Bound Feet & Western Dress: A Memoir
by Pang-Mei Chang
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Book Summary Information
Author: Pang-Mei ChangEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-09-15
ISBN: 0385479646
Number of pages: 215
Publisher: Anchor
Book Reviews of Bound Feet & Western Dress: A Memoir
Book Review: Let's See by Clare M.
Summary: 2 Stars
Bound Feet and Western Dress by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang is about a young girl who has a unique relationship with her great aunt, Chang Yu-i. She first meets her great aunt in 1874, at a family dinner. Chang Yu-i had just come to New York after having lived in China, and then Hong Kong. Several family members had come to these dinners in the past, but this was the first time Pang-Mei had met her great aunt. Pang-Mei explains how the family refers to Chang Yu-i as "half man" because of her strength and persistence. Pang-Mei grew closer to her great aunt as time passed, but she still knew very little about her. She first discovered some of Chang Yu-i's secrets while studying Chinese History at Harvard University. She learned that her great aunt had been married to a well-known romantic poet in China, as well as issued the first "real divorce" in Chinese History. After Pang-Mei learned of this, she asked Chang Yu-i about it at once. Her great aunt told her hundreds of stories about her life in China eventually unraveling over a long period of time. Pang-Mei and Chang Yu-i build a strong relationship together and learn about each other, as well as themselves. Pang-Mei comes to love and grasp the heritage she once tried to hide and Chang Yu-i understands herself better after having told her own stories. They are finally brought together even closer by a major phenomenon that takes place in the end.
I found Bound Feet and Western Dress to be rather tedious. Personally, I find books that dives right into the plot to be the most enjoyable. Bound Feet and Western Dress eased slowly into the excitement. However, I found this book be written with great enthusiasm and detail. Pang-Mei Natasha Chang used delightful details that gave me a perfect picture of the context. On Page 9, Chang Yu-i tells her grand niece about the strict rules she grew up with, "Chinese paintings required admiration form above, Baba said, explaining that the perspective of Chinese paintings differed from Western ones. The best paintings were only hung when your grandfather, Eighth Brother, and I cleaned them, passing tiny feather dusters over the surface of the rice paper. Of all the children, you grandfather and I were the two that Baba allowed near his paintings, and her would hover behind us as we worked, explaining the genius behind a musty mountain landscape or historical portrait." This excerpt shows the details the author used to represent her great aunt's stories.
The stories of Chang Yu-i told were also extremely touching. Not only did they paint a precise image in my mind of her life but were also genuine. For instance, when she was telling of her childhood and growing up with her large family her descriptions were beautifully written and conveyed. I loved hearing of her two favorite brothers personalities and what each of them gave her. I fully understood her thoughts and joy while talking about her brothers.
Generally, I think Bound Feet and Western Dress is a thoughtful and well-written book. It is historical and educating as well as a good read. I would suggest it be read.
Summary of Bound Feet & Western Dress: A Memoir
"In China, a woman is nothing."Thus begins the saga of a woman born at the turn of the century to a well-to-do, highly respected Chinese family, a woman who continually defied the expectations of her family and the traditions of her culture. Growing up in the perilous years between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Chang Yu-i's life is marked by a series of rebellions: her refusal as a child to let her mother bind her feet, her scandalous divorce, and her rise to Vice President of China's first women's bank in her later years.
In the alternating voices of two generations, this dual memoir brings together a deeply textured portrait of a woman's life in China with the very American story of Yu-i's brilliant and assimilated grandniece, struggling with her own search for identity and belonging. Written in pitch-perfect prose and alive with detail, Bound Feet and Western Dress is the story of independent women struggling to emerge from centuries of customs and duty.
When Chang Yu-I was three her mother tried to bind her feet. But the child's cries so tormented her brother that he convinced their mother to stop. This break with convention foreshadowed the extraordinary life Yu-i was to lead. After following her husband, poet Hsu Chi-Mo, a noted philanderer, to Oxford, she made history by becoming the first Chinese woman to have a western-style divorce at age 22. Determined to make her own way, she moved to America and served in a series of prestigious positions, including president of a bank. Written by Yu-i's great niece, Pang-Mei Natasha Chang, Bound Feet and Western Dress chronicles the life of this exceptional woman.
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