“When I was a little girl, if I didn't eat my soup, my mother would say, 'You have to think of all the Chinese children who have nothing to eat.' But now, for my children, Chinese people make everything, and for my grandchildren, they buy everything.” PeopleIfsThinkingChildrenLittlesMotherGirlChineseMy ChildrenSoupGrandchildrenMy Grandchildren Author:Diane von Furstenberg
“I was raised the Chinese way: I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other people's misery, to eat my own bitterness. And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, still she came out the same way! Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl. And I was born to my mother and I was born a girl. All of us are like stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way.” PeopleWayStillsMotherDesireGirlBornMy OwnStepsGenerationsTaughtDaughterOppositesMiseryRaisedChineseMy DaughterBitternessUp And DownStairs Author:Amy Tan
“Attempts to limit female mobility by hampering locomotion are ancient and almost universal. The foot-binding of upper-class Chinese girls and the Nigerian custom of loading women's legs with pounds of heavy brass wire are extreme examples, but all over the world similar stratagems have been employed to make sure that once you have caught a woman she cannot run away, and even if she stays around she cannot keep up with you. ... Literally as well as figuratively modern women's shoes are what keeps Samantha from running as fast as Sammy.” IfsWorldWellsHas BeensRunningGirlClassFeetModernExampleLimitsFemaleUniversalShoesAncientCaughtHeavyExtremesLegsChinesePoundsCustomsSexismRunning AwayEmployedWireBindingMobilityBrassUpper ClassStratagemModern WomanSamantha Author:Alison Lurie
“When we Chinese girls listened to the adults talk-story, we learned that we failed if we grew up to be but wives or slaves. We could be heroines, swordswomen. Even if she had to rage across all China, a swordswoman got even with anybody who hurt her family. Perhaps women were once so dangerous that they had to have their feet bound.” IfsStoriesGirlHurtWifeFeetDangerousGrewGrew UpAdultsIndependenceSlaveBoundsChinaRageChineseHeroines Book:The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts Source: The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts