The position of women in Taiwan's social structure reflected in contemporary arts practice

Transcription

1 University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 1996 The position of women in Taiwan's social structure reflected in contemporary arts practice Pey Chwen Lin University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Lin, Pey Chwen, The position of women in Taiwan's social structure reflected in contemporary arts practice, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact Manager Repository Services:

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3 The Position of Women Taiwan's Social Structure Reflected in Contemporary Arts Practice A written submission in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of UNIVERSITY DOCTOR OF CREATIVE ARTS from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by LIN, PEY CHWEN BFA, MA FACULTY OF CREATIVE ARTS 1996

4 Certification I certify that this work has not been submitted for a degree to any university or institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by any other person, except where due reference has been made in the text. Lin, Pey Chwen 22 April 1996

5 For my parents Lin, Ho Chi and Wu, Hsou Chin

6 The Position of Women in Taiwan's Social Structure Reflected in Contemporary Arts Practice Abstract If women do not possess the means of self-representation and a sense of personal aesthetic, they are constantly judged and assessed by male-centred aesthetic standards. Ultimately, they adapt themselves to a position/role which can be agreed upon by the regulation of patriarchal ideologies/myths. The practice of footbinding in ancient Chinese times is an example of this subjection. Relationships can be seen between that practice and the current desire for the ideal of western beauty offered through the processes of plastic surgery and body reconstruction. In today's society this is symptomatic of the lengths women will go to in order to please men. This research examines the issue of women's position in the Taiwanese context. The work was presented through a series of five major exhibitions of paintings, which were based on this concept and argument. The first exhibition 'Chrysalis' in the Taiwan Museum of Art in 1992, symbolised the artist's perplexity and struggle as a woman living in a male-dominated society. The second exhibition 'Ancient Golden Lilies' was held in the Long Gallery, University of Wollongong in 1993, as the custom of footbinding was under initial investigation. The following exhibition 'Contemporary Golden Lilies' in the Long Gallery, University of Wollongong in 1994, corresponded with the examination of the current beauty trends in Taiwan. The fourth exhibition 'Pre- Show' which was presented in K. J. Art Gallery in Taichung, Taiwan, demonstrated a major transformation as the artist gained insight into the recognition of woman's position both in her life and through her work. The final exhibition 'Antithesis and Intertext The Issue of Women's Position', was shown both in the Taipei Fine Art Museum in October 1995, and in the Project Artspace in Wollongong in March New dimensions of style, creative concept and language in this work demonstrated how the artist had gained control of her self-representation as a woman and as an artist. The dissertation examines the position of women in Taiwan's art history, the position of women in ancient and contemporary society and provides annotations on the exhibited works.

7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments CHAPTER I Introduction 1 CHAPTER II Women's Art in Taiwan's Art History 11 (A) The Art Phenomenon during the Japanese Colonisation ( ) 14 (B) Women's Art Development during the Japanese Colonisation ( ) " 18 (C) The Modem Art Movement of Abstract Expressionist Painting during the 1950s and 1960s 24 (D) Women's Art Development during the 1950s and 1960s 29 (E) Contemporary Art Development from 1970s to the Present 36 (F) Women's Art Phenomenon in Contemporary Era 44 CHAPTER III The Footbinding Custom and Current Beauty Trends An investigation of footbinding in ancient Chinese times and the trends in conformity in contemporary Taiwan 53 (A) Investigation of the Custom of Footbinding Three-Inch Golden Lilies 55 (a) Background Information on the Custom of Footbinding (b) Fetishism and Judging the Quality of Golden Lilies (c) Incidents to Stop Footbinding (d) Women's Status and Role in Chinese Society behind the Custom of Footbinding

8 (B) Women's behaviour and Mentality in Pursuing Beauty and Fashion in Contemporary Taiwanese Society 73 (a) Cause of the Admiration of Everything of Foreign Origin (b) Effects of Worshipping the Western Lifestyle for People in Taiwan (c) Remaining Power of Traditional Beliefs and the Effects on Contemporary Women in Taiwan (d) A View of Advertising in the Beauty Industry in Taiwan Chapter IV Analysis of the Painting Process Towards the Final Presentation 91 (A) Description of the Developmental Stages of Three Exhibitions 93 (a) 'Chrysalis' (b) 'Ancient Golden Lilies' (c) 'Contemporary Golden Lilies' (B) Reviewing the Crucial Elements in 'Pre-Show' Later Transformation and the Turning Point 102 (a) Fan Painting (b) Moon Shape (c) Antithesis Pattern between Ancient Pictures and Contemporary Advertising Slogans (C) Analysis of the Final Presentation, 'Antithesis and Intertext The Issue of Women's Position' 109 (a) Description of the Developed Solution through the Pre-Show (b) Analysis of the Detailed Elements of Individual Series of Paintings (c) Review (d) Conclusion List of Plates 134 List of Colour Plates 136 Bibliography 138

9 Acknowledgments First of all, I would like to thank the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong for providing me with a scholarship, which encouraged me to achieve this research work and art creation without financial burden. My supervisor, Dr. Peter Shepherd, instructed me all the way from my concept and creative evolution to the final stage of documentation. With his wisdom and creative experience he has guided me to express myself in a strong personal language both in my writing and painting. This comes from his professional supervision, as well as his knowledge of the art history of Taiwan gained when he set up the first exchange exhibition between Australia and Taiwan. No words, except my deepest appreciation and highest respect, can ever express my gratitude to him. Dr. Diana Wood Conroy, with her clear concepts of Feminist theory, helped me to discover many underlying patriarchal structures existing in the history of women's art. Also, Dr. Linsay Duncan and Dr. Merlinda Bobis assisted me in proof-reading and formatting my thesis. Linda Taylor who helped me greatly with my English writing with her knowledge and warm friendship. Thanks to all the friends and teachers in the University of Wollongong, as well as in the Ming Chuan College, Chung Yuan University, Awakening Group, Artist Magazine, and the Taipei Fine Art Museum in Taiwan for providing me with the best support and assistance, which allowed me to present my research and art works successfully in both art societies. Aslo, thanks to the people I interviewed, Ms. Liang Tang Feng, Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng and Mrs. Wu, Mei Chu who shared their experience and material for my research. Thanks to my son, Kevin, for spending every single day and night with me, sharing my struggle and happiness, painting together with me in my studio, sometimes falling asleep beside my easel. Finally, I would like to share this work with my whole family, who gave me the best support and love. Thanks to God for taking care of my family when I was away from home, especially my sister Bei Huei.

10 Chapter I Introduction In art history most women artists, including women artists in Taiwan, have long been discriminated against in the art arena of male-oriented art institutions. The whole art circle itself builds an adverse position for women artists in the network of power relationships. They have been separated from the dominant definitions of the constituted art, and have played a subordinate and secondary role. Similarly, 'female bodies' have also been reviewed and re-evaluated based on the principles of measurement and judgement of perfect beauty within patriarchy. Women are constantly subjected to the judgemental gaze classified and assessed to be beautiful or ugly. This indicates that women lack subjectivity to determine their self-representation and personal aesthetics. This document, through the research of Taiwanese women's art history, as well as the investigation of the footbinding custom and current beauty trends in Taiwanese society, examines the issue of women's position within the Taiwanese context. I propose that, having been dominated for years by patriarchal ideologies/myths about art, beauty and femininity, the Taiwanese women must now determine their self-representation and personal aesthetics. This argument is the major issue underpinning my creative works. The concept for my creative works in the final presentation, 'Antithesis and Intertext The Issue of Women's Position', is basically the argument between the position of women and the patriarchal view of beauty which is often attained through artificial techniques (footbinding in the old society and body reconstruction in modern time). I use the symbol of 'Three-Inch Golden Lilies' (the name to describe a woman's bound feet and a sign of beauty in Chinese ancient times) to offer an antithesis to the image of western beauty, because the western fashion trends are strongly infused into men's aesthetic concepts and women's fashion sense in contemporary Taiwanese society. Also, I extend the symbol of 'Golden Lilies' to the water lily in the Fan Painting/Moon shape from Chinese tradition, to interplay with the contemporary advertising slogans of body reconstruction. Such an antithetical and intertextual method raises a question for women in Taiwan to rethink if they have really woken from the nightmare of footbinding to demonstrate their control and management in self-representation and personal aesthetics both in thought and behaviour. 1

11 My works are formed by joined panels both in the square shape to emphasise a uniform beauty, and in the elongated shape reminiscent of the Chinese traditional scroll paintings. The mediums I explored are oil paints on canvas, screen-printing on suede, and embroidery on satin to emphasise the cultural role of women in a patriarchal ideology, and at the same time to challenge the traditional ways of presentation. So a very critical issue is displayed in a 'beautiful' way through the juxtaposition of many cultural images, contemporary signs, and creative techniques and material. However, before accomplishing this final series of creative works in such a clear and comprehensive expression in terms of concept, form and medium, I was confronted by a great deal of searching and frustration during the process. This is a continuous creative evolution and development over the past five years through four series of art works shown in Taiwan and Australia ('Chrysalis', 'Ancient Golden Lilies', 'Contemporary Golden Lilies' and 'Pre-Show') leading to the final exhibition. It is the symbolisation of the transition of my personal perplexity, as well as the output of the research, allowing me to examine women's position and discover why women lack recognition, whether in art circles or in the general society of Taiwan. As a woman artist in Taiwan, I have experienced this marginalisation. The lack of recognition of women artists is not due to their lack of talent or creativity but to the 'position' forced upon them, which is identified by the conscious pattern and ideology of the exclusive patriarchal domain, as well as being determined by the central authority of the art system in both appreciation and theory. Such issues could also apply to the broader context of Taiwanese artists of both genders. In reviewing the general art history of Taiwan, although it was only to contextualise the position of the women artists and examine the female issue from a broader perspective, I found this is an issue shared by all Taiwanese artists in their search for identity, because Taiwan's art has been colonised and influenced by outside sovereignties such as Mainland China, Japan, and the West. 1 1,r The beautiful island of Taiwan has throughout its history, endured repeated foreign invasions which have resulted in many shifts. These changes had a dramatic effect on its culture and art and consequently its past'. Victoria Lu, The Vernacular Idioms of Taiwanese Contemporary Art, in 'Symposium On The Artistic Trends in the R.O.C, Lin, G. Phone [Ed.] Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, 1992, p. 21. 'The growth of Taiwan today relates somewhat to its reliance on the USA and Japan. The reliance complex has been deeply rooted...today, our taste in music, clothing, and daily life has been 2

12 Artists of both genders in Taiwan must liberate themselves from the dominant definition of the so-called art mainstream by empowering their local consciousness and cultural heritage. Specifically Taiwanese women/women artists should own their individuality and subjectivity with their independent aesthetic standards, to allow the true significance of women's abilities and entities to be located, exposed, and recognised. The following four-points are to serve as the preface for this document. (A) Research Background (B) Reviewing Women's Art in Taiwan's Art History (C) The Footbinding Custom and Current Beauty Trends An investigation of footbinding in ancient Chinese times and the trends in conformity in contemporary Taiwan (D) The Resolution of Personal Perplexity through Creative Work based on the Research covered by western culture, so how much 'modernised' culture belongs to our own or is it only a product of colonisation?' Ni, Tsai Chin, Western Art, Made in Taiwan, in 'Taiwan Cognition in the Fine Art of Taiwan', Yeh, Yu Ching [Ed.] Hsiung Shieh Art Publication Co., Taipei, 1994, p

13 (A) Research Background This paper is written from my own viewpoint as a Taiwanese woman/woman artist to delineate the reasons why female artists fail to possess the same position and equal significance as their counterpart male artists in art history. It is also an attempt, in fact a crucial element for this research, to solve my own frustration and perplexity at being a woman artist in the male-oriented art sphere. Being a Chinese woman in Taiwan, and since Taiwan has inherited many traditions and concepts from Mainland China (more discussion in a later chapter) I have experienced the heavy sexual discrimination and unequal treatment between men and women since my childhood. This has been especially heightened under my parents' shadow of having no son. As the eldest daughter, the ambivalent cultural and social realities caused much perplexity and insecurity during my growth, which in turn produced a major hindrance for my learning process and personality development. Insecurity was frequent when every time I asked myself why I was less valuable and given inferior treatment to a boy. Of course in my formative years I did not find any answers but merely accepted it as my fate. Such insecurity always existed before I pursued my advanced studies in the USA at the age of twenty-two. In the States, I gradually changed my personality from being introverted, shy and self-suspicious to a person having more confidence and courage to challenge the preconceived destiny of being a woman. This was due to the open education and the affirmation of my art gift from my professors in the Central Missouri State University. Thus, the art works I made during that period were in abstract paintings in very happy, bright colours and free strokes and shapes. That was the first time I tasted and experienced a sense of freedom, respect and the value of self existence. Nevertheless, as I returned to Taiwan in 1988 to start my career in the art fie was again trapped in the shadow of the past, and faced a dilemma between the role of a wife and a mother together with the career of being a professional artist and a full-time lecturer. I finally realised that although with all my best intentions and personal effort to overcome traditional female submission, I still could not change the fixed and conventional definition and role of a woman. For example, I suffered misunderstanding and took the blame from my husband (because I put more time and energy into my artworks instead of into housework and child care) in order to strive for a better recognition and confirmation from the art circle. Yet, 4

14 I was disappointed because of the reality that female artists found it difficult to attain equal resources to male artists. Under such pressures from the art arena, family and society, more doubts and questions were strongly formed inside my mind. This perplexity became the cause of my art development, when I tried to release my sorrow and oppression through brush marks in my paintings. The happy and fluent abstract picture disappeared and what replaced it was the imagery of 'the chrysalis' with rough, tight and uncertain strokes. In 1993, at the bottom of my depression, I resolutely challenged my fate by giving up my full-time lecturing job and came to the University of Wollongong in Australia for the purpose of searching for a breakthrough in my life and art career. This revolutionary action, against my husband's will was a very risky decision and could have cost me everything in an unknown and dangerous future. However, three year's later, I find this transition was worthwhile, and the self doubt is removed through research and reviewing my art and cultural background from a woman's perspective. This is the background to both my writing and series of artworks. 5

15 (B) Reviewing Women's Art in Taiwan's Art History In order to pierce through my perplexity and penetrate why women lack their own standing and significance in society, I begin with probing women's art development in Taiwan to find out the structural links between gender and art performance in that patriarchal society. From the chapter of reviewing women's art development, it is understandable that women's practice in art, although not absolutely omitted and forbidden, was rather contained in its function and source by the inhibiting patriarchal system, where male artists gained and sustained their supremacy. However, to study the history of women's art it is necessary to bring out an exploration of women's position and standing in the community while the ideological basis of the patriarchal views are centred and occupied. Pollock points out: To discover the history of women and art is in part to account for the way art history is written. To expose its underlying value, its assumptions, its silence and its prejudices is also to understand that the way women artists are recorded and described is crucial to the definition of art and the artist in our society. 2 The fate of women artists, from my viewpoint, reflects the fate of people of Taiwan in history. They have been easily controlled and subjected to several different ruling powers of externally strong authorities such as the Portuguese, t Dutch, the Ming and Ching Dynasties of China, Japan, and the Nationalist (Kuomintang) Chinese Government. According to the timeline of Taiwan history: In 1590 Portuguese sailors are the first Europeans to land on the island of Taiwan. In 1622 the Dutch invade Taiwan and establish their capital at Taiwan. In 1626 the Spanish occupy northern Taiwan, but are expelled by the Dutch in In 1661 Ming loyalist Cheng, Chen Kung, fleeing the Ching (Manchu) takeover of the Chinese Mainland, expels the Dutch from Taiwan. In 1682 the Manchu armies defeat the Ming regime, capturing Taiwan, and large-scale migration from Fukien province follows; Taiwan is administered as a county of Fukien province. In 1895 Taiwan is ceded to Japan after Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese war. In 1945 Japan's defeat in World War II sees sovereignty over Taiwan returned to Nationalist China. In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of Mao, Tse Tung, takes control of the Chinese Mainland; the Nationalist ^Griselda Pollock and Rozsika Parker, Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1981, p. 3. 6

16 Government, lead by Chiang, Kai Shek, retreats to Taiwan, which continues to be known as the Republic of China. 3 It is a miniature of history both in society and in the field of art which is attached to foreign authority, to be forced to accept various rising powers without too much choice. This kind of 'helpless and powerless' fate of history can only succumb, obey, and imitate the external sources with other's standards, reacting with a great deal of struggle, conflict and shifting subjectivity. I, as a woman artist, and through this review of the long-term neglect of the history of women's art in Taiwan, have realised that women artists will never gain their identity and subjectivity if they still stick to the position of being dominated by male-centred art society. Moreover, I found that the position of women artists in the art history of Taiwan is a similar issue to that of Taiwanese artists in the world's art history. This is based on need to search for their own subjectivity and position. However, during the research process, I have also found many western feminist theories which indeed have assisted me to re-evaluate women's art in my art scene. In fact, feminism is an issue for all human beings, and it should/must be redressed and signified sooner or later no matter in which society. However, as a woman in the realm of the male-oriented educational structure of Taiwan for so long, I have to admit that I had never had a chance to access any course of feminist study, which provides evidence that women's issues have been ignored and undervalued in Taiwan. Through this research process with the inspiration from western feminism, I perceived and awakened to the concept that women, whether in the art field or in society, should be alert to the hidden problems under the patriarchal system. ^Nicholas Jose and Yang, Wen I [Ed.] The Contemporary Art of Taiwan, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 1995, p

17 (C) The Foothinding Custom and Current Beauty Trends An investigation of footbinding in ancient Chinese times and the trends in conformity in contemporary Taiwan society Since the standing of women in the art world is closely linked to the general structure of human culture and society, it is necessary to study the status and role of Chinese women in history, as it is said: We must understand the historical process and practices that have determined the current situation of women artists if we are to confront the role of cultural production and representations in the systems of sexual domination and power. 4 For a comprehensive review of history in Chapter III, I traced the symbol representing the best description for the repression of Chinese women the custom of footbinding. This study does not address the arts and customs of the indigenous culture of Taiwan, which has no recorded history and which has been overlaid by successive waves of occupation and migration (see page 6). Among the customs imported from Mainland China was the custom of footbinding. It had been part of the Chinese tradition from the time of the Sung Dynasty (see page 57). This custom, along with Chinese art and culture was imported to Taiwan during the time of the Ming Dynasty in the migration period (see page 14). Prior to this period, footbinding was not part of Taiwanese culture. This practice displayed not only clear physical damage, but also symbolised women in complete subordination to men in terms of mind, spirit and body. They lived under the rigid patriarchal aesthetic standards, acquiescent in obedience while they were taught that to 're-model their feet' was a natural trend and symbol of gentility, as well as a necessary condition for marrying men. It is not surprising that several attempts to stop the practice of footbinding in history failed, because such unreasonable conduct was further constructed by the forceful rationalisation and encouragement of men, and became so ingrained into women's mind-set and thinking. The sad thing for many women at the time is that the 'bound feet' suddenly turned to be ugly, outdated and barbarian when western beauty standards and fashion trends were transmitted into China in modern days. What is the position for Chinese women in Taiwan today? Do they present themselves in better consciousness and subjectivity when they are no longer ^Griselda Pollok and Rozsika Parker, p

18 bound by this feudal custom? As a Taiwanese women myself, 1 witness women in Taiwan, on the fragile foundation of lack of individuality, again confronted with new aesthetic standards from another powerful social structure and the western fashion mainstream. Most of them pursue the so-called 'modern image of new women' in order to look more like the ideal of western beauty because 'westernisation' means 'improvement', and western beauty certainly correlates to modernisation, liberty, independence and fashion. On top of this, the smart business men in the beauty industry are adopting the mentality of worshipping everything from the West, as well as playing on women's subordinate mentality in their strategy of advertising. From the above method of research juxtaposing the custom of footbinding and current beauty trends in Taiwan I propose that women will be constantly caught in a perpetual cycle of being judged and categorised, and present themselves in a subordinate position if they fail to escape from the evaluation of other's standard. The intentions of footbinding may re-appear in another way to restrain the consciousness and behaviour of women. 9

19 (D) The Resolution of Personal Perplexity through the Creative Work based on the Research Nearly three years of research and development have gradually influenced my views and concepts both in my life and my creative evolution. Five exhibitions were carried out both in Taiwan and Australia. The first exhibition 'Chrysalis' was held in the Taiwan Museum of Art in Taichung, Taiwan in The second exhibition 'Ancient Golden Lilies' and the third exhibition 'Contemporary Golden Lilies' were presented in the Long Gallery, University of Wollongong in 1993 and The following exhibition 'Pre-Show' was held in K. J. Art Gallery in Teaching, Taiwan. The final presentation 'Antithesis and Intertext The Issue of Women's Position' was exhibited both in the Taipei Fine Art Museum in 1995 and in the Project Artspace in Wollongong in In the final chapter of my art presentation, from the comparison of my first of paintings Chrysalis' with my final presentation 'Antithesis and Intertext the issue of women's position', it is not hard to discover that my mood and mentality have shifted from a complicated, perplexed and emotional status to that of an open, bright, and objective woman. The research works of Chapter II and HI in fact can be deemed as the crucial element leading me to reach a better understanding and recognition of my standing. It became for me the building foundations for every step of my artworks which were gradually formed, both consciously and unconsciously. The way I express my artworks in the final presentation has become calm, thoughtful and detached. It has come from the site of my struggle and personal perplexity, and been gradually polished step by step through the research in terms of the issues of women's art, the female body, beauty trends and cultural structures. The chrysalis in my old paintings has finally transformed into a butterfly and flown away with freedom and relief. 10

20 Chapter II Women's Art in Taiwan's Art History Preface Before attempting to discuss women's art, it is necessary to examine at length and in considerable detail the general art development in Taiwan, for without a clear idea of what constituted the male-oriented mainstream, it is hard to reveal why women artists were mostly overlooked from a male-written art history. The history of art in Taiwan before the 1980s was never seriously considered nor officially documented by the authorities due to the fact that Taiwan was under the power of an external force since the early stages of immigration and development. 5 Any record relating to women's art was even scarcer. The counterpart of the male-oriented art trend, women's art, has always been submerged and neglected, merely playing the role of a 'secondary' and 'submissive' character because traditional art criticism, the language of connoisseurship, has developed as an expression of aesthetic judgement, taste and value by men. The significant issue in this chapter is to reveal and re-address the question of artist's identity and subjectivity. Women artists are not able to be signified as individual if they are still undervalued and defined by a standard set up by maleoriented art aesthetics, which are the processes through which identity and subjectivity are formed. Similarly the artists in Taiwan will not gain their own identity if they simply pursue the mainstream without recognition of their own local consciousness. Both their real position and significance will not amount to much as long as they are still subjected to the standards and authority of others. Besides the above factors, which led me to confirm the essential subject of women's position, it is through this research, that the background of my personal 5'From the humanistic educational point of view, turning over the cultural and historical textbooks of high school and primary school, one found no written records or description about the development of local art history. Under the popularly accessible civilian education, the only knowledge about thefine art history was related to the ancient artists of China long ago, or a few artists of foreign countries. On the contrary, concerning the tradition and art evolution of the art of Taiwan, the Taiwanese people were completely unaware'. Lee, Hsien Wen, Fine Art Pulsation Rushing with the Great Wave, in 'Contemporary Painting Collection of Taiwan ', Kuo Chih Shen [Ed.] Hsiung Shih Art Book Publication Co., Taipei, 1990, p

21 art evolution can be tracked and located. With this can be seen why women's issues have become a major concern in my artworks. The following structure will be used to discuss the development of art in gen and women's art in particular in Taiwan as a framework for understanding, as well as supporting research for the theme of my artworks. 12

22 (A) The Art Phenomenon during the Japanese Colonisation ( ) (a) Taiwanese Art before Japanese Colonisation (b) Taiwanese Art under Japanese Art Influences (B) Women's Art Development during the Japanese Colonisation ( ) - (a) Review of Chinese Women Artists (b) Women Artists in Taiwan (C) The Modern Art Movement of Abstract Expressionist Painting during the 1950s and 1960s (a) Taiwan Society after World WarJJ (b) The Modern Art Movement of Abstract Expressionist Painting (D) Women's Art Development during the 1950s and 1960s - (a) Women Artists in Traditional Art Styles (b) Women Artists in Modern Art Movements (E) Contemporary Art Development from 1970s to the Present (a) Art Development in the 1970s (b) The Social Situation after the Lifting of Marshal Law (c) Tendencies in Contemporary Art (F) Women's Art Phenomenon in Contemporary Era (a) Women's Current Status in Contemporary Society (b) The General Phenomenon of Women's Art (c) Women's Abstract Painting (d) Feminist Art 13

23 (A) The Art Phenomenon During the Japanese Colonisation ( ) (a) Taiwanese Art Before Japanese Colonisation Before the Japanese colonisation period, Taiwan art development was basically identifiable as that brought by immigrants from coastal regions of Mainland China such as Fukien and Canton migrated to Taiwan. Therefore, the mandarins in Taiwan also followed similar patterns and paths of Chinese culture, custom, religion and art. 6 Certain art applicable to the immigrant environment was selected, such as religious art which complied with the spiritual needs of the immigrants (temple architecture, religious painting or folklore plate painting). Those arts, although not as magnificent as the originals in mainland China, were created with specific local colours, able to be referred to as the most outstanding feature of folklore art in Taiwan. 7 As to the aspect of painting, the traditional orthodox 'literati painting' 8 was considered to be an upper-class commodity enjoyed amongst a few rich, the free nobility and high officials. Mr. Lee, Hsin Wen pointed out: This sort of art, apart from the cultivated immigrant life, certainly could be rooted and grown in Taiwan; besides, the painters of Taiwan could only follow these old traditions and skill without their own innovation and creative ideas, and could not incorporate the true pioneer spirit into their paintings. As a natural result, the school of painting after immigration to Taiwan declined. 9 No wonder painting in Taiwan, after the immigration, 'was ignored and was never noted in the official art history of China' Chen, Kuan Hsueh, Old Taiwan, Tung Ta Book Publication Co., Taipei, 1981, p Lee, Chin Hsien, Process of Fine Art of Taiwan, Chi Li Evening News Publication, Taipei, 1992, pp 'The Literati Paintings were done by literate and government officials in ancient Chinese times. The subject of literati painting was mostly about the natural environment, landscape, plants and birds through which, artists could express their spiritual emotion. It focused on the enjoyment of painting itself and stressed the painter's personal literature level. However, in the later period of development, it became overindulgent in showing off painting technique and neglecting the content and creativity'. Ho, Cheng Kuang [Ed.] Art Encyclopedia, Artist Publication Co., Taipei, 1981, p Lee, Hsien Wen, in Kuo, Chih Shen [Ed.] p Lee, Chin Hsien, p

24 (b) Taiwanese Art under Japanese Art Influences In 1884, the Sino-Japanese war exploded. The Ching Dynasty was defeated and ceded Taiwan to Japan for settlement. Japan became an outside regime and was resisted with arms and underground resistance at the preliminary stage by the people of Taiwan. 11 However, for the purpose of more easily attaining their goal of administration, Japan adopted an 'assimilation' policy through practicing favour and authority concurrently in both a soft and a harsh manner, as well as providing certain respect to the folklore of Taiwan. 12 Furthermore, due to promotion from some Japanese art educational scholars such as Ishkawa Kinichiro ( ), Shiozuki Touho ( ), and Gohara Koto ( ), who came to Taiwan to teach art enthusiastically between 1907 to 1921, 13 Taiwan not only cultivated many outstanding male painters such as Lee, Shih Chiao; Liao, Chih Chun and Young, San Lang (Plate 1) but also initiated grand official art exhibitions and the fine art movement. 14 Their achievement and authenticity in art has been well acknowledged and recognised. As a matter of fact, modern art development during the Japanese colonisation was considered to be a crucial milestone for Taiwan art, where Chinese art was never deeply rooted and enhanced in local society, due to the neglect and trivial role given to Taiwan by Mainland China. This was the first time Taiwanese art was formally instituted and cultivated, and can be thought of as the 'embryonic and developmental stage of modern Taiwanese art, when the Japanese education system was built up in Taiwan'. 15 However, due to the fact that Japanese art education in Taiwan was based on th patriarchal concepts and the Imperialism of Japan, which intentionally trained Taiwanese artists to become very conservative and obedient in personality, their painting style based in Impressionism tended to be unrealistic as it only showed ULee, Chin Hsien, p. 15. ^Wang, Hsiu Hsiung, A Brief History of Art in Taiwan to 1945, in Nicholas Jose and Yang Wen I [Ed.] p Wang, Hsiu Hsiung, p Lin, Hsing Yueh, Fine Art of Taiwan under Colourful Painting Brushes, in Kuo, Chih [Ed.] p Wang, Hsiu Hsiung, P

25 beautiful scenery and the quiet life rather than reflecting the real voice of the Taiwanese spirit which rebelled against outside colonial rule. 16 The art concepts and techniques taught by those Japanese artists and teachers were basically developed by the Japanese art schools and the standard system of official organised exhibitions imported and transplanted from France to Japan, that is the so-called 'Parisian Style", the formula of the academic school in Paris in the late nineteenth century. 17 In this type of impressionist painting, artists of Taiwan learned from their Japanese teachers that they definitely could not express a real social voice of Taiwan then, nor could they express open anti-japanese language in their paintings or incorporate the spirit of rebellion against colonial government into their artworks. Mr. Hsieh Li Fa criticised: Their creative desire hardly contains practical feeling of a colonial society, yet they were tactically seduced into the mode of the official exhibition which, under a specific standard, has been stereotyped as an extension of the Japanese 'Parisian Style'. From that time on, how could the painters successfully delineate social life and reflect modern life? 18 However, on the other hand, Mr. Lin, Hsing Yueh, an art critic, provides a rather more understanding opinion of the concern of the environmental background of thattime. He commented: Today, if we criticise those who followed the art format of the Japanese cultural colony with our modern level in view, it is too easy. But this is not fair. Any cultural area requiring its own artists to be independent shall consider whether the locality provides solid historical tradition for artists, together with the proper social environment. Taiwan at that time could hardly provide these basic conditions. 19 In fact, the painters of Taiwan, under the Japanese system, failed to have direct contact with 'western art', thus they could only rely on the mediation of Japan, especially when traditional Chinese painting in Taiwan was overlooked by the 16 Lee, Chin Hsien, pp ^'French Impressionism was introduced by artists Kuroda Kiyoteru and Kume Keiichiro who studied in France and returned to Japan to teach western painting in the Tokyo Fine Art School in Since then, art development in Japan has closely followed in the steps of the European's'. Hsieh, Li Fa, A History of the Fine Art Movement in Taiwan during the Japanes Occupation, Artist Publication Co., Taiwan, 1979, p Hsieh, Li Fa, p. 81. l^lin, Hsing Yueh, Forty Years of the Fine Art Field in Taiwan, Chi Li Evening News Publication, Taipei, 1987, p

26 Japanese authority. Such a dilemma was the result of cultivation by a colonial government. Therefore, generally speaking, during fifty years of colonisation in Taiwan, Japan had created many western style Taiwanese painters of the first generation in Taiwanese art history, indirectly transplanting the concepts and techniques of modern art from Europe into Taiwan to expand a new vision to the art field of Taiwan. It changed the traditional painting material, technique, concept and form, forcing Taiwan to face international art trends and establishing its own foundation of modern art which has pushed Taiwan art toward a newer phase of art evolution. 17

27 (B) Women's Art Development during the Japanese Colonisation ( ) Women's Art during the Japanese Colonisation, as the consequence of Japanese imperialist education, was performed in a weak and passive manner. It was just like a decoration, with a quiet and obedient posture. Very few women artists could demonstrate their talents in the predominatedly male-oriented art system. The book, A History of the Fine Art Movement in Taiwan during the Japanese Occupation, which only documents one woman painter Ms. Chen Chin serves as good evidence. From the aspect of Chinese history, Chinese women used to accept many maletaught female precepts in a highly male-oriented cultural tradition, such as the principles of the 'Three Obediences and Four Virtues' 20 (Further information on the traditional background of Chinese women will be introduced later.) These doctrines did not only restrict women's behaviour, or their mind-set, but also affected married life, living pattern and even death mode. Women were not allowed an individual personality, and the ability of making a living independently. The restrictive prescription on women as wives and mothers, economic dependence and forced intellectual infanthood was extreme in Chinese ancient times. As a result, not surprisingly, the inhuman practice of footbinding became a custom and existed in Chinese society for more than one thousand years. (This is fully investigated in the chapter on the custom of footbinding.) (a) Review of Chinese Women Artists When women were separated from the basic living rights of human beings (wisdom, economic capacity and physical strength), the attempt to develop their art capacity was even more impossible. In retrospect, regarding the performance of ancient Chinese women in the whole of Chinese art history, only a few of them were recorded. For example, in the Art Encyclopedia in the introduction of Chinese artists, only Ma, Shou Gen and Wen Shu are introduced. 21 The content of their description was punctuated by items relating to their family and the 20'Three Obediences and Four Virtues of women in ancient China meant a woman was required to obey her father before marriage, her husband during married life, and her sons in widowhood. The Four Virtues are fidelity, physical charm, propriety in speech and efficiency in needle work. Katie Curtin, Women in China, Pathfinder Press, New York and Toronto, 1975, p Hsu, Lih Ping, in Ho, Cheng Kuang [Ed.] pp

28 important male members such as husband, father, teachers and brothers; completely differing from the way of introducing the descriptions of male artists such as their official appointments, long journeys, art achievements, great events and retirement, resulting in official records and routinely inspired written responses from the scholarly community. 22 Marsha Weidner, Professor of art history and a specialist in Chinese art states: On the whole, Chinese women painters were sustainers rather than innovators. Their inventive potential was limited by conventions designed to support the rigorously patriarchal social system of premodern China. The most infamous of these was the custom of footbinding. However, minds were also bound, not only by the thoroughgoing subordination of women to men within the family and the exclusion of women from public life, but also by definitions of virtue based on self-sacrifice and the equation of fragility with femininity. 23 Furthermore, women could not possibly become artists if they had no special 'status'. This fact can be seen from the Yutai huashi (The Jade Terrace History of Painting) 24 edited since the Ching Dynasty. In this special collection 'women artists have in fact been isolated from formal Chinese art history, and have been classified according to their status as imperial ladies, daughters of gentry, concubines and famous courtesans'. 25 Nevertheless, even under the condition of developing talents, women artists were still restricted by thought and living vision, the painting subjects could only be retained within the range of interior family life and the garden in very limited scope. They were absolutely cut off from the outside sphere, which only belonged to men. Since the home was the sole completely sanctioned arena for female activity, gentry women were able to discover their talent for painting 22 'Most records concerning male artists can, of course, be equally formulaic, but the life histories of prominent men are much more extensively documented than those of women. Female lives were not punctuated by events of similar consequence. Even those who gained a degree of recognition as mothers of famous men, exemplars of feminine virtue, or women of talent remained footnotes to history'. Marsha Weidner, Women in the History of Chinese Paintings, in 'View from Jade Terrace Chinese Women Artists, ', Indiananapolis Museum of Art, Indiananapolis, 1988, p. 15. ^Marsha Weidner, p. 13. ^Yutai huashi (The Jade Terrace History of Painting) is a history of Chinese women painters from early times through the beginning of the nineteenth century. Marsha Weidner, p. 17, ^Marsha Weidner, p

29 only after scholars had made this art a domestic pursuit by practicing it themselves in their private libraries and residential gardens. 26 Therefore, it is possible to recognise that under these circumstances a woman could only achieve a limited level of art related to her range of activities, with stepping beyond her front gate or door, which formed the stereotypical painting which is the so-called 'indoor genteel lady art'. The Chinese art researcher, Mr. Lee Tie interprets the 'indoor genteel lady artist' as: The woman artist who did not have a self-dominated or independent position, nor any rights in the economy, married life or art society. The paintings made by those, who came from a noble family and learned painting techniques from their father, husband, brothers and teachers, were difficult to distinguish from the mode of men's creation. Their works mostly imitated men's artworks and lacked individual style and unique performance. 27 2o Marsha Weidner, p Lee Tie, The Research of the Direction of Chosen Subject-Matter from Indoor Genteel Lad Artists during the Ming and Ching Dynasties, in 'Artist Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 238, March 1995, p

30 (b) Women Artists in Taiwan As to the society of Taiwan, women were not as inferior as Chinese women in Mainland China in the early stages of immigration due to the fact that most immigrants were males and there was a lack of balance in the gender structure about fifty to sixty percent of males without a wife. 28 Basically, however, the concept of Chinese society, which highly values men while disdaining women in the patriarchal system, still caused serious unequal status for male and female in the society of Taiwan. For example, women were sold as prostitutes or maids; males gotrid of their wives and married concubines, quite commonly in the early period of Taiwan. 29 In the age of the Japanese colonisation, although the Japanese government provided schools for women to execute their 'assimilation' strategy, yet the content of education still emphasised 'training a obedient wife and worthy mother' as its goal. 30 Therefore, the women of Taiwan, under the education of female morality and colonial policy, were trained to be even more subservient, chaste, refined and feminine, devoting themselves to family effort for their husband and children and being loyal to the Japanese emperor. 31 Under the dual restriction of both the patriarchal concept from Chinese Confucianism and Japanese Colonial Imperialism, if a woman intended to possess an independent personality and show her talent in art, she had to suffer a double pressure and to be brave enough to break through an invisible inner barrier and fear, and overcome the social discrimination and constraints against her. According to the General List of Female Painters in Taiwan during Japanese Colonisation 32 there is a total of twenty-four women painters who appeared in the art field of Taiwan. Most of these painters came from wealthy families, which allowed them to receive a better art education. The list also shows that seven among the twenty-four studied advanced art in Japan and Ms. Chen Chin was 28 Yin, Chang Yi, Social Status of the Females in Taiwan in the Ching Dynasty, in 'Histor Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 26, March 1990, p Yin, Chang Yi, p Chang, Su Pi, Chinese Women Historical Essay, No. 2, Lee, You Ling and Chang, Yu Fa [Ed.] Taiwan Business Publisher, Taipei, 1988, p Lai, Ming Chu, Role Positioning and Social Restriction on Women Artists during t Japanese Occupation, in Artist Magazine, Taipei, October Vol. 233,1994, p Lai, Ming Chu, p

