{"id":3659,"date":"2015-05-24T10:27:48","date_gmt":"2015-05-24T17:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=3659"},"modified":"2015-06-09T09:55:39","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T16:55:39","slug":"mystery-of-the-tiny-bookts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/tiger-tail-soup\/mystery-of-the-tiny-bookts\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery of the Tiny Boots"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"These<\/a>

These boots would fit a 7″ foot. The ideal was shorter.<\/p><\/div>\n

I found these tiny leather boots in an antique shop in Bow, WA. Or rather my sister Sue found them and pointed them out to me. \u201cLook,\u201d she said. \u201cThey must be for someone with bound feet. You could use them as a prop after you get your novel published.\u201d<\/p>\n

I shrugged. They didn\u2019t look like any Chinese shoes I\u2019d ever seen. Besides, what would shoes for a woman with bound feet be doing in an antique shop in this tiny town on the edge of farm country, a shop that was filled with old dishes and scrub boards, hand plows and antique coffee grinders.<\/p>\n

I might have passed them by. But I was bored, so I looked them over carefully. We\u2019d just finished lunch at the Rhododendron Caf\u00e9, a great little eating spot in Skagit County. The Rhododendron Cafe had one downside though. Each time we\u2019d eaten there Sue and my mom wanted to spend the next couple hours in the antique store next door. Not being a fan of antique shops\u2014especially the kind that look like a fusion of grandpa\u2019s garage and grandma\u2019s attic–I was reluctant. But I always followed them in anyway. That day I cruised the shop a few times, checked what they\u2019d found that was so interesting, cruised the shop again. And then \u2026 then\u2026 Just when I was considering taking a walk down Chuckanut Drive, Sue found the tiny boots.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>

My boot is women’s size 8.<\/p><\/div>\n

Until then, I don’t think I’d ever bought anything in an antique store. But these boots intrigued me. I could use them as a prop, the way Sue suggested. I could take them to book events, to readings and book club meetings. And \u2026 they would be a sign of my belief that I actually would get my book published.<\/p>\n

\"qipao,<\/a>Well, Tiger Tail Soup <\/em>was published last year, and so far I haven\u2019t taken the boots anywhere. I bring my book, a poster, and some business cards. Sometimes I bring specially stuffed fortune cookies and Chinese dresses. (I have some beautiful cheongsams left to me by my mother-in-law.) But by the time I stuff all those things in the car, it seems like enough.<\/p>\n

So now, for the first time, I\u2019m sharing photos with you of the strange tiny boots I bought.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

photo courtesy of Dr. John C. Bullas<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2013, I wrote a post about bound feet that I called \u201cFashion Torture.\u201d<\/a> (You can click on the link to read it.) In the post, I described how women\u2019s feet were crippled and made small for the sake of beauty. A horrendous practice. Worse yet, the practice lasted for about 1000 years. The Empress Dowager finally issued an anti-foot binding edict in 1902, too late for my husband\u2019s grandmother. After writing \u201cFashion Torture,\u201d I heard from other people whose mothers and grandmothers had bound feet.<\/p>\n

One of the characters in my novel, Tiger Tail Soup,<\/em> also has bound feet. With her tiny, crippled feet, she was left partially disabled and unable to flee before the Japanese invaded her island.<\/p>\n

Today, when I look at these tiny boots I found in an antique shop, I still wonder: Are they really fashioned for a woman with bound feet? Were they ever worn in the United States? Or did some tourist find them in a market in China, bring them back and then sell them to the antique dealer?\"my<\/a><\/p>\n

\"my<\/a>Tiger Tail Soup<\/em> is available in book stores and also from Amazon<\/a>, barnesandnoble.com <\/a>and Apple iBooks<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found these tiny leather boots in an antique shop in Bow, WA. Or rather my sister Sue found them and pointed them out to me. \u201cLook,\u201d she said. \u201cThey must be for someone with bound feet. You could use them as a prop after you get your novel published.\u201d I shrugged. They didn\u2019t look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[317,13,29,155,6],"tags":[797,814,383,798],"class_list":["post-3659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","category-china","category-culture","category-family","category-tiger-tail-soup","tag-antique-shop-in-bow-wa","tag-boots-for-a-woman-with-bound-feet","tag-cheongsam","tag-rhododendron-cafe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-X1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":195,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/culture\/fashion-torture\/","url_meta":{"origin":3659,"position":0},"title":"Fashion Torture","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"September 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Why do women endure the discomfort and pain of pantyhose and high heels? 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