Cinderella’s Lessons on Footbinding: How Tiny Feet Found their Way into the Chinese Cinderella Story

Abstract

Shoes, slippers, feet and sandals play one of the most pivotal roles in the prominent Cinderella stories through the tale’s history. Tracing versions of the tale geographically as it spread throughout Central Asia and then throughout the globe can exemplify the different traditions and mores a society entrusts to the story. However, feet and their coverings survive all of these retellings after a certain point. Footbinding and the spread of early versions of the Cinderella tale share the same time periods in the ninth-century, and the tradition of footbinding makes a lasting impact on the story once it begins moving from southern China.