31 amongst them 33. However, of all these women artists in a traditional society who, based on their better 'status' and their courage of leaving the household to make an effort in art, only Ms. Chen Chin was recognised as a professional practitioner by the art history scholars, while the rest were forgotten. Most of them were, 'forced to give up creation in painting to make contributions to their own families, damaging their creativity and their production, both in terms of quality and quantity.' 34 Besides the limitation from the patriarchal Chinese cultural and social background preventing women continuing their art careers, the other reason which can be given is that women artists lacked confidence and perseverance in developing their talents and preserving their opportunities. Owing to the general view and patriarchal ideology on women media sources, art critique judgments and the research angle were all governed by men which merely treated women as a subordinated part of art society it is not surprising, under such circumstances, that the self-recognition of women was hampered. According to the report on page six of the newspaper, Taiwan Daily News of October 24 of the year of Chao Ho (1927) on female painters, the photos and data of women artists were listed in the 'Life Column' instead of 'Professional Art' pages, along with material such as cooking, child-caring and clothes-making information, and titled them as 'indoor genteel lady artists'. 35 This is clear evidence that women artists were separated from the mainstream and merely classified as in the hobby field. As to their art works, most were accomplished in the pursuit of purity, elegance and beauty of nature. Because the feminine vision was more restrained than that of males, their living scope dealt mostly with family life where their life placed firm restrictions on their knowledge of the world of men. Most of their works expressed a style with grace, elegance and the feminine touch, but was only limited to the pursuit of a pure and beautiful visual image, lacking individual concept and aggressiveness. This was in fact customary, for their performance only existed in the cultivation of mood through visual creation, which their class 33 "Ms. Chen Chin was the third daughter in arichfamily who were classed among the local gentry in Hsiang Shan Village. Her father was a successful man both in agriculture and business, and also served as a local officer. Therefore, the refinement of her character was greatly influenced by her family environment which had all the comforts of material wealth and the literary atmosphere that pervaded her home'. Shih, Shou Chien, Chen Chin, in 'Full Collection of Taiwan Fine Art', Artist Publication Co., Taipei, 1992, p Lai, Ming Chu, p Lai, Ming Chu, p

32 and sex determined, because women lived apart from any close, daily contact with the world that men occupied in the public sphere of the profession. For instance, of the paintings of Ms. Chen Chin, (Plate 2) Mr. Hsieh, Li Fa comments: Her works are full of grace, tenderness, beauty and completeness. It is a lady's dream of the future. She also knows the realisation of this dream calls for the cost of obedience, imitation, kindness and tenderness, the very lesson obtained from the social and traditional education. 36 Indeed, art can reflect artists' personalities and their social hierarchy when the submerged by the restrictions caused by the social and cultural impact. The viewpoints from Theory of New Art explain: An artist is a person of a society. The sense of hierarchy forming a specific social condition certainly specifies every individual. This kind of subjective social hierarchy also naturally reflects in the sense of each individual, forming a special condition for concept Hsieh, Li Fa, p Chu, Kuang Chien and Tsai Yi, Theory of New Art, Dandelion Publishing Co., 1986, Taipei, p

33 (C) The Modern Art Movement of Abstract Expressionist Painting during the 1950s and 1960s (a) Taiwan Society after World War JJ In World War II, Japan was defeated and restored Taiwan to China. Nevertheless, in 1945, the Kuomintang Government was forced to retreat to Taiwan as Mainland China was occupied by the Communist Party. Almost a million residents from Mainland China relocated to Taiwan, and most people represented the higher levels of Chinese tradition and culture. 38 Therefore, from that time on the grand traditional culture of China was indeed brought to Taiwan. After almost a half century of separation from China, Taiwan received Chinese culture once again. In the art field, it was also a time for Taiwanese artists to join with the painters of Mainland China. 39 During that period, the Kuomintang Government practiced powerful administration through its autocracy. Its primary policy seemed to indicate its s aim and prime consideration was to recover Mainland China, and the construction of Taiwan was simply a means. After 1949 the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China in exile, was still dominated by the Kuomintang although since 1948 it was under a constitution instead of party tutelage considered itself only temporarily superimposed upon Taiwan as one of its provinces and maintained a posture of militant readiness for counterattack to recover the mainland. Political life in Taiwan reflected the psychology of rulers in exile, proudly determined not to give up claims that sustained their hopes and sense of historical consistency. As a consequence, the Nationalist Government in the early 1950s continued, as on the mainland although in different circumstances, to devote itself in large part to military preparation for counterattack, rather than concentrating its energies on more general development. 40 Therefore, a kind of education given by the Kuomintang Government, where the premise rested on 'fighting against Communism and Russian sovereignty to recover Mainland China', did not leave space for liberal expression of art. 38 Lee, Yi Yuan, Review on Cultural Construction Work, in 'Social Transition and Cultural Development of Taiwan Area', Lien Ching Publication Co., Taipei, 1989, p Hsiao, Chiung Jui, Modernisation Movement of Chinese Fine Art and Formation of Local Characteristics of Taiwan, in Kuo, Chih Shen [Ed.] p j o hn K. Fairbank, Edwin O. Reischauer, Albert M. Craig, East Asia: Tradition & Transformation, Hougton Mifflin, Boston, 1978, pp

34 Moreover, the Kuomintang Government attempted to restrict Taiwanese dialect through various political mediation in schools and other sectors, to strengthen the education of 'racial spirit' and to reduce local cognition. 41 This political control made the people in Taiwan face another tragedy, especially when 'Incident 228' 42 occurred on 28 February 1947, which caused a long term misunderstanding between the Taiwanese and the Mainlanders. Even up to the present day, there are still many arguments as to the causes of Incident 228. The quotation from Taiwanese historian, Mr. Wang Chin, hints at the fact: Some people place blame on errors made by the incoming administration poor discipline among the troops or a bad economic policy. Some think it was due to a conspiracy among Taiwanese communists at that time, who took advantage of the situation to drive society into chaos. Some scholars theorise that with two different systems separated for such a long period of time, once reunited, a crisis of adjustment was inevitable. But whatever the causes, Chen Yi, as the highest ranking administrative official, can not deny responsibility Leu, Yai Lie, in 'Social Transition and Cultural Development of Taiwan Area', p In 'Incident 228' many intelligentsia and artists from Taiwan and mainland China were victimised and persecuted by the Chen Yi administration Governor of Taiwan at that time. For instance, the artist Chen, Chern Pwo, the enthusiast in promoting cultural exchange between Mainland China and Taiwan, was executed when he tried to mediate the tension between the Nationalist Government and the Taiwanese. This history was never revealed to the public before the lifting of Marshal Law. The families of victims carried the injustice and grievance silently for years. However, in 1995, afterfiftyyears, the Nationalist Government finally admitted their mistakes for this tragic history, and apologised to the Taiwanese by setting up 28 February as the National Memory Day. The Taipei New Park has been renamed '228 Memory Park' since 28 February Wang Chin, Governing Taiwan A Retrospective in the Year of the First Gubernatorial Election, in 'Sinorama magazine', Taipei, December 1994, p

35 (b) The Modern Art Movement of Abstract Expressionist Painting In the art dimension, there are many provincial painters of Taiwan who have envisaged a shadow psychology which has limited their freedom in art creativity and development. They faced the fate of being released from a foreign sovereign power the Japanese Government only to have an immediate take-over by another sovereign power the Kuomintang Government. The status and mentality of those painters were commented on by Mr. Lin, Hsing Yueh: The provincial artists discovered, after getting rid of foreign rule, that there was no progress to an expected inspiring view. On the contrary, people encountered unexpected assault and frustration, political turmoil, language partition, a chaotic system and economic recession, etc. so as to bring some adverse impacts, leading artists to feel the situation to be worse and worse. In this way, they started to miss the past time and decided to stick to their current position through hard struggle. This kind of frustrated and conservative mentality covered their developing new vision and inspiration so that they failed to confront the contemporary transition by adjusting their ideas and view. 44 For further evidence on the above situation, I conducted an interview with my teacher, a witness and a painter of that era, Ms. Liang, Tang Feng. According to her, Taiwan experienced several political, social, educational and artistic dilemmas. She said: The White Terror existing in the fields of art and education came from the frame of mind of being afraid of the communist approach. The Kuomintang Government, due to its painful experience, considered the Communist Party's slogan of 'Art for Art's Sake' as one of the reasons to lost mainland China. Thus after retreating to Taiwan, it adopted various control and supervision mechanisms to make art and education workers teach in a conservative and safe manner in compliance with the environmental requirement. In a dimension without freedom to create and teach, some colours and forms in artworks even became taboos, such as the colour red, as any red image related to the Communist Party. Many artists and art teachers with free desire and new thoughts all left Taiwan because their creativity and teaching ideals could not be entirely explored. 45 Under such a political shadow and economic squeeze, there was a new tension arising from the opposition between 'water ink painting' claimed by Mainland ^Lin, Hsing Yueh, pp Interview with Ms. Liang, Tang Feng, 20 April 1995 at Ming Chuan College, Taipei. 26

36 Chinese painters in Taiwan and the 'impressionistic realist painting' practiced by local painters since the Japanese colonisation. With the clampdown on information under martial law, the voices of post-1949 arrivals to Taiwan eventually overtook those of the native Taiwanese. The artistic elite of Mainlanders did everything they could to consolidate the leading role of the conservative Greater China inkmonochrome painting order in Taiwan. 46 Therefore, after World War U, the young generation of artists had no opportunity to gain an independent art position with the fighting between the above two forces. At that time, western art was introduced quite strongly because the American Government exercised a policy of extending political and economic aid to Taiwan by largely infusing western culture and art concepts. Such 'western art' offered great motivation to the new generation desirous to acquire new knowledge due to post-war anxiety. This 'ingenuity' happened to provide unexplored inspiration and rejuvenation to the new generation. Mr. Lee, Hsien Wen states: The young generation of artists who were under the American cultural influence, considered that the official Taiwan Art Exhibition had inherited too much Japanese style, which was regarded as too conservative and backward by almost half a century in comparison to the western art concepts. Therefore, they became impatient with conventional art and thought the only way to save Taiwan's art was to learn western modern art concepts and techniques. 47 In particular, as these young artists perceived the series of defeats which China suffered, they felt aghast and tried to get rid of the burden and quandary of underdevelopment and tradition in order to keep up with the modernisation of the West. In this case, this kind of sponge-like absorption of western ideas to solve the suspicion and doubt engendered by their history, to completely innovate, as well as to find the most immediate avenue to open up the new sphere of art was certainly born from social and internal factors. Likewise, the global trend of Abstract Expressionism widely prevailed due to the fact that in its concepts lurks a sentimental tendency to giving up orthodox flair to the development of free will in artistic breakthrough. In this art movement, there was an artist Mr. Lee, Chong Sheng, a Mainland Chinese painter who migrated to Taiwan, and who pursued advanced art studies under the enlightenment of the Japanese artist Foujita, transplanting his concepts 46 Lin, Hsing Yueh, Art in Taiwan , in Nicholas Jose and Yang, Wen I [Ed.] p Lee, Hsien Wen, p

37 of modern painting from Japan to Taiwan. 48 He was later credited as 'the father of abstract painting in Taiwan'. (Plate 3) Mr. Lee firmly believed that to develop the route of creation one should, 'give up the bonds of rational thought and eliminate building on a traditional fixed technique, in order to invoke an individual unique language in painting'. 49 Soon, the abstract painting, under the influence of Mr. Lee, formed a strong avant-garde fashion in Taiwan. Many young artists, in particular the members of 'Orient' and 'May' Art Associations, focused on finding an abstract framework through incorporation of tradition with novelty, by seeking inspiration from Chinese calligraphy and landscape painting done with splashes of ink. However, some people later deemed the abstract expressionist painting of this time to be 'a copy of western art', of a modern art movement criticising local tradition through new western techniques and concepts. For instance, it has been argued by an art critic Mr. Ni, Tsai Chin: The Abstract Expressionist paintings in Taiwan lack the Western abstract historical and cultural background. It only took a short cut of the exposition process. Therefore painters can undoubtedly and rapidly apply their 'global' paint brush without hesitation. No wonder in these works, the 'special effect' or sensational level isricherthan 'spiritual reality' level Hsiao, Chiung Jui, May and Orient Medernisation Movement of Chinese Fine Art in Taiwan , Tung Ta Publication Co., Taipei, 1991, pp Hsieh, Tung Shan, Crossing over the Sky of Academic Art, in 'Artist Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 230, July 1994, p Ni, Tsai Chin, Western Fine Art, Made in Taiwan, in 'Taiwan Cognition in the Fine Art of Taiwan', Yeh, Yu Ching [Ed.] Hsiung Shih Art Book Publication Co., Taipei, 1994, p

38 (D) Women's Art Development during the 1950s and 1960s This study is about the overall phenomenon of women's art developing along with the modern art movement of Abstract Expressionist Painting during the 1950s and 1960s. It provides a better understanding of the way women artists were not recognised and omitted under patriarchal viewpoints and aesthetic standards, and then finally systematically effaced from the mainstream. This is an attempt to expose the underlying value of women artists especially when most of them only expressed their talent in a very quiet, passive, acquiescent way whether they stayed in the traditional art area or participated in the development of the language and codes of the modern art movement. The research will be made not only from their paintings, but also from their art presentation, reflecting their era and society, revealing their persistence and courage in their art creation, while they were struggling against male-dominated viewpoints and the difficult way of life of that time. (a) Women Artists in Traditional Art Styles After World War n, most women artists devoted their lives self-sacrificingly to their families due to the hard life caused by the chaotic social conditions and conventions, as well as being coerced by the traditional concept of Confucianism and the education of women under Japanese Imperialism. 51 This was certainly no favourable climate for women artists' creative activities, as they devoted themselves to their husbands and children, giving up their interests in painting. It was the general destiny for women of that period. Some women painters with an art education background dedicated themselves to an education career, becoming art teachers instead of professional artists. For example, Ms. Yuan, Shu Gen studied in the same university in Japan with Mr. Lee, Chong Sheng (the father of abstract painting in Taiwan). She did not develop an up-dated art style and ideas in order to correspond to the new pace of society and fight the old tradition with courage as Mr. Lee, Chong Sheng had done, but merely dedicated her life to art education. The art critic, Mr. Hsieh, Tung Shan, used her as an example to reveal the achievement of Mr. Lee, Chong Sheng: 51 Victoria Lu, Development and Enlightenment of Chinese Female Art, in 'Artist Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 214, March 1993, pp

39 The life-long career of Mr. Lee, Chong Sheng has made the step into the way of avant-garde art. However, if he had only stayed in a traditional Western painting style patiently and quietly..., it is very possible that one more 'ordinary' traditional western painter, like his alumna Ms. Yuan, Shu Gen, would be added to the fine art field in Taiwan. 52 This viewpoint is not without problems. The evaluation of the position of women painters on the basis of 'painting achievement' is presented with no reference to women's status from the cultural and social aspects. It suggests a woman, under the restriction of environment and fate, has been disdained by the art critics wit totally patriarchal view without consideration of the enforced role of sacrifice a devotion required of women at that time. Concerning the sacrifice and devotion women artists have made, Ms. Liang, Tang Feng expressed her life experience in a rather emotional tone when I interviewed her. She believes that women were consistently discriminated against by the maleoriented art stream. Women who were able to paint during those years considered it was a luxury because they had to take care of their husbands and children, as well as maintain a normal life style first. Through Ms. Liang's observing the late development of the women artists of her age group, she divides the women artists into three categories as follows: The first is the women who altered their career and gave up painting for the sake of making a living and then never had a chance to return to painting again. The second type is the vast number of amateur women painters who dedicated themselves to educational work and only started to paint in a part-time capacity after their retirement. Some of them jointly organised painting associations. The Taipei Women's Art Association, one of the examples, is composed of mostly retired women art teachers of similar fate and the same art tendencies. Ms. Yuan, Shu Gen is the initiator and former chairman of this Art Association. Nevertheless, due to the lack of prolonged experience and a squashed innovative spirit, most of their works still remained attached to the realist style and suggested not much sense of modernity, such as the still life which does not show any sign of breakthrough or the message of their creativity and originality. In fact, this is the result of the restrictions placed upon them, reflecting the enforced lifestyle not chosen by these women. The third category are considered the most lucky and fortunate artists who were quiet, persistent, and doggedly continued their painting, though unable to be on the top contemporary trend or to be 52 Hsieh, Tung Shan, p

40 recognised as influential artists in art history, yet they silently fulfilled their dreams. 53 Ms Liang, in fact, can be classified as one of the women artists in the third category. She spent her savings on her global travels as well as carrying out her regular art teaching. At each place she visited, she used pencil and watercolour to catch the momentary beauty of a scene. (Plate 4) She explains that she likes her painting itself to be able to convey a message to the audiences, even though her artworks are deemed as very realistic and traditional. Today, Ms. Liang still holds at least one solo exhibition in Taipei Howard Plaza Gallery every year and participates in several group exhibitions internationally. She is a woman painter with a delicate painting style, yet has rather a strong, independent and persistent character. As previously mentioned, Ms. Chen Chin became an outstanding local 'indoor genteel lady artist' after the Japanese Colonisation. From 1949 onwards, due to the social transition of immigration of the Mainland Chinese into Taiwan, she was stimulated and had her interest revived in the new subject matter. She moved her painting subjects from indoor to outdoor and created a sense of contemporary times. For instance, in her painting Women (Plate 5) this is made explicit by the fact that she depicts five modern Shanghai ladies walking on a street. Their hair styles, shoes and handbags are of a very modern western style; one of them even holds sunglasses in her hand, showing the fashion trend at that time. This comes from her observation of social change and she deftly incorporated it into her artworks, as a way of creating 'art reflecting time' and demanding new subject matter to capture the essence of modernity. Even though Ms. Chen Chin reflected the social transition in Taiwan in her subjects, she did not throw away the distinctive Japanese flavour she had learned since the time of the Japanese Colonisation, which unfortunately became a bottleneck or even a conflict in her painting career. Ms. Chen Chin was disapproved of by many traditional male Chinese painters who immigrated from Mainland China to Taiwan. They criticised her paintings as the product of Japanese militarism, failing to express the spirit of a new age after Taiwan had 53 Interview with Ms. Liang, Tang Feng, 20 April 1995 at Ming Chuan College, Taipei. 31

41 returned to its own rule. They teased Ms. Chen that 'her paintings were clearly in the Japanese style even though she claimed herself to be a Chinese painter'. 54 Mr. Hsiao, Chiung Jui states: Chen Chin became a victim when the big argument was raised by some so-called real Chinese Painters'. There was a big difference in point of view between 'traditional Chinese painting' and 'oriental painting' (Japanese style painting which had already appeared in 1947 when the first Taiwan Art Exhibition was held.) happened at that time. The argument of 'Legitimate Chinese Painting' was becoming the main issue in Taiwan art societies. 55 Due to the confrontation of such a huge struggle, which became the most difficul period in her life and painting career, Ms. Chen Chin, in final defeat, withdrew into her family in order to seek spiritual comfort and peace. Her concern for art subjects retreated from society to family life, and later was only perceived and portrayed in studies of her family members. Generally speaking, due to the forces of environment, Ms. Chen Chin returned to the world of women the family, and created works with the family as the central theme to express her persistence in art. The conviction conveyed in images of he own sex role is evident. Although superficially she was afraid and confronted th disdain and arrogance of male aesthetic viewpoint quietly, she never gave up her resolution to paint throughout her life. She is silent but strong. Mr. Shih, Shou Chien gives his opinion of Ms. Chen Chin's profound capacity to comprehend the character of human nature. He writes: The painting career of Chen Chin, from a style of image recording reached its peak in her later years. From her early style of genteel painting, she developed to discover the beauty in human life. In times of conflict and rejection, she turned inward. As a new mother her image recording took on new meaning. Her later years are focused on an individual style. As a grandmother she is able to allow her emotions to enter her paintings, and at the same time discover the pure beauty in each object. The beauty of the human world in which we live is the true source of art. Devoting her life to record this beauty, Chen Chin captures the essence of beauty in its simplicity. She too, then is an image to be remembered Hsiao, Chiung Jui, p Hsiao, Chiung Jui, pp Shih, Shou Chien, p

