who challenged Chinese tradition by refusing to have her feet bound, marrying and divorcing preeminent poet Hsu Chih-mo, and running the Shanghai Women's Savings Bank during the 1930s. -
Cinderella's Sisters: A revisionist history of footbinding by Call Number: 391.4 KOISBN: 0520218841Publication Date: 2005Traces the history of footbinding from its origins in the dance culture of China's medieval court to its continued use in the twenty-first century, discussing what the purpose of footbinding is and how it has been used throughout history. -
Splendid Slippers: A thousand years of an erotic tradition by Call Number: 391.6 JACISBN: 0898159571Publication Date: 1997Explores the facts and the fiction surrounding the Chinese custom of breaking and binding the feet of girls into the shape of a pointed lotus bud, and includes photographs of the exquisite, tiny slippers worn by women with bound and deformed feet. -
Chinese Dress: From the Qing Dynasty to the present by Call Number: 951 GARISBN: 0804836639Publication Date: 2007Traces the history of Chinese dress from the Qing Dynasty to the present, discussing how historical, cultural, and social changes have influenced the dress of Chinese peasants, royalty, soldiers, and ordinary citizens.
