The Research Of Banning Foot-binding During The Period Of The Republic Of China In Gansu Province

Foot-binding is a kind of undesirable custom in Chinese Feudal Society, whichcaused great harm to women physically and mentally. The people with lofty ideals inmodern times tried their best to abolish the custom of foot-binding, which was alsoattached great importance in Gansu province. The prohibition of foot-binding was puton the agenda since early years of the Republic of China. The Beiyang Government,the Feng Yuxiang’s Nationalist Government, the Nanjing KMT Government and theShensi Kansu Ningxia Border Region Government leaded by CCP have done lots oflong-time works for the abolition of foot-binding.The present thesis firstly discusses the living conditions of women in GansuProvince during the period of Republic of China. Then, in the process of investing thephenomenon of foot-binding, the present study rebuilt the development process ofbanning foot-binding abolition directly controlled by the government at all levels andobserved the actual effectiveness in each stage. Since the situation of foot-binding isdifferent in different time, the present study made more detailed investigation aboutthe ban on foot-binding in Gansu during the different stages of the Republic of China.Lastly, the article also paid attention to the situation of the ban on the foot-binding inLongdong revolutionary base which was dominated by CCP. Based on what talkedabove, the present thesis wants to present the situation of the ban on foot-binding asclear as possible.The research of banning foot-binding during the period of the Republic of Chinain Gansu province, the government formulated a series of measures of rewards andpunishments, and got some achievements to some extent. Meanwhile, the attitude ofthe government towards the ban on foot-binding changed from indifference to thepositive concern. However, due to its special social and economic environments,including traditional social awareness such marriage value, the bad habits of foot-binding still existed despite the repeated prohibition, which made the results offorbidden foot-binding in Gansu province is not very optimistic. When the PRC wasestablished in1949,there were still a lot of foot-binding women in Gansu Province,especially for those women who lived in the remote area. It was not until the late1950s that the phenomenon of foot binding was completely extinct.