42 (b) Women Artists in Modern Art Movements Besides the traditional line of women's art in the preceding discussion, there we several women artists who developed their paintings together with the male artist and paralleled the road to the modern art movement of Abstract Expressionist paintings. They were Ms. Chen, Chung Chuan, Ms. Lee, Fang Chih in the 'May Art Association', and Ms. Huang, Run Seh and Ms. Lin Yen in the 'Orient Art Association'. According to the available written records, such as the book, May and Orient Modernisation Movement of Chinese Fine Arts in Taiwan, , they were the only few female painters who participated in male painting associations, so for the very first time, breaking the mould of the strict and pu male organisation. In their behaviour, they are the prelude of revolution; in the painting style, they escaped the limitations of the traditional lady painter assi to the women's quarters. In the article which I wrote for Modern Art Magazine I pointed out: These women painters could be referred to as, 'pioneers in breaking the definition of indoors genteel lady artists' through free expression by way of abstract paintings. This had meaning on a symbolic level although they may never have consciously perceived the implication of what they produced. Their attempts at utilising non-traditional abstract forms and concepts can be seen as a way of displaying and demonstrating their autonomy, individual existence, independent thinking and free expression by escaping the definition of 'genteel lady artist', as well as throwing off conservative viewpoints and traditional bondage. This struggling out of the female mode of painting of a thousand years are audacious and independent. Through a liberal and open abstract idiom, they released their inner depression and unspoken desire, which was indeed a kind of 'anti-tradition' and 'anti-bondage' in the subconscious. Therefore, their paintings should be treated as a different and unique art production in that particular era and society, departing from the abstract concepts of the male painters, who had a kind of metaphysical approach or concept of pure material commonly understood in western abstract expressionist paintings. They added a new dimension to the study of therich and varied sources from which Abstract Expressionism was developed by men, by using the issues of the tensions that have existed for women in making paintings in which they can produce meaning of their own. 5r 57 Lin, Pey Chwen, Review of Abstract Painting in the 1950s and 1960s, in 'Modern Art Magazine', Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, February Vol. 58,1995, p

43 Unfortunately, most of the art critics did not acknowledge the real meaning in the intentions of these women, but merely saw that the abstract paintings of Ms. Huang, Ren Seh were elegant, harmonious and a flutter of feminine nerves. (Plate 6) This judgement is carried by their stereotyped patriarchal view. The comment from Mr. Lin, Hsing Yueh is: Her paintings are not controversial and the expression belongs to another world an extremely pure world which is very delicate, feminine, without frontiers, audacious and surprising This group of women painters, while developing their artworks with the male association members in the 1950s and the 1960s, promoting modern art language together with male artists, have not exhibited any more new works recently. Their life is no longer discussed or noticed to in the art society of Taiwan today. In the research articles discussing the art movement of the 1950s and the 1960s, there is no category for their works. The most representative book on contemporary fine art history May and Orient Demonstration of Modernisation Movement of Chinese Fine Art in Taiwan with about four hundred and twenty pages in total and with more than four hundred thousand words, has only two pages mentioning the artworks of Ms. Huang, Run Seh and Ms. Lin Yen without much serious research. 59 Moreover, taking another view, more than two-thirds of the male painters of the same art associations at that time, have become popular artists, being discussed and researched by the modern art institutions, commercial art galleries and national art museums. Some of these painters have held major retrospective exhibitions, such as Mr. Liu, Kuo Sung, Mr. Chuang Chieh, and Mr. Hsiao Chin. Some have also become the major representative artists of private art galleries. Their works have also frequently appeared in international art auctions fetching extremely high prices. Against this, people today have hardly heard any further information about the previously mentioned women artists in the modern art movement. This raises a significant point and brings to mind the serious questions, 'Why do not women artists receive due acknowledgment? Where are their positions and recognition in the art history of Taiwan? Why has it been necessary to negate this part in the history of art to dismiss women artists? How does it define what is 58 Lin, Hsing Yueh, Blue Memory, Record of Female Painter Huang, Run Seh, in 'Artist Magazine', Taipei, March 1975, p Hsiao, Chiung Jui, p

44 and what is not art, and to whom does it accord the status of artist and what does status mean? What is the standard to judge women's art? 35

45 (E) Contemporary Art Development from 1970s to the Present This section presents the social and art evolution of two different and extreme directions. Taiwanese are anxiously searching for their identity, but at the same time, they are also chasing a western lifestyle, with a mentality of worshiping western culture and fashion. This discussion will start with 'Taiwanese provincialistic movement' which happened in the 1970s and led to the development and evolution of a unique trend in both society and the art circles in the last ten years. (a) Art Development in the 1970s The 1970s can be deemed as a cultivation period of national awakening for the Taiwanese. International recognition of the People's Republic of China in 1971 forced Taiwan to withdraw from the United Nations, and simultaneously the USA terminated its economic aid to Taiwan and turned its diplomatic policy towards recognising Communist China instead. Taiwan became isolated from the international political arena and has been in an ambiguous situation since then. Such stress and affliction has stirred and provoked intellectuals into reconsider their limited outlook on society and art appreciation based on their attitude of suspicion towards the concept of western modernism. An enormous number of Taiwan-oriented literary books with rich national consciousness and vernacular idiom were published. One of the representative works from the well-known writer Mr. Chen, Ying Chen has underlined his awakening as follows: The Modernism of Taiwan in characteristic is secondary. Modernism of Taiwan is not only the least in western modernism but also the secondary of the least...the modern literature of Taiwan is innately secondary, the adverse result of having an art consuming civilisation. Due to its natural genetic environment, it has become handicapped in thought and knowledge. Finally, our modernism is in want of a kind of innate vitality and the capacity of self correction as well as accepting new things. 60 A kind of local consciousness movement soon prevailed in the field of art. It provided the art society with a good opportunity to review and reconsider the 60YU, Tien Tsing, Transition of the Society of Taiwan and Development of Literature Duri the Past Thirty Years, in 'Social Transition and Cultural Development of Taiwan Area', p

46 profound and intrinsic value of the local culture and art of Taiwan. Victoria Lu writes: The Taiwanese provincialistic movement during the 1970s occurred when Taiwan experienced its most rapid economic growth. But while soaring capitalism prevailed, a few artists and intellectuals began conducting folklore research and field studies, hoping to find selfassurance and fulfilment through their understanding of history. 61 The thinking mode of nostalgic recognition raised some artists' consciousness to create artworks connected with the so-called 'local totem'. Several artists, bearing the image of being 'without pollution of western fashion', were gradually discovered and soon became 'grass-root' idols in the art area. For example, nevertrained autodidactic painter Mr. Hung Tung 62 Chu Ming 63 became famous overnight. and folklore engraving artist Mr. However, do such works with local characters and scenery faithfully convey the awareness of local consciousness? Mr. Lin, Hsing Yueh brings out his argument: Mr. Hung Tung and Mr. Chu Ming are merely a simple painter and pure folklore engraving artist. Their art consciousness actually had no direct and strong effect upon the contemporary rhythm of transition, nor did it hold traditional historical significance Victoria Lu, in Lin, G. Phone [Ed.] p 'Hung Tung emerged as the greatest self-taught painter in Taiwanese folklore history. His art was essentially created from his own talents and learned from his everyday involvement with the mundane world'. Victoria Lu, in Lin, G. Phone [Ed.] pp 'Chu Ming is a self-taught artist who appeared in the 1970s. He successfully used his carving techniques in displaying Tai Chi scenes'. Victoria Lu, in Lin, G. Phone [Ed.] pp ^Lin, Hsing Yueh, pp

47 (b) The Social Situation in the 1980s In July 1987, the government denounced almost forty years of marshal law practice. The huge social force of Taiwan which had been concealed and hidden for a long time, finally and inevitably exploded like a volcano. The people of Taiwan, for the first time ever, enjoyed a rather liberal and autonomous atmosphere. In particular, the brand new experience of elections (for the President of Taiwan, Governor of Taiwan, members of the Provincial Assembly, Mayors of Taipei City and Kaohsiung City, and members of both cities' councils held since ) assured and confirmed for the people of Taiwan their right to determine who the public service officials of Taiwan would be through voting by their own decision. This had previously been denied them under the reign of external authorities. Since the lifting of marshal law, the people of Taiwan have been able to visit relatives in Mainland China which has dissipated the shadow and opened up the myth of Communist society after more than forty years of separation from China. The people in Taiwan have gradually pierced through the true colour of Communist China, which constantly claimed that they would take over Taiwan by force. 66 As a consequence of these enormous evolutionary and social shifts, many civilian groups have been established. Various social movements are becoming more popular and progressive. The whole society is filled with the phenomenon of 'Taiwan heat'. Any person unable to speak the Taiwanese dialect will be seen as disadvantaged in his social relations and work. Even the Governor Mr. Song, Chu Yu, who was born in mainland China, is trying to learn the Taiwanese dialect to be close to the Taiwanese and be popular among his voters. Taiwan seems to be keen on setting up its autonomy, seeking for its identity. On the other hand, with this search for national roots, there is the conflict cau by grasping for western values and lifestyle. The mass communication is developing and keeping pace with the international trends, and the living standard is catching up with that of western advanced societies due to the rapid economic growth. In addition, large numbers of Taiwanese pursue advanced studies in the 6^in April 1996 the President of Taiwan was elected for the first time by popular vote. 66in recent years, the increasing numbers of threatening activities by Communist China have strongly demonstrated that the year of 'Hong Kong returning to China' is approaching, and that the social tendency for Taiwanese Independence is arising. 38

48 USA and Europe and then bring back the same way of thinking and education for the younger generation. This so-called 'newest' knowledge is replacing the old and traditional values, and is referred to as advance and progress. The society of Taiwan has grown under the umbrella of the West, which has had an impact on all aspects of politics, culture, education, the economy, art and literature. This phenomenon not only indicates the apparent social signs and thinking mode of the Taiwanese, but also presents the current cultural tendency of the acceptance of western products and how the value of concepts penetrate every household and corner of life in Taiwan society. This social change creates a great deal of social disorder that brings a potentia crisis and deep worry to the people of Taiwan. Such social disorder during the transition and motion stage comes from the disappearance of the old common unity, lack of supervision of individuals. 67 Ms. Huang, Mei Ying in her article Thinking over the Culture of Taiwan states: During the past one hundred years, the social cultures of various races in the island of Taiwan have been unable to live in a liberal and rational developmental environment... Thereby, the original social order and culture system have almost collapsed while the cultural value of a new era has not yet been established quickly and properly. The people of Taiwan are striving in a busy and nervous industrial and commercial society. The living environment is filled with perplexity and chaos and leaves the people in Taiwan without a realistic view of life. 68 Mr. Huang, Kuang Kuo, a sociologist in Taiwan, also uses a paragraph in his article, Ethical Norm of the New Age, to generalise this social disorder of Taiwan...In order to earn a currency difference, large amounts of international 'hot money' keep on flowing into Taiwan, causing the reserve of foreign currency in Taiwan to keep on increasing. The whole society of Taiwan also shows a biased condition of 'money of Taiwan to be over one's feet'. The stock market and real estate business inflate drastically; public pleasure and lotteries are prevailing, and the whole society has indulged in the 'game of money'. Wealth distribution has been less and less fair, diligent traditional working ethic has almost been totally lost. The public who 67chen, Wei Yuan, Influence of Economic Development on Social Ethics and Value Concept o Taiwan, in 'Social Rehabilitation', Chu Ping [Ed.] Time Cultural Publication Co., Taipei, 1991, p Huang, Mei Ying, Thinking over the Culture of Taiwan, in 'Chi Li Evening News', 12 January

49 are uninterested in participating in the 'money game' are soon degraded to being the 'new poverty class' in society. 69 Such a money game has caused more and more people to favour money making, but without learning the hardship of earning a fixed income, instead merely expecting to gain by speculating on the stock and real estate markets. People in Taiwan are eager to chase all kinds of material gain, pursue the life of western capitalism, and possess world famous brand products as a symbol of wealth. 69 Huang, Kuang Kuo, Ethical Norm of the New Age, in 'Social Rehabilitation', Chu Ping [Ed.] Time Cultural Publication Co., Taipei, 1991, p

50 (c) Tendencies in Contemporary Art Such a social condition, inevitably, brings about great and new 'superficial' prosperity in the art market, yet hides a possible bankruptcy crisis at the stock market at all times. Art galleries appear overnight, numbering from dozens to hundreds, 70 mostly aiming at short-term profit instead of long-term investment. These galleries strive to build the value of senior painters by chasing popular painters through vicious competition. Victoria Lu draws attention to this problem by stating: The slump that afflicted the Taiwan stock market in the early 1990s actually stimulated investors to turn their attention towards art. Speculators armed with vast sums of cash assaulted the art market, overnight creating millionaire artists and stirring a sleeping international art market to action in just two years' time. 71 In the same time, many art students (including myself) returned to Taiwan after finishing their advanced studies overseas. They came back with new concepts learned from outside the country. However, their enthusiasm was defeated by the existing art system of Taiwan because their works lacked commercial taste for private galleries, and were too advanced for the conservative public museums. This dilemma left them no way to freely fulfil their ideals and aspirations about art. Instead they came up with an idea, inspired by those alternative spaces in New York in the 1970s, to set up their own exhibition space on a self-supply and selfsufficient basis in order to present their works without restrictions and being subject to the art market. The first example of an alternative space in Taiwan was 'Space II'. The space was established by Mr. Hsiao, Tai Hsing, a contemporary artist full of deep attachment and passion for art. He provided his living room at home to some congenial artists, and started exhibitions in 1989 in Taipei. I was one of the sixteen members at the formation. The work styles of members were different with individual features. They were artists working in painting, sculpture, and installation art. Two thirds of the members were teaching in art departments in Universities. Besides exhibitions and teaching, other activities such as symposiums, reading 70 According to the Exhibition Guide, No. 6. January 1994, in 'Artima', Taipei, there are more than two hundred commercial art galleries in Taiwan. 71 Victoria Lu, New Art, New Tribes, in Nicholas Jose and Yang, Wen I [Ed.] p

51 assemblies and publishing articles were used to reveal the problems in Taiwan's art society and biased art system. Following 'Space II' was a second alternative art space called 'It Park', which was opened in It is an exhibition space and Coffee Shop/Pub, where artists could get together to display and discuss their art works and art issues. This space especially tended towards exhibiting installation art and conceptual art. Due to its professional management it gained the reputation for long-term maintenance and a fixed exhibition style when 'Space II' finally closed in April 'Space II' and 'It Park' can be deemed as two of the most presentable and influential contemporary art groups in Taiwan. Artists returning from Europe or the USA developed a new way to exhibit through a special exhibition space for the art circle of Taiwan. Due to their eloquence, their writing and courage in fighting the system, they have not only set a crucial milestone for the new art movement in Taiwan, but have also made the public fine art museums attach more importance to contemporary art issues. The 'Avant-garde and Experimental' exhibition space in the Taipei Fine Art Museum was opened in 1992, and under their inspiration, the so-called 'new' artworks were finally allowed to be presented to the public. The first opening exhibition was 'Apartment Show' held by 'Space II' which displayed a folklore ceremony inside the museum. There have been more than fifteen exhibitions in the past three years. A local consciousness movement, cultivated in the 1970s has grown mutually accompanying the call to review and re-promote Taiwan's localism. The groups of artists who had completed advanced studies overseas also created a great awareness of this local consciousness. This is the period where western concepts provoked and pushed forward the art development of Taiwan to a new stage. The artists with or without western training all found valuable sustenance from their homeland and realised the importance of the identity of Taiwanese art through international knowledge and local consciousness. 72 Artists producing typical work with 'Taiwanese vernacular idiom' include Mr. Wu, Tien Chang who created a series of paintings, Five Eras of Chiang, Ching Kuo, listed in the so-called political painters after the lifting of marshal law in Taiwan. Another painter Mr. Huang, Chin Ho with emphasis on Taiwan's 72 Lin, Hsing Yueh, Art in Taiwan , in Nicholas Jose and Yan, Wen I [Ed.] p

52 recognition, transfers the cultural image of Taiwan to his paintings, giving his works the most legible 'Taiwan local style' in the eyes of some promoters of Taiwan's independent social movement. Another group of artists described as 'completing advanced studies overseas', who have also incorporated western art concepts with local culture, such as Mr. Lien, De Cheng (Plate 7) and Ms. Wu, Mali (Plate 8), who use the techniques of painting, installation art and sculptu a flexible, but ironic presentation to express their criticism of politics, culture and social issues in Taiwan. However, under such a force of searching for the Taiwan art identity, Mr. Ni, Tsai Chin in his article Western Art, Made in Taiwan raises a critical viewpoint artists in Taiwan to rethink: The growth of Taiwan today relates somewhat to its reliance on the USA and Japan. The reliance complex has been deeply rooted. One may realise it through the fashion of learning English, immigration to the USA and pursuit of famous western brand products. As Taiwan steps into high commercialisation (according to western civilised industry), the original culture has also been relatively weakened. This is a powerful literary reason why it is not easy to generate deep and profound culture in Taiwan (or Hong Kong and Singapore). Today, our taste in music, clothing, and daily life has been covered by western culture, so how much 'modernised' culture belongs to our own or is it only a product of 'colonisation?' Ni, Tsai Chin, in Yeh, Yu Ching [Ed.] p

53 (F) Women's Art Phenomenon in Contemporary Era This section illustrates the fact that women in contemporary Taiwanese society appear to be rather independent and liberal externally, yet most of them are still confused and waver between a subordinate inner state and an independent outside gesture in this complex interlocked era of modernity and tradition. This can be verified by the following discussion and examples, which show that the status and position of women's art in contemporary society still needs a great deal of effort and continued development. As one of the contemporary women artists, the subject and style of my artworks is closely related to this issue, reflecting on the society in which I live and the similar problems I face. (a) Women's Current Status in Contemporary Society In my previous discussion we have seen that the people of Taiwan finally had a chance to be autonomous after the lifting of marshal law and the establishment of free elections. Various western democratic concepts of humanrights and freedom of thought have been broadly stimulated and noticed through the mass media and the introduction of literature. Accompanying this shift to modernisation, particularly through the input of western feminist ideas has brought the women of Taiwan one step further out of the patriarchal social system. At the same time, following the rapid economic growth in Taiwan, women are gradually moving into a new stage, where they engage in the work force with its increasing demands of economic development. This gradual involvement in social activities outside the family has brought a great deal of change. As Ms. Lu, Yu Hsia, has stated: With rapid social and economic development, rising levels of educational attainment among women, and growing employment opportunities, the female labour force has been steadily increasing. It is playing a significant role in providing an ample labour supply which has greatly contributed to Taiwan's economic development. 74 However, although the opportunity of work has strengthened the conditions of economic independence for women, most of them still find many constraints and 74 Lu, Yu Hsia, Married Women's Informal Employment in Taiwan, in 'Proceedings of the National Science Council, Part C: Humanities and Social Science', Vol. 2', Taipei, 1993, pp

54 bondage. The old shadow of the Chinese traditional ideology and attitudes to the sex-role still dominates women's careers and lives, due to the traditional educational norm of the former generation. Ms. Huang, Yu Hsiou, Associate Professor of the National Taiwan University, states: The outstanding achievement of our performance in economy and education naturally can allow all the public to enjoy more freedom and self respect. However, our family structure still falls far behind and will continue to educate the next generation with the concept of respecting the male while disdaining the female in the stereotypical role. 75 What she referred to as 'family structure' is that men naturally expect to be serve while women must continue in their busy life to maintain the family structure, so as to allow men to fulfil a greater achievement. Though females participate in social activities in large proportions, they still deal with most household affairs, child-care tasks, and treat their career as secondary to the family. They are often unable to resist the old concepts and pressures, and drift between the hierarchical culture and the new ideology of western culture Hung, Yu Hsiou, Between X and Y, Lien Ching Publication Co., Taipei, 1990, p Lee, Pang Wha, The Influence, Oppression, and Surpassing for Educated Women in Shiftin Taiwan Society, in 'Educated Women and Taiwan Development', Lien Ching Publication Co., Taipei, 1989, p

