Civic ImaginationMain MenuThe Big Map: an Overview of the Civic ImaginationThe Big Map of Civic Imagination all over the worldNon FictionReal World Instances that inspire Civic ImaginationPopular Culture/FictionalCharacters, stories and fictional universes that resonate with communities and inspire actionMyth and FolkloreStories from cultures around the world that inspire Civic ImaginationReligiousStories based in faith and religionsMigrating the StoriesExplore the Big Map and then remix Imagination by migrating stories to new localesContributorsPeople who contributed stories to the projectGabriel Peters-Lazaro3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0Emilia Yang0306ec8482b0946a4ad881acf758effb11741533
12016-07-19T09:23:09-07:00Snow Flower and The Secret Fan4Snow Flower and The Secret Fan is a novel set in the nineteenth century in Chinagoogle_maps2016-07-21T07:36:49-07:0035.994360, 103.953131
Snow Flower and The Secret Fan is a novel set in the nineteenth century in China , written in 2005 by Lisa Sea. Lisa’s webpage:
http://www.lisasee.com/snowflowerreviews.htm
It is the story of Lily, an 80 year old telling the story of her life during all stages. She tells how girls and women of her society were forced to the tradition of “foot binding” in order to achieve “golden lilies”, dumpling-sized feet considered highly desirable and highly erotic, even though most of them died during the process, let along difficulties of movement and agony . I vividly remember reading her description of how the bones would of the foot would break during the process and how painful it is.
Lily was matched in a “laotong” relationship with Snow Flower, which Chinese families then believed was as important as a good marriage. The pair write on a secret fan in Nu Shu, a 1,000-year-old language thought to be the only one ever invented and sustained for the exclusive use of women.
The novel was later filmed in 2011. What makes it inspiring is that around 49.6 percent of the world's population, which are females, can directly relate to it, let alone a number of males too.
I relate to this story because I live in a male dominant society that, to this day, forces useless and unfair traditions upon women. I heard the TV show host "Opra" talk about how great this book is and how she included it in her list. I have grown into a much stronger, more accomplished woman since then.