The Lotus Shoes

Set in China at the end of the nineteenth century, The Lotus Shoes (#1,311) by Jane Yang tells the stories of two young women, mistress and slave.  Chapters alternate between Little Flower, the slave and Jinling, the daughter of the First Wife in a wealthy household.

Little Flower is sold by her mother at age six to the powerful Fong family.  Her sacrifice will save her mother and brother from death by starvation. Her mother has tried to do right by Little Flower by beginning the process of foot binding to produce "golden lilies".  No Chinese woman can rise above peasant status without them.

Jinling has been spoiled all her life as the favorite of her father in a house full of women.  When Little Flower is given to her as her personal slave, she takes out her frustrations on Little Flower.  She orders Little Flower to unbind her feet before her "golden lilies" are fully formed, setting in train a life of misery.  Jinling is jealous of Little Flower's ability to do exquisite embroidery, winning Lady Fong's attention.  

When disgrace expels Jinling from her home, she takes Little Flower with her into an even more perilous situation in a Celibate Sisterhood run by her aunt.  She is compelled to labor in a silk-reeling factory.  Treated as a peasant herself, she watches Little Flower rise in the factory as she brings her embroidery skills to bear to improve her own and others' positions.  Jinling finally sees a chance to topple her rival forever.

While I did find the story interesting, and the many details of life in a rich Chinese home fascinating, I was less impressed by the characters of Little Flower and Jinling.  I found them too one dimensional.  Little Flower had a difficult, painful and brutal life while soldiering on stoically.  Jinling, on the other hand, was almost always portrayed as mean, spiteful and selfishly self-involved.  And to have the final confrontation between mistress and slave be over a man was a bit too much for me.  I certainly didn't find him worthy either of the obsession by Jinling, or the capitulation by Little Flower.  Ho-hum.  Read it for the insights on Chinese domestic life.