55 (b) The General Phenomenon of Women's Art In Taiwanese art society, the ratio of female artists has increased considerably in comparison to what it was in the past. Examples are Ms. Lai, Jun Jun, who completed her advanced studies in Japan and returned to Taiwan; more than ten female artists in the 'Space II' association; a few female scholars teaching in universities with PhD degrees such as Ms. Lee, Ming Ming, Ms. Yen, Chuan Ying, and Ms. Lin, Man Lih; the female art critic Ms. Victoria Lu. They are all following their professions successfully. 'The female art of the 1980s and the 1990s finally steps from the vast disproportional situation in which there are more male artists, towards a balance with males'. 77 However, this tendency has been misleading in that most artists superficially agree that women artists now have a position of equality, and this in conjunction with the massive increase in the numbers of women artists with exhibition opportunities, is taken to mean there is no oppression or discrimination against females. This causes female artists to be mostly satisfied with their current status and to act indifferently or even to reject the concepts of Feminism. The women's group exhibition held in 'Leisure Gallery' on Women's Day, 8 March 1995 showed that most of their paintings are still in the very typical style of landscapes and flowers. One of the participating artists, Ms. Wang, Chun Shian, openly expressed her pride in the fact that she was able to work as a painter and a mother at the same time. However, the curator of Chen Ping' gallery Ms. Chaou Li mentioned to me that most of the women artists tend to bear an attitude of submission without confidence due to the cultural limitation placed upon them, leading women artists to reduce their creativity when they need to accomplish their duty of being wives and mothers. Victoria Lu thinks this is related to 'the women's personalities and female-quarter painting mode'. 78 She also finds that some female artists are not as critical as they are, 'eager to faithfully represent the changes of Taiwan but believe that in time the society will change for the better on it own' Victoria Lu, in 'Artist Magazine', p ^Victoria Lu, in 'Artist Magazine', p Victoria Lu, in Lin, G. Phone [Ed.] p

56 (b) Women's Abstract Painting Ms. Victoria Lu once mentioned that the modern art movement of Abstract Expressionist Painting promoted by the 'Orient' and 'May' art associations during the 1950s and the 1960s showed less follow-up impact on males than on female artists. More women artists accepted the development of abstract expressionist art and performed with higher achievement. In my view, today's abstract painting has developed more of an element related to greater media mix and symbolism than it did in the 1950s and the 1960s, allowing artists to convey the feelings and concepts of their society. The expression of ideas through the 'abstract' cannot compete with the clear and realistic style of painting in describing social problems. It also lacks the effect of display and performance that installation art with sound, light and colour is able to produce. Abstract painting seems to no longer be a strong trend in the mainstream, nor to be to the taste of the commercial galleries. It finally steps into the realm of original creation for investigating a more true, spiritual pursuit of self. In particular, female abstract artworks, have allowed people to discover parts of women's inner messages from their hearts. As Victoria Lu states: Female artists were lacking in market resources and thus had less recognition from art collectors. It naturally became a tendency for female artists to achieve their goal in this way, because it is the direction for them to consider art purely for art's sake. 80 I, as an abstract painter, found that women become abstract painters, not only because of personality inclination, but basically because the choice is made by the society in which they grow, and the cultural and educational background they encounter. This kind of selection represents a major emotional and thinking status within a specific space and time frame. Take my own example, I wished to release my struggle and emotion through large panels of canvas with free brushwork. I remember the first time, in the second year I pursued advanced art studies in the USA, I bravely broke the traditional painting habit. I finally conveyed my emotion through abstract expressive painting, where I could transfer my spiritual feeling by means of free action and emotional explosion. This kind of technique allowed me to getridof persistent rules and the bondage of tradition to create new painting territory. I discovered this possibility, which eliminated old constraints and freed ^Victoria Lu, in 'Artist Magazine', p

57 the expression of my real ego from the internal level, and this is what I had been searching for years. Nevertheless, in 1989, after I returned to Taiwan from the USA, I encountered a massive amount of social and life pressure, in starting to re-construct the very source of my own puzzle through a female point of view. Therefore, my works often expressed in an abstract style the perplexity and struggle of a female. (Plate 9) This was a way to overcome the oppression of female artists in expressing their inner self through free symbolic external form. Ms. Ho, Yi Ren described my paintings thus: Lin, Pey Chwen's life image makes me think that many young western abstract artists create art of freshness, joy and guiltlessness; to a person living in Taiwan, in particular a female, it is not easy. After all, in our life, we have occupied too much a sense of traditional bonds, weariness and guilt provided by others. 81 Taking a look at another abstract painter, Ms. Eva Shuae, whose abstract paintings are filled with vigour and tension, Mr. Ni, Tsai Chin depicted her paintings to be: Just like living in a trap filled with terror, with a painful feeling as though destroyed by violence. 82 (Plate 10) About the abstract paintings of another female painter Ms. Chen, Hsin Wan, Mr. Ni also comments that: Her paintings show dark colours as the main tune so that the application of the medium is extremely ferocious, hidden with endless sorrow in her paintings, seeming to have vigorous 'anger' in her heart, so that such an 'intense' potency can be created. 83 (Plate 11) I perceive in their creative process that they had to march forward with full eff and with strength in a male-oriented mainstream art system. This is a kind of confrontation, when a female has to overcome persistent gender discrimination and traditional constraint, expressing the sense of terror and powerlessness in this way. 81 Ho, Yi Ren, Lin, Pey Chwen's Non-Traditional Life Image, in 'Hsiung Shieh Art Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 258, October 1992, p Ni, Tsai Chin, Primary Investigation of Contemporary Fine Art in Taiwan, Crown Publication Co., Taipei, 1993, p Ni, Tsai Chin, p

58 (d) Feminist Art In 1989, a female painter Ms. Yan, Ming Huy completed her advanced studies in the USA and returned to Taiwan in the role of a feminist, frankly open about her misfortune in marriage through paintings and articles, as well as sponsoring the first exhibition of 'Feminism' in Taiwan. This was indeed a revolutionary act in the male-dominated art realm. Her endeavours became a topic of discussion and later she gained thetitleof 'the first feminist painter in Taiwan'. (Plate 12 ) Her series of artworks basically followed the mode of western feminism by clearly providing metaphors of sexual organs with fruit and flowers. It is an extension of expression, similar to the interpretation of such western feminist artists as Georgia O'Keefe and Nancy Ellison. 84 Nevertheless, whether this was her way to attain a reputation or to release personal hatred, the exhibition she organised failed to be agreed upon by most participating women artists, including myself, because most of us did not espouse the same concepts. We felt that her concept of feminism was too narrow, and might lead the audiences to mis-understand the true significance of feminist art. Ms. Wu, Mali, one of the participating artists, exposed the problem: These kinds of exhibitions only stay at the level of female joint exhibition. A simple gathering, like other ordinary group shows, will fall into the stereotyped and be unable to create attraction or bring out the issue to the public. It may further blur the image and the significance of feminist art. 85 Other women artists who were not invited to participate in Ms. Yen's exhibition all demonstrated their opposite attitude and opinion. In the meanwhile, Ms. Yen was also severely criticised that her paintings basically were simply a copy of western feminist art. Moreover, the male art critic Mr. Ni, Tsai Chin impolitely suspects that her works are the product of imitation of a male art style: Yen, Ming Huy often accused that commercialisation toward women's bodies is 'visual violence'. One of her paintings shows a male sex organ tied with a ribbon. In fact this was just like a copy of the painting of Mr. Hsieh, Hsiao Teh which has a red ribbon over a 4 '0'Keefe's Black Iris of 1972 or Nancy Ellison's cut pear in Opening of 1970 constitute a striking kind of symbol of the female genitalia or reproductive organs'. Linda Nochlin, Women, Art, and Power and Other Essays, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1989, p. 91. S^Lin, Pey Chwen, Let Women's Art be Concerned by Public Together, in 'Artist Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 227, April 1994, p

59 lady's legs. Many women, while promoting Feminism, often express criticism in a male art form but fail to provide an innovative language of expression. 86 In 1994, Ms. Yen unexpectedly shifted her subject matter of her artworks to religious painting. She explains that she finally found a connection between humans and God. She says: Buddhism surpasses sexuality. If females wonder only about the definition of Feminism, it is hard for them to find any exit from their dilemma. Regardless of struggling for females in society or soliciting fair treatment in thought, females have to encounter their utmost limit. But Buddhism surpasses gender, time and space. 87 From the position of Ms. Yen, Ming Huy being 'the first Feminist of Taiwan' to her embracing of Buddhism, one may realise that her whole process of transition results from injury by males. This led her to advocate the concept of Feminism, yet due to the lack of support from women artists, and meanwhile suffering indifference and criticism from men she finally decided to retreat. This is vividly demonstrated and serves as a clear example illustrating how feminist art is difficult to develop in the conditions of patriarchal culture, if the self-recognition and selfassurance of women themselves fail to be established. Any combination or lack of either of the two will damage the formation of the feminist art movement in Taiwan. The other art works from Ms. Ho, Yi Ren, also serve as a good example for telling the current role of women in Taiwan. She utilises plastic flowers and ceramic works to create a five-pointed star of revolution. She claims the need for women artists in Taiwan to 'break out of traditional gender roles and patriarchal ideology'. 88 Ms. Ho recognised that the role of women in Taiwan is just like a vessel of inner beauty the plastic roses, and outwardly motherly duties the ceramic bowls. In several years of living in Australia, I have experienced and found the differenc of feminist art developments both in Australia and Taiwan through several women's art conferences and activities I have attended. The feminist art movement 86 Ni, Tsai Chin, p Ho, Yi Ren, Female Creation Power, Legend of Similar Treatment Network, in 'Taiwan Female Cultural Observation Collection', New Phase Art Space, 1994, Taiwan, p Linda Jaivin, Sexual Realpolitik, in 'Art and Asia Pacific Magazine', Australia, Vol. 2, No. 4, 1995, p

60 in Taiwan has only just started with a very weak force and practice, which still has a long way to develop. The Sydney female writer Linda Jaivin writes: The feminist movement has only just begun to take off in Taiwan in the last ten years or so. You get the sense that women there are really just beginning to fight the big battles over very basic issues of equality, the sort of battles that women in places such as Australia were fighting in the 1960s and 1970s. 89 In the conference of 'Women and Art' held in the Taipei Fine Art Museum in 1995,1 was invited to give my opinion concerning the current state of women artists in Taiwan. This was published in the Pots Newspaper 25 September When I was asked, 'What do you think about the difference between the resources for female and male artists in Taiwan today?' I stated: There is certainly a big difference. The answer of 'where is the difference of resource' will be easy to disclose if the 'internal' hidden state is explored. The 'internal' hidden state I refer to is the 'assumption' and existing 'ideology' toward women artists from people including audiences, collectors, art critics, art historians, and curators in the museums and galleries. The way of their seeing and interpreting the beliefs and assumptions, unconsciously reproduce the ideologies of our society and also shape and limit the development of the art history presented to us. Most of them agree that the great artist is decided by talent instead of 'gender'. This implies that the absence of women artists in the history is simply because they lack ability and creativity, and having nothing significant to contribute, have no influence on the course of art. People might even place blame upon and accuse those women artists, who strive for their position because they think such behaviour is to break the 'art harmony' and 'aesthetic spirit' expected of artists. In fact, this ideology is very biased yet very popular and common in Taiwan. Linda Nochlin penetrated such ideology and says that, 'Like so many other so-called questions involving the feminist controversy, it falsifies the nature of the issue and at the same time it insidiously supplies its own answer: "There are no great women artists because women are incapable of greatness".' 90 For further verification of the above situation, interviews with the art critic Mr. Shih, Ruei Ren and the former Director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum Dr. Huang, Kuang Nan by the editor of Artist Magazine in April issue 1995 can be a good example. The statement from Mr. Shih was that people shall deem women artists as the 'aiding troop' to the 'official troop' of male artists. There are differences in 'combat capacity' but there should not be a conflict between them to achieve the same goal. The other opinion made from Dr. Huang, Kuang Nan is that, 'women should not look down on 89 Linda Jaivin, p Linda Nochlin, p

61 themselves because the origin of art creation and inspiration comes from women as female models. If there were no women models, the great artworks of Picasso would not be found.' From such views as of these two men, it is easy to see that if a woman artist intends to upgrade from the 'aiding troop' to the 'official troop' in his eyes, or from the 'artist's model', to become an artist herself, it is impossible while such discrimination and biased ideology are still deeply rooted. Such stereotypes of the patriarchal view basically infect deeply and broadly the writing of art history to mis-recognise the true significance of women's art. 91 The other question was, 'Do you think it is necessary to emphasise feminist art at this current stage? Shall women artists stand out in their own position to strive f better fair competition conditions? Why? '. I answered: Feminist art should not be questioned or concerned with whether it is 'necessary' to be emphasised in the current stage or not, because it is difficult to produce prominent presentation of women's art if the basic ideology and discrimination from the hierarchal view in our culture is still deeply rooted. However, the revolution (women's movement) certainly needs to be constructed from the inside of recognition and the outside of action and behaviour. In fact, feminist artists should have appeared a long time ago without question. They should establish their own aesthetic standard to confirm their won identity and subjectivity as soon as possible. In fact, this is the same issue that artists of Taiwan should have noticed in searching for their identity. If I change the question and asked you back: 'Do you think it is necessary to emphasise the identity of Taiwanese art at this current stage? Shall the artists in Taiwan stand out in their racial characteristics, local recognition and self consciousness in order to strive for their position in the international art society?' I believe the answer is clear, positive and obvious and has no further need to be addressed. Certainly they do! Lin, Pey Chwen, Telling Your Own Story, in 'Pots Newspaper', Taipei, September 1995, p Lin, Pey Chwen, in 'Pots Newspaper', p

62 Plate 1. Young, San Lang, Fishing Village, 1936 Plate 2. Chen Chin, Playing Together, 1934 Plate 4. Liang, Tang Feng, Landscape, 1990 Plate 3. Lee, Chong Sheng, No. 045,1972

63 Plate 5. Chen Chin, Women, 1945 Plate 6. Huang, Ren Seh, Untitled, 1964 Plate 7. Lien, Teh Cheng, Confucius Says, 1992 Plate 8. Wu, Mali, Prosperity Car, 1991

64 Plate 9. Lin, Pey Chwen, Chrysalis, 1992 Plate 10. Eva Shuae, Untitled, 1991 Plate 11. Chen, Hsin Wan, Untitled, 1988 Plate 12. Yan, Ming Huy, Three Apples, 1988

65 Chapter III The Footbinding Custom and Current Beauty Trends An Investigation of Footbinding in Ancient Chinese Times and the Trends in Conformity in Contemporary Taiwan Preface From the discussion in the previous chapter, the issue of women's position has been stressed and addressed from the art history aspect. In this chapter, further inferences are made from two parts of the research the investigation of the custom of footbinding, and the study of the current beauty trends in contemporary Taiwan society. In the study of the custom of footbinding, besides the library research, I was fortunate to interview Mrs. Wu, Mei Chu, who is one of the very few old Chinese women still living with bound feet in Taiwan. (Plates 13 & 14) From her personal experience of footbinding, I was able to obtain a better understanding of the practice and its effects on the individual. Also, I was fortunate to meet Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng, who is a medical doctor and also known as the person who has collected the most material about footbinding in the world. (Plates 15 & 16) Through the assistance of both of them, I was able to compensate for the lack of official history records about this custom, because, just as Dr. Ke stated, footbinding was behaviour experienced by millions of Chinese women in history during the past ten centuries, yet it was seldom formally studied or documented publicly by the official historians or the researchers of museums. Following the investigation of the ancient custom of footbinding, I turned the pointer toward the liberal, democratic and capitalistic Taiwanese society in which I live, to examine the current beauty trends women are pursuing hastily today. I sense a strong pressure from fashion and the beauty industry which incorporates a traditional so-called 'footbinding mentality'. I define this here as the mentality of a woman who, in order to attain a recognised image under a certain beauty standard, has to commit unconscious self-injury through body reconstruction and plastic surgery, which leads to a state of insecurity and a vacuum of subjectivity. 53

66 (A) Investigation of the Custom of Footbinding Three-Inch Golden Lilies (a) Background Information on the Custom of Footbinding (i) The Origin of the Custom of Footbinding (ii) Beauty and Tiny Feet (iii) The Procedure of Footbinding (iv) Mother's Duty for Footbinding (v) Interview with a Woman with Bound Feet (b) Fetishism and Judging the Quality of Golden Lilies (c) Incidents to Stop Footbinding (d) Women's Status and Role in Chinese Society Behind the Custom of Footbinding (i) Women's Doctrines (ii) Women's Marriage (B) Women's Behaviour and Mentality in Pursuing Beauty and Fashion in Contemporary Taiwanese Society (a) Cause of the Admiration of Everything of Foreign Origin for the Chinese (b) Effects of Worshipping the Western Lifestyle for People in Taiwan (c) Remaining Power of Traditional Beliefs and the Effects on Contemporary Women in Taiwan (i) Women's Education (ii) Women's Position in Society (iii) Women's Marriage (iv) Women's Position at Work (d) A View of Advertising in the Beauty Industry in Taiwan 54

67 (A) Investigation of the Custom of Footbinding Three-Inch Golden Lilies The impression people get from the name, 'Three-Inch Golden Lilies' may be of tiny and elegant lilies, or a delicate object as beautiful as a flower. In fact, for Chinese women, it is the name for a pair of deformed feet bound from heel to toe into three inches, incurring unbearable pain and a life-time handicap. (Plate 17) The proverb in old Taiwanese society says: 'A pair of bound feet, a vat of tears'. 93 The feet were too small to steadily support a body and forced a woman to walk in a tottering and swinging manner (no less provocatively than with today's highheeled shoes) which was highly praised by Chinese men, especially poets and writers, who described the deformed feet by the name of a flower Golden Lilies. A famous Chinese poet, Pai, Chu I, eulogised the tiny little step of a beautiful woman with bound feet as 'delicate and tender like every step of the water lily'. 94 Also, one old saying states that the name 'Golden Lilies' originally came from the story that the Emperor of the Chi in the South and North Dynasties ( A.D.), who praised his Princess Pan as being pretty as water lilies, created golden lilies to let her walk on. 95 (Plate 18) Reading through the whole of Chinese history we mostly find romantic poems and songs eulogising the beauty of 'Golden Lilies', instead of disclosing the bitter and painful facts of footbinding. It is also ironic that the term symbolises that women's physique and mentality were also bound and controlled by men's desire. There are several brief descriptions, which offer a framework of understanding for its hidden history: The binding of women's feet, introduced throughout China in the tenth century, was seen as a mark of gentility and was most prevalent amongst the upper classes. This barbarous custom was romanticised and eulogised but its essential function was voiced in the old Chinese proverb, Feet are bound, not to make them beautiful as a curbed bow, but to restrain women when they go out of doors Chang, Chiung Fang, Sexual Culture in Ancient China, in 'Sinorama Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 20, June 1995, p Yih Meng, A Thousand Years of Golden Lilies Disaster, in 'History Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 26, March 1990, p Ho, Kung Shang [Ed.] Clearer Fragrance, Art Book Company, Taipei, 1988, p Katie Curtin, p

68 ...Footbinding has placed women in a very inconvenient situation causing them to suffer various restrains everywhere. It can be said that it becomes a guarantee of the feminine norm, and the most favourable protection measure for polygamy Because footbinding limited women's mobility, making them unable to walk far or even do housework, later onlyricher households could afford to raise daughters who could do no productive work. Thus whether a family could afford to raise daughters with bound feet became one of the criteria by which economic status was compared, so that footbinding was no longer simply a matter of sexual attraction Ke, Chi Sheng, Three-Inch Golden Lilies, Business Information Magazine Publisher, 1995, Taipei, 1995, p Chang, Chiung Fang, p

