The Women's Cultural Museum

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I made a request to visit this Museum which displays artifacts of women's lives throughout the history of China. The Museum is housed in the fabulous library of the Shaanxi Normal (Teaching) University--pictured in an earlier blog entry. It was moving and profound to observe their indomitable spirit, particularly in the Sisters Writings, which are secret writings that could be deciphered only by their "sisters" or other such women and allowed them to share their stories of love, pain, misfortune and misery. Their stories, though some were unique to China as far as I know, reflect the experiences of women the world over. It created a wonderful bond.

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Photos

Little Feet
For more that 1000 years, up until the mid 1900s, about 2 billion chosen females had their feet bound (wrapped) at a very young age to please the emperor (and later copycats), who loved small feet. (Freaky!) They could not walk very well or run because of the deformity of their feet.

Secret Writings
Women developed a secret writing code, which allowed them to express their worries and ideas to other "sisters".

Birthing table
From not so long ago. It resembles ours but is made of wood.

Convenient Crib
This crib had a built in potty, so that the baby could be strapped in for a long time with his or her behind over the potty. That helped to keep the sheets clean and keep the stuff off the baby. I think the concept was carried over to the split bottom pants seen on many toddlers here, even in mid-winter--may be posted under another entry.

Comments

[Kam]

Tiny Feet
I saw a similar artifact in Paterson when I went to a museum there with Kerry. It's fascinating what culture can bring about. This convenient crib, hmmm... interesting lol.. I guess they don't have to clean the baby as much as over here. I wonder though, if they sat all day how that affected them learning to walk.