69 (a) Background Information on the Custom of Footbinding (i) The Origin of the Custom of Footbinding There are different legends in history regarding the custom of footbinding. One saying is more official and recognised by most historians. It states: The Southern Tang (A.D ) monarch Li Yu is said to have ordered a dancing girl in his palace retinue to bind her feet with silk so that they curved downward like a new moon and gave her dancing added grace. Soon all the other palace ladies imitated the practice, which became widespread in the North. 99 Therefore, from the time of the Sung Dynasty ( A.D.) footbinding became a custom that has shackled generations of Chinese women ever since and which has lasted for over a thousand years until the early 1930s, some twenty years after China became a republic. 100 (Plates 19 & 20) (ii) Beauty and Tiny Feet Why were women's feet bound into Three-Inches? Why did the feet have to be constructed so small that they forced women to be deformed and unable to walk steadily? What sort of biased beauty standard was this? In Chinese history, we realise that the standard of beauty was different in each period. The shape for beautiful women in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C-219 A.D.) was quite chubby and full. In the Tang Dynasty ( A.D.) most of the beauties were slightly voluptuous, such as one of the four beauties in Chinese history Yang, Yu Huan, the concubine of Emperor Hsuan Tsung. However, after the Sung Dynasty most Chinese men seemed to prefer women with thin, fragile, tender and delicate features. 101 Several famous Chinese beauties are known for their small and delicate shape. Fo example, the beauty Lin, Dai Yu in the novel Red Chamber Dream was famous for her weak and sick body and she was laden with sorrow and illness. The tiny girl, Sai, Chin Hua, was named as a small fragrant fan and little earring. Chao, 99 Kao, Penly, Guide to Taiwan Folk Arts Museum, Taiwan Folk Art Museum, Taipei, 1989, p Chang, Chiung Fang, p Shen, I Jeng, Selected Paintings of Beauties Through the ages, Ho, Kung Shang [Ed.] Art Book Company, Taipei, 1984, pp

70 Fei Yan was considered as beautiful as a small butterfly, lovingly pathetic, which could be held in the palm of the hand. 102 A woman with a thin, small and weak body could be deemed as beautiful, pitiful and possessable. There is an old saying the 'Emperor Chou loved ladies with a thin waist so much that many palace ladies died of starvation'. 103 Almost all the depictions of beauty in men's poems and writings are tender, touching and delicate, and of women 'so weak as to have inadequate strength to withstand the wind'. With such an aesthetic sense, women reconstructed their bodies and bound their feet harder and harder, and suffered a great deal of pain while men considered that 'smaller is better'. The viewpoint of Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng, during my interview, was that, in fact, bound feet were not only to allow men to possess a pair of lovely and interesting small feet, but also indicated that women were willing to bind themselves to be attached to their men forever. Women bound their feet to serve their men with the idea of 'the whole body from head to feet to be under the possession of men'. The smaller women's feet were, the more they represented that they were willing to exchange their independence for tender love from men. The Chinese historian, Mr. Cheng, Dong Yuan, criticised such aesthetic sense: It is hard to define the standard of beauty. What is often called beauty only comes from men's view and patriarchal viewpoint the beauty demanded by men. Ultimately, it causes women to harm themselves to fit in with men's standard. 104 (iii). The Procedure of Footbinding What is the procedure of footbinding? How do women make their feet stop growing to the normal size? It is recorded in the book Guide to Taiwan Folk Arts Museum as follows: In most cases, girls at the age of three had their four smaller toes bent under the sole of each foot and bound tightly with cloth, leaving only the big toe to grow naturally. Then at the age of six or seven the metatarsals, the long bones in the foot itself, were forcibly bent oyer and the feet were again tightly bound with strips of cloth. Tiny 102 Chen Ping, How Many Changes to Chinese Women in Sixty Years?, in 'Women Magazine', Taipei, October 1971, p. 15. ^cnang, Chiung Fang, in 'Sinorama Magazine', p Cheng, Dong Yuan, Chinese Woman's Life History, Taiwan Business Publisher, Taipei, 1990, p

71 pointed shoes were worn over the bound feet and the bindings were only occasionally removed to wash the feet and apply powder to them, always beingtightlyreapplied immediately afterwards. As time went on the skin and flesh grew sore and putrid, bleeding developed and the pain was almost unbearable. 105 Dr. Ke's viewpoint is even explored and underlined from the aspect of Medical Science. He explained to me from his professional analysis as follows: The best shape of bound feet was to reconstruct the feet to be thin, small, sharp and curved. In order to reach this goal, women required a very strict and cruel binding process for several years. Through these years, a pair of feet generated great change in terms of skin, muscle, joint, and bone. From an external look, the feet palm curve increased and the soles of the feet sank like hollow holes. If seen from the bottom, the feet looked like a triangle structure. Due to yearly binding the skin of the feet turned white, pale and soft like baby skin. The back of the foot bears the tension of the vertical and horizontal bow downward. Since the foot bones lean tightly to the skin through the forcible binding, the skin obviously becomes even thinner and the organisation beneath the skin recesses, compresses almost with a layer of very thin skin to lean tightly against the foot bone. It is hard for anyone to stand alone with such bound feet and they had to lean against the wall or someone else while walking. It was impossible to walk steadily and maintain balance, and the instant their feet touched the ground, tremendous pain occurred because the buffer structure of the foot was gone after the binding procedure. From his narration, the deformed feet created a life-long handicap, and the X-Ray film Dr. Ke provided can be seen as further proof. (Plate 21) He continues: Therefore, footbinding required not only smaller but also soft, thin, sharp, curved and firm qualities. In order to achieve the best shape, there were some methods used to create it. In order to be sharp they forced the four toes to be placed at the external side in a bent shape; to be thin they bent the horizontal bow downward and bent the external side of the vertical bow in a folded shape; to be curved they bent the internal vertical bow and the external vertical bow more thoroughly. There were even some medical formulae women could follow and learn. (Plate 22) It showed women how to use herbs and hot water to relieve pain while washing the feet, and how to apply some fragrance to attain the goal of being tender and easily wrapped. Generally speaking, the procedure of footbinding was to bind the feet tightly in order to form them into a bow shape with sharp ends. Hence, when 105 Kao, Penly, pp

72 women walked, they could only rely on the main foot part and front toes, leading to the inability to walk in a normal manner. 106 (iv) Mother's Duty for Footbinding In the book About Chinese Women states: Mothers perform the operation on their daughters before the little girls' fifth birthdays...the operation lasts ten to fifteen years, and the only reward for this unimaginable suffering was that it transformed a woman into a fetish, and thus, a pure object of love. 107 It is hard for people to understand why women convinced themselves to bind their daughters' feet. Why did they put all their efforts into achieving this standard for their daughters, and see it as an honourable emblem and the essential stipulation for their daughters' marriage? Dr. Sue Rowley in Australia, used to question me why Chinese women could be so brave as to harm their bodies and even continuously pass this 'torture' on to their daughters. Where did the courage come from and what is the force behind it? Of course it is very easy for me or for most Chinese women to understand, because the position and status of women in Chinese culture was so low that women had to obey and follow men's requests absolutely if they held any hope of searching for men's protection, love, and living support. In the past women lacked the ability of autonomous survival. They had no alternative but were forced to rely solely on men. They had to make themselves pretty in order to attract men and they even had to damage their natural body to be accepted by men. Chinese women sacrificed too much to live under men. 108 Also, women with unbound feet were treated as socially inferior. An old saying in Taiwan, according to my grandmother, says: 'Tiny feet for lady and big feet for maid'. In order to present their daughters as coming from a rich and upper-class family endeavouring to make them acceptable to marry the same level of family, women strove desperately to bind their daughters' feet with great effort. Under such fierce pressure of disdain for unbound feet and great admiration for tiny feet, women bore and tolerated the tremendous pain to be pretty and desirable ladies. 106 Interview with Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng on 15 February and 4 November 1995 at his private library. His book Three-Inch Golden Lilies was also support material in the interview Julia Kristeva, translated from the French by Anita Barrowa, About Chinese Women, Urizen Books, New York, 1977, pp Chen, Dong Yuan, p

73 (v) Interview with a Woman with Bound Feet Today, footbinding is not in existence any more and many hidden stories are disappearing as the remaining older women with footbinding pass away. I understand that writing history often only relies on historical reference, which somewhat lessens its persuasiveness without living examples. Therefore, after almost two years of searching, I was fortunate enough, through assistance of many friends, to find an old lady, Mrs. Wu, Mei Chu. She now lives in Shihlin, a suburb of Taipei City, with her husband, son and daughter-in-law and two grandsons. This could be thought of as an impolite interview, as bound feet are considered too personal and private an object to be talked about in public. However, I was fortunate to gain her trust, even though we started in rather an embarrassing atmosphere. It ended up with quite a friendly situation she was finally happy to show me her bound feet by removing her stockings and shoes. In fact, her feet are not as small as I thought, but still smaller than the palm o hand. She explained that her feet grew a little bit bigger after she had her binding released because of the 'stop-footbinding' movement. From this time, small bound feet were seen as a shameful object and were criticised as being a barbarous, ugly and inhumane practice. The book The Chinese Women's Life states: It is verified that as time and concepts change, influenced by western societies, men are no longer interested in Golden Lilies. These beauties with bound feet are all discarded by men, so sometimes they have to cover their feet up by putting cotton in their shoes, in order to pretend that they are not out-of-date. 109 In my eyes, I have witnessed the unhappy fate of a Chinese woman living in the gap between the new and old society, who had only followed the fashion and beauty standard whatever it might have been. Mrs. Wu is a living example, showing a woman's life controlled by others while having to follow changeable beauty standards. She told her story thus: I was born in 1910 in Cher Giang Province of Mainland China, and came to Taiwan in have an elder brother and two sisters. My sisters and I all had our feet bound when we were four, and learned to bind the feet ourselves when we were at the age of ten Kao, Li Cheng, p

74 I remember, my toes were bound forcibly by my mother without consideration of my own wishes. It was too painful to eat, walk and sleep day and night. My mother would sometimes beat me and blame me when I cried and begged her not to have my feet bound. She would warn me that I would be laughed at by people when I grew up and could not find a husband. I also remember that once my uncle visited us, The moment he saw us, he compared the feet of my sisters with mine. Because my feet were much bigger than my other two sisters' feet, he laughed at me, 'Your feet are so big and fat, how can anyone help you to get married?' I felt so ashamed that I swore to myself that I would bind my feet harder and harder from then on. However, I often felt no joy and was unable to live a normal life because the pain of binding was like the burning of fire. It was indeed very hard, very hard. (She repeats that over and over again.) 110 I asked her why she had to suffer to have her feet bound like that. She reacted very strangely and replied, 'All people did it so. Was there any reason not to d it?' 1 asked her a personal question, 'Does your husband like your small feet?' She answers with a smile and says, He loves small feet very much'. Through her statement, I realise that footbinding, marriage, and surviving are actually synonymous terms for women from that time. After I had finished the interview, I walked out with large and quick foot-steps and felt lucky not to be born in her days. 1 ^interview with Mrs. Wu, Mei Chu, 20 November 1994 at her house in Shihlin, Taipei. 62

75 (b) Fetishism and Judging the Quality of Golden Lilies As stated, Golden Lilies were an 'object' men loved. The mystery of Golden Lilies was even heightened because men rarely saw naked feet, as women could only loose their binding temporarily at night in bed. According to the book The Chinese Women's Life men even liked to think of Three-Inch Golden Lilies as 'the snow lotus' and praised the Golden Lilies as 'best played in the palm of the hand, the top of the pillow, and above the shoulder'. 111 Some poets and literary men eulogised small feet by proposing the three precious properties of Golden Lilies to be 'fat, graceful and soft'. The most popular characteristics were 'being thin, small, sharp, curved, fragrant, soft and firm' which became the general standard to judge Golden Lilies. 112 Thus men became crazed about Golden Lilies for their sex obsession and fantasies. Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng thinks that the custom of footbinding was totally associated with love and sex. He focuses on the fact that 'care and love' is one motivating criterion and is a kind of path which accounts for an important role in men's love toward women. Men generated their love, even though misguided, out of tender care and further desire to possess. Two articles states: By imitating in some way the fate of her mangled and fetishised feet, a woman entered into the Code of Love a code of tears and suffering. Outside this code, there is the neutral and non-individual state of peace, of collective and contractual marriage; or there is the well-know eroticism of the peasant Women'stinyfeet had become the most intimate and attractive part of their anatomies. In his Sexual Life in Ancient China, Robert van Gulik writes that in erotic art from the Song dynasty onwards, women are shown completely naked, but he never saw a picture in which their feet were not wrapped in binding cloths. From this we can see that bound feet were something mysterious and taboo, which in turn aroused men's fantasies. 114 Because bound feet provided many fantasies and gained the attention of men, the shape of the feet raised their interest to grade and judge them. For example, Lee, Li Wong proposed 'Eighteen Lilies, by ranking the feet according to the size, m Kao, Li Cheng, p, Kao, Li Cheng, p Julia Kristeva, pp Chang, Chiung Fang, p

76 shape and palm of feet, as well as according to the shape of shoes and the manner of walking'. 115 Besides the Eighteen Lilies, there were Nine classes to judge the bound feet: The best feet were called 'seed grade top top', the secondary was called 'wonderful grade top middle' and the following orders were 'fairy grade top low', 'precious grade middle top', 'clear grade middle middle', 'attractive grade middle low', 'gracious grade low top', 'ordinary grade low middle' and the lowest one was 'false grade low low' 116 It is a pity that there is no photographic or diagrammatic record of the Eighteen Lilies and Nine Classes left for people today to see such a biased attitude to beauty. There was even a competition for the golden lilies held in Ta Tung province in China once a year during the Ching Dynasty. All the entrants sat and showed their feet in front of men, letting men touch them and make a judgment. Ta Tung Tiny Feet' therefore became famous in China. 117 All these categories of Eighteen Lilies, Nine Classes and the competition for bound feet caused women to put more effort into binding their feet harder and harder, with more force and persistence, in order to reach the best grade of feet, even though it was repaid by a great deal of pain and tears. 115 Ke, Chi Sheng, pp Kao,LiCheng,p Kao, Li Cheng, p

77 (c) Incidents of Stopping Footbinding The custom of footbinding was unable to be abolished despite several attempts recorded in Chinese history. According to the article, A Thousand Years of Golden Lilies Disaster. During the Ching Dynasty ( ) the Emperor Shun Chih issued decrees forbidding footbinding because the Manchurian women did not have this custom. But, it was to no great avail and eventually failed. Another Emperor Kang Hsi was opposed to footbinding, but, unable to put an end to the practice, he was forced to postpone outlawing it for several years. However, the order was cancelled later because most Chinese women still secretly bound their feet, and even influenced some of the Manchurian women to follow this custom. 118 One historical picture is the evidence which shows two Manchurian women watching and learning binding from a Chinese woman. (Plate 23) During the Taiping rebellion period ( ) a movement arose to call for an end to footbinding, polygamy, slavery and adultery while they were fighting to overthrow the Ching Dynasty. 119 Another incident for the stopping of footbinding happened in Taiwan during the period of Japanese occupation. 'The Japanese government went through a very hard social reformation when they tried to exhort and guide Taiwanese women to give up this custom'. 120 In the early period of the Republic of China, the custom of footbinding was gradually abolished after much effort, especially when Dr. Sun, Yat Sen ordered the denouncement of footbinding in Many scholars such as Mr. Lin, Chih Loh and Mr. Liang, Chi Chao advocated that China would not be re-built if footbinding and other old concepts still existed. Mr. Lin, Chi Chao thought: The poverty and failure of China originated from two major problems, i.e. the policy of those governing into fooling people in order to consolidate the power of emperor and rulers, and the method of fooling women in order to secure therightsof males YihMeng,p KatieCurtin, p Lee, You Lin and Chang, Yu Fa, Chinese Women Historical Essay, No. 2, Taiwan Business Publisher, Taipei, 1988, p l 21 Yih Meng, p. 27. l 22 Liao, Hsiu Chen, The Development of Women's Education at the end of the Ching Dynasty, in 'History Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 2, March 1988, p

78 He therefore set up the Association of Natural Feet to encourage women to cease footbinding, as well as establishing women's schools to awaken their consciousness. He called for women to stop footbinding and started fighting for their social freedom, equal education, and economic independence. 123 This was the first sign which enlightened the concepts of equalrightsfor male and female in China. 123 Liao, Hsiu Chen, p \ 66

79 (e) Women's Status and Role in Chinese Society Behind the Custom of Footbinding From the above study we can understand that footbinding was a social custom, a patent of gentility, a sign of sex object, a fashion and beauty of the day, which existed in China for over one thousand of years. Ironically, women still continued to bind their feet and damage their bodies, even though they were forced into exile for this foolish conduct. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the historical background because 'Golden-Lilies' was a product of a time, a construction of Chinese hierarchal culture and feudalistic society which symbolised that women be kept in a subordinate position. The book Chinese Woman Life History states: Chinese women were taught to follow the concept of 'Three Obediences and Four Virtues', and were oppressed by all kinds of customs, morals, notions, precepts and beliefs advocated and set by men. Since then women became weak, disabled, inferior, and even became mere playthings of men. 124 Men had control of women's beliefs and encouraged women to bind their feet. Such bondage of women's spirit and mind can be explored more from the aspects of women's doctrines and marriage. (i) Women's Doctrines Chinese women did not have the opportunity to go to school to gain the same knowledge as men, but merely learned how to be virtuous women because the Chinese philosophy says that, 'An untalented woman is a virtuous woman'. One of the Confucian theories the Li Chi Record of Rites, states that women should have 'Three Obediences and Four Virtues'. It means that women should obey their fathers or elder brothers in youth, their husband in marriage, and finally, if the husband died, she was subject to her son. The four virtues are fidelity, physical charm, propriety in speech and efficiency in needle work. Thus women's behaviour should be chaste and submissive. Women's speech should not be just chatter, but should be agreeable. Women's occupations are handiwork and embroidery. Women's carriage and appearance should be restrained and exquisite Chen, Dong Yuan, p Chen, Dong Yuan, p

80 Another precept for women was Nu Chieh 126 based on Confucian theory written by the female scholar Pan Chao, instructress to the Empress Teng, during the first century of the Christian era. 127 As a woman herself, she urged that women should learn to respect and yield to men by setting up seven precepts in a systematic form. The other book to educate women was the Kuie Fan Regulations for the Women's Quarters. It was composed in Lieh Nu Chuan Series of Biographies of Virtuous Women made by Liu Hsiang in These doctrines restrained women all their lives from when they were unmarried girls to being married women and mothers. These laws taught women to accomplish feminine qualities in order to marry men. In fact, they limited women's minds from being able to make individual judgement as well as having freedom of choice. Men educated women to fulfil their role according to their standards. (ii) Women's Marriage In traditional Chinese society, men were highly valued. Only male descendants were qualified to continue the worship of the ancestors and to inherit family property. Girls were extremely disdained and female infanticide often happened. There are several history books, which discuss the facts of female infanticide, such as in the Tso Chuan, which states, '...Bear a girl...discard into a dike...' 129 Girls born into a poor family might be killed at birth, or sold to be slaves or prostitutes when they grew up. If a girl was born fortunate to be in a wealthy family, her destination still depended on her husband's family. Marriages were not based on love, but instead arranged by the parents through matchmakers. A Chinese woman was prepared for her life's goal to be married from the time she was a child. She learned women's precepts and bound her feet in order to prepare and form herself into a 'correct' social pattern to marry a man. It is said: 126 W«Chieh has seven precepts for women which are Precept One; Humility and Adaptability, Precept Two; Husband and Wife, Precept Three; Respect, Yieldingness, Precept Four; Qualities of Woman, Precept Five; Fixed Purpose in the Heart, Precept Six; Bending the Will to Obedience, and Precept Seven; Harmony with Husband's Younger Brothers and Sisters'. Florence Ayscough, Chinese Women Yesterday and Today, Da Capo Press, New York, 1975, p i 27 Florence Ayscough, p ^Florence Ayscough, p Lee, Chan Lian, Female Infanticide and the Problem of Imbalance Between Chinese Men and Women, in 'Chinese Women Historical Research', Dao Hsiang Publisher, Taipei, 1992, p

81 When a woman married, and marriage was nearly universal, her physical and spiritual home was transferred to that of her husband and his family. 130 However, when a woman married, her life was still uncertain because her role in married life was to bear male children to perpetuate the family name and to aid in the family's work. 'Without sons, a woman's existence was without meaning and she had little security in her life'. 131 If a woman was not capable of producing a male heir, her husband was allowed to take concubines. Nevertheless, while men could take additional wives, women were required to observe strict chastity. In the Sung Dynasty ( A.D.), Chen I and Chu Hsi were two well-known scholars who strongly promoted the opinion that widows should not remarry. When people questioned him whether a widow could remarry because she was poor and almost starved to death, Chen I stated, 'To starve to death is a trifling matter compared to being unchaste.' 132 It was the belief that once a woman married she was, 'Born for husband as woman, die for him as a ghost'. Women should never break up their ties with their first husband's family. She came to her husband's family as a virgin and after her husband's death she should remain there as a celibate widow. One article states: The widow cutting off her arm after it had been accidentally touched by a man was taken as the model and ideal to promote female chastity. 133 Once the widow committed suicide, she would be, 'honoured, admired and praised by officials and could die in the knowledge that her name would be commemorated as a chaste widow'. 134 As a result of such men's mental training of women by regulating, cultural morals and customs, women became weaker in their abilities as well as in their status. It led men to treat women as playthings, and at the same time women treated 130 Elizabeth Johnson, Women and Childbearing in Kwan Mm Hau Village: A study of Social Change, in 'Women in Chinese Society', Margery Wolf and Roxane Witke [Ed.] Stanford Univerity Press, Stanford, California, 1975, p ^Elizabeth Johnson, in Margery Wolf and Roxane Witke [Ed.] p Chang, Chiung Fang, p. 78. l 33 Chang, Chiung Fang, p Margery Wolf, Women and Suicide in China, A Study of Social Change, in Margery Wolf and Roxane Witke [Ed.] p

82 themselves as worthless objects. They became submissive and without selfesteem. Mr. Chen Dong Yuan points out that women lived in 'hell in terms of hopelessness and helplessness' by saying: Men transformed women into persons with no occupation, no education, no self-volition, and no human value. Women damaged their bodies to please men, and after a while, women became accustomed to it and saw this oppression as a matter of course. 135 Professor Lee, You Lin gives a brief description of the fate of Chinese women: Chinese women in ancient times lacked the three basic human survival abilities physical ability, brain power and finance. Women's physical health was destroyed completely by the custom of footbinding and they consequently became weaker by confining themselves inside the house. Also, women were excluded from the same educational opportunities, which were available to men, and therefore they were kept in total ignorance. Women could only live under men's support and authority while men possessed the dominating power of being able to make a living and being in charge of everything. 136 I see this growing oppression like an interaction and vicious cycle in a biased patriarchal cultural and feudal system. Chinese women accepted the social role that they must defer to men following men's lead, and articulating their needs only in relation to men. As a result of these heavy social requirements and cultural notions, women came to believe that they were not important in themselves, or for themselves. They hid their desires from themselves, and felt unworthy, unentitled and undeserving. Hence they were willing to accept the custom of footbinding without question as part of their life and the symbol of gentility. In the book Understanding Women we read: To find a man, a woman has to present herself in a certain way. She has to develop her sexuality along particular lines; she has to create an image of herself that a man will find pleasing. This is a completely social matter, not at all a straightforward, natural process. 137 It is conjectural that Chinese women utilised their own hands to bind their own feet, and applied their own minds to believe that the masculine thought and patriarchal view of what was pretty and desirable was part of cultural custom and 135 Chen, Dong Yuan, p Lee, You Lin and Chung Yu Fa, pp Luise Eichenbaum and Susie Orbach, Understanding Women, Penguin Books, Penguin, 1985, p

83 natural behaviour. Women's actions and feelings were concentrated on trying to cope with society's rules and the beauty standard of what and who they should be. Women were merely excluded or reduced to the position of wife, mother, sexual object or carnal being. Their sadness can be seen from the following poem: How sad it is to be a woman! Nothing on earth is held so cheap. Boys stand leaning at the door Like Gods fallen out of heaven, Their hearts brave the Four Oceans, The wind and dust of a thousand miles. No one is glad when a girl is born; By her the family sets no store. by Fu Hsuan 138 Another poem which was written in Nu Su Chinese Women's Secret Writing 139 can also comprehensively illustrate the sad plight of Chinese women. In fact, Nu Su was created secretly due to women having to find their own way to comfort themselves. It is an important example, demonstrating how women broke the patriarchal system and language structures set by men. This ability to communicate in a special women's writing has been recognised as one of the most remarkable evidences of breaking a patriarchal writing structure within the history of women in the world. Thousands and thousands of books in China Don't believe that there is a strange writing in the world, but only believe Chinese women would like to learn. Read carefully to Nu Su which shows clearly word by word. Women have suffered generation by generation from the patriarchal culture andfeudalistic society. No women can qualify for government office; no women are allowed to attend school. Women can not go far for travelling or working because of their bound feet which have almost ruined women's life. One thing even more ridiculous is that marriage has to be decided by parents. 138 Katie Curtin, p 'Nu Su is a Chinese women's secret writing, which had existed in China for an indefinite period. It was discovered in Chiang Young Province in the middle of the 20th century. The writing called 'female writing' can only be understood and used by women. Nu Su was like a diary or personal letter to a woman, and usually it would be burnt and buried with her when she died. Women in Chiang Young province believed that they would be able to read their Nu Su after they died and comfort themselves from the sadness and sorrow of whatever had happened in their lifetimes. Nu Su is a sloping script. Women usually wrote it on paper or embroidered it on silk, fans and handkerchiefs'. Sheng, Chi Whei and Lin, Hsou Yin [Ed.], Nu Su, Awakening Publisher, Taipei,

84 How many women died for it, and how many tears were shed for it. No one in the world has ever cared for women's miserable life. Only Nu Su writes their story well. Writing Nu Su is not for fame but for women themselves. Telling more sad stories by making more Nu Su on the paper fans. Each word is just like blood. Every human, God and ghost will cry and know how touching the stories are. Women cannot live if the hierarchical system will not be torn down. by Kao, Yin Sheng Kao, Yin Sheng, in Sheng, Chi Whei and Lin, Hsou Yin [Ed.] p. 246.

85 v Plate 13. The interview with Mrs. Wu, Mei Chu Plate 14. The bound foot of Mrs. Wu, Mei Chu Plate 15. The golden lily shoes collected by Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng Plate 16. The interview with Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng

86 ^ \ IM^- Sk\ 1 MiW: M*«i* *'" * t «I 1,f 'i? M 0 ^$M Plate 17. The bound feet Plate 18. The painting of Every Step of the Water Lily documenting the story of the original name of the Golden Lilies painted by Mu, Yu Zu in the Ching Dynasty Plate 19. Women with bound feet Plate 20. Woman with bound feet

87 Plate 21. X-Ray of bound feet 3 ^JuwJ : I iiw-: '"*ss. W ^ M Ufil.'"f' \ -»f, t Plate 22. The medical formula for footbinding Plate 23. Manchurian women watching and learning the binding from a Chinese lady

88 (B) Women's Behaviour and Mentality in Pursuing Beauty and Fashion in Contemporary Taiwanese Society As discussed in the previous chapter, ancient Chinese women subjected themselves to heavy and massive cultural pressures from the prevailing feudal system. This submission was not only firmly formed in the old society of yesterday, but also remains deeply rooted in Taiwanese contemporary society. Contemporary women in Taiwan still hold traditional concepts in their minds, and then present it outwardly by following today's current social tendencies and western beauty standards. While international fashion trends infuse another new viewpoint into men's aesthetic concepts, women's fashion sense toward themselves is compelled to adapt to this. Ms. Tsao, Ai Lan points out: After the fast growth and development of modern industry, capitalism replaced feudalism in Chinese society. Women took off the bound feet shoes but put on high-heeled shoes instead. Most Chinese women in Taiwan are still restricted to a limited view of their social life, with discussion about their appearance, outlook and how to capture their men only. 141 Three factors will be revealed including the cause and effect of admiration of everything of foreign origin, as well as the remaining power of traditional belief and its effect on Chinese women in Taiwan today. Several examples of advertisements will be analysed in order to examine the underlying background, which involves the strategy of the beauty business and the demands of female consumers. 14lTsao, Ai Lan, The Aspect of Taiwanese Women in the New Era, Avant-garde Publisher, Taipei, 1989, p

89 (a) Causes of the Admiration of Everything of Foreign Origin for the Chinese From the cultural background as previously depicted in the last chapter, with such a feudalistic system and extremely male-centred society for thousands of years, China basically was a stable society. 142 However, this quiet situation was unable to be securely maintained when the outside world started changing in the early twentieth century. China encountered a drastic shift and revolution due to continuous invasions from foreign countries such as France, Britain and Japan. Such constant failing in the wars put China in a dreadful position. 143 In the meantime, the traditional systems and racial confidence were greatly challenged by western concepts. The political force, culture and the value of judgment appeared to be in a vacuum and ultimate chaos. From that time on, the Chinese suffered from a great disease the loss of confidence. When this confidence was lost, 'no one was sincerely interested in pursuing traditional knowledge but was only eager for modernisation'. 144 This is a disease germinated by the fact that the Chinese have suffered many successive historical defeats and shame, thus they started seeking new reforms and advocating a renewal movement (modernisation movement) by learning anything and admiring everything from western societies. The scholar of Chinese history, Mr. Chin, Yao Chin, further analysed: Originally the primary meaning of 'Modernisation' for the Chinese was to rebuild and strengthen the national force in order to shake off indignity and shame, but unfortunately in contrast they turned to fashion for pursuing 'power and wealth'. It is perceivable here that this 'Modernisation' was carried out hastily under historical defeat, but after enjoying the life and material wealth of western capitalism, the Chinese lost their confidence and subjectivity. From then on, they 142Mary C. Wright, Modern China in Transition, in 'General Edition of Contemporary Chinese Historical Comment', Chang, Yu Fa [Ed.] Lien Ching Publisher, Taipei, 1980, p chang, Peng Tu, Difficulties Encountered in Modernisation of China, in Chang, Yu Fa [Ed.] p Cheng, Chiu Kun, Comments on Practice of Contemporary Chinese History, in Chang, Yu Fa [Ed.] pp c;h m) Yao Chih, Modernisation and Chinese History, Time Publishing Co., Taipei, 1969, p

90 blindly considered the pursuit of 'Westernisation' to be the equivalent of 'Modernisation'. The state of worshipping western culture has become a desire and natural mentality for the Chinese since then. Something we have to admit is that modernisation has posed problems for the centralised authority and the feudalistic system in China. Traditional Chinese philosophy has also been gradually replaced by individualism and the concept of equality and freedom which has been derived from the West. As a result, many intellectuals in China, with a sense of mission of 'cultivating a strong nation and race', have advocated and encouraged the learning of the western system. For instance, as I have mentioned previously, Mr. Lin, Chih Loh and Mr. Liang, Chi Chao urged 'founding female education and abandoning footbinding' to save China. Through this movement, Chinese women finally marched toward a tremendous new stage of freedom and humanrights. They gradually released their footbinding and started learning the lifestyle of western women. Nevertheless, with the trend to modernisation, the woman with small bound feet suddenly became an object symbolising recession and terror. Once the popular tendency of admiration of everything of foreign origin took hold, Chinese women gave up the custom of footbinding and began to believe everything from the western world represented progress and fashion. 146 Liao, Hsiu Chen, Development of Female Education of the Late Ching Dynasty, in 'History Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 2, March 1988, p

91 (b) Effects of Worshipping the Western Style for People in Taiwan The acceptance of 'Westernisation', 'Americanisation' or 'Europeanisation' as being the equivalent of 'Modernisation' has developed more powerfully since the Kuomintang Government came to Taiwan to rebuild the country into a capitalist society. In the late twentieth century, people in Taiwan are facing a huge transformation in culture, social morals and values in this economic-oriented society. Paralleling the world pace of fashion and high technology, values for people in Taiwan have altered rapidly and ambiguously. From my memory, the house I lived in was a government apartment in a very secluded area, where others in my neighbourhood were raising pigs and chickens, or raising crops in the fields. This was the typical condition and living standard that was the Taiwanese lifestyle only a few short years ago. However, the situation is changing tremendously year by year. This was very obvious when I returned to Taiwan in 1988 after six years studying and working in the USA. The area I used to live in now is considered to be one of the most expensive and busy 'golden' locations for business and shopping. I could no longer recognise the area because the shopping centres, department stores, World Trade Centres, Hyatt Hotel, and office buildings stab into the sky side by side and its development is still undergoing additions every day. The observation and experience of living in Taipei city, the largest city in Taiwan, gave me the opportunity to witness how people have become obsessed with mammonism and utilitarianism, and pursue a western lifestyle. This is apparent from people's desire to follow western concepts and culture, with demands and craving for western brand-name products. One of the most expensive areas in Taipei called 'Celebrity Alley' is full of western style shops, where you can find the most famous merchandise and brand-name products with an inconceivable price tag. Smart business men learn the strategy of employing the most favourable weapon in the capitalist industry advertisement and mass media to attract consumers and convince customers to purchase and enjoy the western lifestyle. They insert it and inspire the aesthetic standards and fashion sense by utilising western models to demonstrate the desirability of their rich living patterns and products. The younger generation of Taiwan, more obviously, considers enjoying western food, international brand products, western music, and movies as a part of their 76

92 'growth'. One of my friends told me that her ten year old son once wrote to the manager of McDonald's to ask why McDonald's would not set up a branch near his home, as he has to take a three hour trip in the bus every week just for one children's happy meal in Taipei. It is easy to predict that the next generations of Taiwanese will certainly become more and more westernised. They see that the elder generation tried to prove their identity and social status in the same way by possessing imported cars, western style houses, pursuing world fashion trends and even sending their children to western countries for schooling in an attempt to prove their high-class social standing. Mr. Chung, Ming Teh, in his article In the Noise of Postmodernism, criticises the admiration of everything of foreign origin in Taiwanese culture: More than ten years ago, we created an 'economic miracle', but the cultural growth of the same period turned out to be 'poverty out of wealth'. This is another kind of 'cultural miracle'...under the shadow of the economic miracle, our 'poverty culture', replace as social prosperity with the 'importation of culture' for polishing purposes. 'Imitation culture' can be defined simply as the lack of essence of culture and speciality appearing in time and space as cultural production and consumption. In view of this from our current cultural signs, the imitation and lack of cultural essence has made us become a puppet of foreign cultures. Our sense, cognition, and significance have succumbed to foreign influence and fashion. 147Chung, Ming Teh, In the Noise of Postmodernism, Shulin Publisher Co., Taipei, 1991, pp

93 (c) Remaining Power of Traditional Beliefs and the Effects on Contemporary Women in Taiwan In my mother's generation, women were traditionally subordinated characters. They held the belief that the wife/mother role was primary in a woman's life and that, in general, all other life activities should be subordinated to it. They passed their ideologies on to their daughters, women of my generation. Therefore, most contemporary women grew up with a traditional education, yet in the meantime, gradually responded to the new ideology from western society. We present a subtle change from the traditional perspective, but still encounter the heavy pressure of traditional definitions of repression by men. Some women who have been constrained by traditional concepts for a long period of time have attempted to break through the traditional rules. However, they are often incapable of challenging the old concepts and traditional notions, and drift between the old culture and the new ideology of the West. These mixed ideals produce conflicts, deep guilt, and self-doubt for women torn between the new and old ' 148 societies. Conflict is frequent when women are working outside but are still expected to fulfil the traditional household roles. From my personal experience, I feel exhausted running between a teaching job, art career, housewife and mother. The description made by social scientist Mr. Sha, I Zen about women in Taiwan still appears to be true for me. She states that: The current career mother carries the long period of hardship and pressure both physically and mentally. Thus, the burden is twice as much as the traditional women had before, and even more than the burden which career men have today. 149 Thereby, the heavy pressures and conflicts grow enormously when women are performing 'multiple' tasks between their jobs and housework, career and family. It is true that women can alter their 'role' in a different society and circumstance, but it is hard to change their 'status', as Joan Roberts discusses in the context of women's inferiority in a man-made and male-dominated world. She says: 148\yei, Tien Tsung, Shifts in Taiwanese Society and Literary Development during the Pas Thirty Years, in 'Social Transition and Cultural Development of Taiwan Area', Lien Ching Publication Co., Taipei, 1989, p Sha, I Zen, Critique of the Book of Educated Women and Taiwan Development, Lien Ching publisher, Taipei, 1989, p

94 Although most roles served for men and roles serve to limit choices, change here is at least theoretically possible. A thorny question is whether changes in women's role will really change their status very much. Role would seem to be far more flexible than status. One can choose his or her role within certain limits, but status is not usually a matter of individual choice In this case, though the pace of time steps forward, women wander and vacillate between both extremes, half under oppression of new social concepts, and half imprisoned by their traditional thinking, causing them to be superficially independent yet internally failing to overcome the enslavement of tradition. This is the portrait of women in Taiwan today. Following is a deeper and more extensive description, where my personal life and experience will also be interwoven. (i) Women's Education In my mother's day, according to her narration, she was not allowed to do further study after she finished her elementary school. Most of the girls were forced to stay at home for housework while boys were encouraged to give high priority to schooling. Today, in my generation, we have better opportunities in education, yet, the educational content we receive is still based on the program explicitly designed to prepare women to become dutiful wives and good mothers. Ms. Tsao, Ai Lan poses the problems of the textbook content: In the textbooks for family instruction, we see the extremely different pattern for men and women. For example, the mothers always described in the role of being in charge of cooking, cleaning house, weaving and taking care of children... Men will be interpreted as the great scholars and in the leading roles which help the world, but women are only assigned to the role which looks after the housework and the elders. 51 The ideology of, 'Men in charge outside with women in charge of housework' is still part of my thinking. Of course I understand from my reading and knowledge of western society that this is a problem which is universal. However the strictly patriarchal system which has prevailed in Taiwan has caused this to be 150syi v j a A. Chipp and Justin J Green [Ed.] Asian Women in Transition, The Pennsylvania State University Press, USA, 1980, p. 14. l 5 ltsao, AiLan, p

95 exaggerated there. Such education for women, in fact, decides women's thinking and behaviour in the future as the authors of Understanding Women point out: Girls are taught to be aware of the ways in which their actions affect others, and as a result become cautious about their actions. They almost always bear someone else in mind when they make their decisions about appropriate behaviour...more often than not, girls move out into the world accompanied by prohibitions, cautions, restrictions, and fear rather than expectations of success and acceptance. 152 (ii) Women's Position in Society Sexual discrimination against women is still very serious. My own experience is an example. I have three sisters but no brother. Because of the traditional concept no men means no heirs and no pride, our family has always lived under the shadow of 'no pride' and was despised by many relatives and friends. My mother always felt ashamed and even said that she wished she had only one son instead of four daughters. All her life has been lived under such sexual discrimination, framing her as 'incapable woman' and 'undutiful wife'. I have suffered under my parents' regrets and people's discrimination since I was four years old old enough to realise the cruel reality, and accept my fate of being a woman. Moreover, in my mother's generation, sometimes women were literally left nameless or sometimes the names were too unpleasant to hear, such as 'raising without pride', 'stink' or 'disgusting'. Many parents who were anxious to bear a son, after having enough daughters, would name their girls 'inviting brothers' or 'stopping girls'. Today, girls are given nicer names but in the same old ideology. For instance, one of my sister-in-law's daughter is called 'Shie Ten'. 'Ten' means 'Lady' and sounds very feminine, but the pronunciation of 'Ten' is the same sound as 'Stop'. Also, it is popular and acceptable in Taiwan for women to try to bear a son by applying the medical techniques to pre-determine the sex of the baby. It is another method of female infanticide in disguise. l^2luise Eichengaum and Susie Orbach, pp

96 (iii) Women's Marriage Concubinage is no longer legal in Taiwan, and men can only marry one woman by law. However, the so-called 'small wife' or 'afternoon wife' 153 still exists in private. Some women who know their husbands are having affairs still keep silent, and bear the suffering and shame as long as their husbands promise to provide them with good financial support, and the upright title of 'wife by law'. One article states: Statistics show that adultery and bigamy are the most common reasons judges grant divorces in Taiwan...But what exactly do these data say about the percentage of Taiwanese marriages with extramarital sex? Because Chinese society traditionally believes that 'husbands can be promiscuous, but women must remain chaste', the lopsidedness in male and female behaviour is probably even greater than the above statistics suggest. 154 (iv) Women's Position at Work With the rapid social evolution, rising levels of educational attainment among women, and growing employment opportunities, women are playing a significant role in Taiwan's economic development. However, most women who step outside the house to work with men still find many constraints and bondage due to traditional ideology and attitudes in sex-roles still in force. The average pay for women is usually less than men. From a report in the Central Daily News in 1994, women today in Taiwan received, 'less than twelve to seventeen percent of men's pay'. 155 I was a lecturer in Ming Chuan College. Female lecturers were not treated equally either in position or pay, although male and female lecturers should be treated the same by the law of the Education Bureau, as we are all recognised under the same evaluation. However, we receive less pay and attract less attention for promotion because we only take the basic hours and teach less important courses than male lecturers. Men take all the core courses for extra hours and pay. It has become a tricky and insidious way to i:>i 'Afternoon wife' is a very popular and fashionable term in Taiwan to indicate that the man willfinda place for his mistress, and visit her in an afternoon while he is taking the lunch break from work. 154HU, Gen Nei, Sexual Liberation Comes to Taiwan, in 'Sinorama Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 20 No. 7, July 1995, p How Much for New-Entry Workers to Know about the Salary in Society Today, in 'Central Daily News', Taipei, 29 June

97 discriminate against women. Although most female lecturers are oppressed by this treatment, they do not object, because the men offer reasonable excuses when they defend themselves, such as having wives and children to raise. On another occasion when I worked with several other lecturers to supervise a group of students after office hours, I felt humiliated when one of the male lecturers urged me go home to cook dinner, even though he was just trying to show his consideration. This kind of reaction indicates that male chauvinism and the hierarchical concept are rooted in our culture. Women in the work force still find it hard to get away from traditional values, so they can work equally with men. The 'roles' of women are changing but the 'status' remains the same. 82

98 (d) A View of Advertising in the Beauty Industry in Taiwan In the Chinese wedding ceremony, the most popular compliments for the married couples are always 'A talented groom and beautiful bride is a perfect match by God'. Most guests will talk about the groom's brain and career, but judge the bride's face and body. This again indicates the different standards used to evaluate men and women. Men are always recognised by their achievement, while women have to gain acceptance and confidence by their appearance. The traditional value of, 'If a woman marries a good husband her life-time happiness and well-being will be guaranteed' is the general belief today. Most women still believe that beauty is the essential quality in order to gain access into the world of men. Therefore, in a woman's youth, ideally, she is asked to prepare for the day when she will become a wife and mother. She must always be connected to others and shape her life in accordance with a man's desires. As well as the cultural notions and traditional concepts which mould women's minds and behaviours, there is another new 'social tendency' affecting women today. Women have become exposed to extremely uniform standards of beauty and fashion which are introduced by advertising and mass communication. They are attracted by the beauty image of western models and the ideal beauty package, and put all their effort into pursuing this so-called international beauty standard. Now that the Golden Lilies are no longer in fashion, the new standard of beauty in Taiwan today is substituted by the stereotype of women with western-like faces. The crippled legs with the tiny 'golden-lily shoes' have been replaced by the sexy legs with high-heeled shoes. The image of ancient beauty such as small eyes and lips is no longer in fashion when the 'thin moon-like eye brow' is replaced by the thick eye brow; the 'small cherry mouth' is replaced by full, sexy lips. Even though such a western beauty standard is not easy to reach nor applicable to Taiwanese women, reconstruction techniques and plastic surgery have become popular and prevailing. For contemporary women in Taiwan, it seems that everything encountered with the impact of new thought, new structure and fashion will be easily accepted by them, especially when advertising conspires to promise them that the goal of looking good is possible if only they take pain for long enough. If they feel their eyes are too small, they can have plastic surgery for double-layered eyelids; if they 83

99 think their nose is not high enough, they can have it reconstructed; if they feel ashamed of their small breasts, they can ask for the beauty experts, or plastic surgeons, to fix them. A recent report in Female Magazine in Taiwan, showed from the statistics of Chang Keng Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Taiwan, that the inclination towards plastic surgery in Taiwan is booming with an annual growth rate of about twenty percent, and the three most popular operations are eye enlargement, nose elevation and breast implants. 156 A female movie actress Ms. Tang Chi was interviewed by Female Magazine in the same report from Chang Keng Hospital, to ask how satisfactory were the results she had from plastic surgery. Ms. Tang gives her opinion that she feels better and more 'confident' every time she has surgery. It indicates that she has had more than one surgical procedure already, and she might have more later on. She even tries to convince people that if plastic surgery allows her to gain more advantage and recognition for her career and life, why not have it for more 'pleasure'. However, her face shows a very stiffened and unnatural look. Her eyes and nose appear to be somehow strange, as do many other faces after similar operations. They all look similarly uniform with the same 'successful' effect. The confidence she obtains after surgery may refer to the vanishing of an inferiority complex, and the so-called 'pleasure' for her certainly is paid for by tremendous 'pain'. Along with plastic surgery, the beauty business of 'body reconstruction' is also developing rapidly. The vast numbers of advertisements in the market show that female consumers are the greatest pursuers and the best sponsors. This is obviously the most up-date area to study, which allows me to investigate the socalled 'footbinding mentality'. According to the order of expenditure rank in the Advertisement Magazine in 1994, four advertisements for body-reconstruction are ranked as 1, 2, 7 and 11 for all of business and industry respectively. 157 This not only represents the volume of business running the beauty industry but also the high consumption capacity of women, and represents a major trend in the media's response to the demands of women. l 56 Chin, Chia Ling, Flawless Beauty, Valuable Specialisation, in 'Female Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 335, October 1994, p. 32. l 57 Survey from Advertisement Magazine, Rolling Stone Culture Co., Taipei, Vol. 49, May

100 One of the main strategies of advertising is to convince and persuade women at the subconscious level that they can look prettier and sexier like models through the use of the sponsor's services. This can be illustrated from the top-ranked advertisement of the 'Famous Beauty Company'. (Plate 24) The name of the company takes the Chinese pronunciation of 'Famous' interpreted as 'not like a dream', implying that a slim figure and great body are not like a dream, but reality, if assisted by the beauty profession. The model used in the advertisement is a woman with a perfect body, which fits perfectly the standard of western beauty big breasts, slim waist, and shapely legs. Pictures in other advertisements show different badly shaped bodies, and even segregate them into different categories under such names as 'apple type', 'calabash type', 'loose type'. It mainly tries to humiliate women without perfect figures. Ironically, the idea of categorising the body shapes is no different to when men gave names such as 'Eighteen Lilies and Nine Categories' for women's bound feet in earlier times. The advertisement ranked second is from 'Metaphor International Beauty Company'. (Plate 25) The pronunciation of 'Metaphor' sounds like 'beauty with large breasts' in Chinese. The slogan they used for the TV commercial is, 'Trust me, you can make it', which has become one of the most popular and fashionable slogans in the market. It fully picks up the vogue of the social trend of 'new women' women should have a free choice and the persistence to make everything possible. This is an attempt to hint to women that they can gain their liberation and self-image through their own choice. We see fashionable women in western society today to be in 'great shape' to be firm, trim and fit when they declare that it is seen as a quest for freedom, a way of realising true self and potential. 158 This pursuit of being slim could be considered to be a chance for women to be free and to release their bodies from the roles of housewives and mothers, so that they can renew their position and identity, from managing their body and becoming their own body-masters. However, if this kind of self-regulation and body-management has to be assisted by artificial techniques and reconstruction it becomes another way of indicating that women's bodies are still under the control of others. IS&Lynda Nead, The Female Nude, Art, Obscenity and Sexuality, Routledge, London, 1992, p. 10. \ 85

101 An article from Ms Lin, Hu I in Breakthrough Magazine in Taiwan explains the starting point and main purpose for advertising designers to notice the social impact of the 'new women' with new demands in the female market. She states: In order to find a way to survive in such a competitive advertising market, almost all the art directors are keen to absorb various thoughts and new ideas to break through the traditional advertising techniques and promotion style. During these recent years in Taiwan, some slogans with the subject of feminism or female self-orientation to sell their products become the major concern because it is one of the sensitive and fashionable contemporary issues in our society. Advertising designers certainly should notice this social impact. Besides, the new women with new values have posed many problems to the marketeer, but also they have opened up many opportunities. They are turning such potentially radical ideas into products for a new lifestyle for women. 19 Such a strategy of trying to find the essence of the message of women's liberation and autonomy in advertising can also be shown in the advertisement ranked number eleven from the beauty company called 'Women's Talk'. The attractive western model with rather a sexy and alluring figure is the first sign to draw the viewer's attention, especially the way she poses, which shows her allure to men. (Plate 26) Together with this picture is the daring slogan, 'Don't allow your man to have easy control of you with one hand', indicating that a man's hand is too small to hold the woman's big breasts. Slogans such as this and others like, 'Breasts are the most romantic landmark for female bodies', and 'From now on, with great will (determination to re-construct your body) in your chest (breasts)'. However, women should be alert to such strategies, because: Advertising technique is to turn such potentially radical ideas into products of life-styles. However, if liberation' gets sold to women by the media as cosmetics, clothes, style, or image, it will obscure the real demands women are making and perpetuate the very social and political structures we are trying to change. This can slow down our progress, and we should not let it happen. 160 From the previous point, obviously, the advertising designer does pick up the new ideas that give the implication of being concerned for women's social roles, updated thinking and personal expectation. This is one of the advertising strategie through the viewpoint of 'consumer-orientation' to conform to the demand, needs l^huang Huei Ru, Female Image in Advertisement, in 'Breakthrough Magazine', Taipei, Vol. 113, December 1994, p judith Millera and Lean Margulies, in 'The American Woman: Who Will She Be?', p

102 and motivation of women. However, this strategy of the advertising industry became a target for feminists in Taiwan to protest about. This topic which engages in the controversy between marketeers and feminists, became the point of debate for a TV program called 'All People in Communication' on 12 March 1995 by inviting an art director Mr. Mao, Hsueh Wei and an active feminist/writer Ms. Ping Lu to open up a discussion. Following is an extract which I have documented. Basically, the argument made by Mr. Mao was: The strategy of advertising simply comes from the supply/demand relationship between businessmen and consumers. There is no need for supply if no demand exists from consumers. The central idea of using the sexy female body as an attraction is purely and simply for commercial purposes to achieve sale profits. Nevertheless, the viewpoint from Ms. Ping Lu is strongly stressed. She proposes that: All these types of advertisements are chauvinistic, and show discrimination towards women by implying that women are merely desirable objects for men and living for another. Women originally had no need to pursue such a kind of beauty standard. The demand and unconscious anxiety made out by advertising only manifests the weak point and shame when women think they are not perfect enough in comparison to the advertising models. The advertisements of 'body reconstruction' are a restraint on females in terms of body and mind. The technique of connecting female body and face together with the commercial product is a way to sell the female body. Due to the commercial purpose of advertisements, it reduces a female's confidence, exaggerates a female shame and enhances a female's demand. Most women are taught to become what they act. The marketeers manipulate women's anxiety to exploit, stimulate and reinforce their benefits and business profits. The above open message from Ms. Ping Lu also raises a similar response from Ms. Huang, Tsung Yi. She writes: Most of the contents of these advertisements call for females to reconstruct their physical figures in order to appeal to the expectations of men, such as encouraging females to lose weight and enlarge their breasts. It equals encouraging females to deny their identity and in the 87

103 meanwhile to confirm the male chauvinistic recognition of 'females as puppets to males'. 161 The American feminist Naomi Wolf also states: There is no legitimate historical or biological justification for the beauty myth; what it is doing to women today is a result of nothing more exalted than the need of today's power structure, economy and culture to mount a counter-offensive against women. 162 Besides those professional judgments, what is the reaction and response from the female consumers toward the advertisements, and toward the service from beauty centres? In order to discover the direct information from female customers, an investigation was held for the purpose of deeper understanding. I interviewed thirty-two female consumers from the program of the 'Famous Beauty Company' in the Chung Li area. Three following questions and responses which I have generalised are: 1. What is the most impressive item you found, when reading through the advertisement? All the thirty-two interviewees gave the same answers, which were that they were attracted by the female model and the slogan. 2. What is the basic motivation for coming to the beauty constructing centre? Twenty-six of them replied that they thought of themselves as fat and lacking in confidence. They hoped to achieve a good body through the beauty program. 3. What is the cost you would like to pay for your dream? Twenty-eight women agreed that as long as the performance is attained, they do not care about the cost even if it is quite expensive. In the interview, I also found that the cost of a beauty program is between Aus$ and $ for four weeks, which is almost the same amount of money they earn monthly. Most of them are office clerks in the age group between twenty to thirty. This indicates that women are desperately willing to pursue beauty and a good body, even if they have to spend all their income. The states l^lhuang, Tzung Yi, On Diet for Male? Talking about the Sex Cognition Pattern in Advertising for Becoming Slim, in 'Advertisement Magazine', Rolling Stone Culture Co., Taipei, October 1993, p. 26. l 62 Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth, Chatto and Windus, London, 1990, pp

104 women are in when they are facing attacks from the beauty industry are analysed by Vance Packard as follows: In learning to sell to our subconscious, another area the merchandisers began to explore carefully was that involving our secret miseries and self-doubts. They concluded that the sale of billions of dollars' worth of products hinged to a large extent upon successfully manipulating or coping with our guilt feelings, fears, anxieties, hostilities, loneliness, feelings, inner tensions. 163 A real story in the Female Magazine from one of the customers, Ms Hsieh, Shu Chuan who writes of her experience, may provide a deeper understanding into the complex state of why women drive themselves down the troubled route of beauty reconstruction. She says:...at least, I receive a comprehensive slim figure program first. After paying money for one month, there was not much improvement. Therefore, I joined in another hip muscle training program and took an electrical instant fat reduction operation. However, the programs nearly killed me and the diet made me dizzy and sick, and sometimes I could not even find my way home. I feel like giving up but my instructor encourages me by saying: 'Sympathy for fat can harm yourself. Only go through the present suffering stage and then you will enjoy a slim figure for the rest of your life'. I told myself, 'Right, for a good future, I will continue to struggle for my belly, breasts, legs, hips and waist although they seem to look the same as before. 164 The confession Ms. Hsieh makes is simply a counterpart to the mentality I saw when I interviewed the old lady with footbinding, Ms Wu, Mei Chu. Another story involved a well-known actor Lin, Cheng Young when he was accused by the public because his wife suicided over their unhappy marriage. It turned out that his wife had killed herself because she took too many diet pills. 1 Professor Lee, Yuan Chen, a former head of 'Awakening Group', thinks that beauty for women is too narrow-sighted, in particular when it is harmful to their bodies. She thinks: It is natural for a woman to pursue beauty. In fact, men also like to be good looking as well...nevertheless, under the transmission of various mass media and advertisements of the beauty myth women IfBVance Packard p Hsieh, Shu Chuan, in 'Female Magazine', p Liberal News, 10 March 1995, Taipei. 89

105 deal erroneously with their bodies, which leads them into a sense of concern for their body instead of their personality. It is a great pity! Chinese women in the past had little choice and self-awareness in binding their feet to meet the beauty and fashion standards imposed on them by rigid customs. Do present day women still have little choice and little self-management for their own bodies through their own consciousness and aesthetic standard? Females should be engaged in a self-definition of aesthetic standards. They must stand on the self-representation of their viewpoints in order to emphasise the significance of the relationship of the body together with female subjectivity, position and identity, which have been consistently obscured and omitted by patriarchy. Naomi Wolf provides an issue for women to ponder: Does a woman's identity count? Must she be made to want to look like someone else? Is there something implicitly gross about the texture of female flesh? The inadequacy of female flesh stands in for the older inadequacy of the female mind. Women asserted that there was nothing inferior about their minds; are their bodies really inferior? 167 l^lee, Yuan Chen, Women's Time to Come, Chien Hsing Culture Publishing Co., Taipei, 1991, p l 67 Naomi Wolf, p

106 JS 60 <& m$mt*im ^>Itw m$m i 1Q» ' r fx JK M.BSt*' i "i$m IP *',».»?«>.;,'licit>«-i *aua at?'ft, W, tk,j3,v, «,- (a *. sj»*rw«*-... -,.-, /1/ J"**""" ;«- (5 irt. ii.. * m«.--4.?«0jr; 2tf Plate 24. Advertisement of Famous Beauty Company' m 9mm S%* W3?3: LPBFUm^E'MU " =*> f500«; a man -*«* ««*«* T * K(* --»«KNKCtt Segf i tmrmhi.mmm»mm m :}>~ ;>/. ; ; : *v.. ; *'>»', >> ^-J- ^-- '? ' '' * > *» -:;>,.:- - ^.-..nj Plate 25. Advertisement of 'Metaphor International Beauty Company' ggl«ws«wm.j*; fttf-^ibi'imfc"' 1 wawawisifi" El &A«6^ir»5fcfc : IBAM86S 3fc«eS8 ^.gj LJ Plate 26. Advertisement of Women's Talk Beauty Company'

107 Chapter IV Analysis of the Painting Process Towards the Final Presentation Preface This chapter reviews my artworks in the past five years through the introduction of my art development process and an analysis of my final presentation in terms of style, form, and concept closely associated with my written research. The research document is a theoretical annotation of my art presentation as well as an important socio-historical context for my creative process. However, before any individual explanation of my final works, I will first review and assess my previous artistic evolution and transition. This includes the struggle and perplexity by which I was confronted both in my life and creativity. I turned these difficulties into creative sources, transforming them into a wealth of correlated records. These became for me the building foundations for every step of my artworks which were gradually formed, both consciously and unconsciously. The discussion starts with the Chrysalis' exhibition held in the Taiwan Museum of Art in 1992, and two other exhibitions, 'Ancient Golden Lilies' and Contemporary Golden Lilies', exhibited in the Long Gallery, University of Wollongong in 1993 and The next section describes the turning point I came to when I returned to my own country and reviewed the social phenomenon with a better understanding and knowledge which had grown during my time in Australia. In the fourth exhibition 'Pre-Show', which was presented in K. J. Art Gallery in Taichung, I actually experienced the transformation both in my life and my artworks, adopting a new attitude and art style. It was, in fact, a significant breakthrough in structuring the final presentation. In the last part I have analysed each of my paintings in the final presentationtitled 'Antithesis and Intertext The Issue of Women's Position' which was exhibited both in the Taipei Fine Art Museum in 1995 and the Project Artspace in Wollongong in This shows how the series of works is the product of a continued development and evolution. 91

108 (A) Description of the Developmental Stages of Three Exhibitions (a) 'Chrysalis' (i) The Chrysalis Symbol (ii) The Shoes Symbol (b) 'Ancient Golden Lilies' (i) Ancient Pictures of Footbinding (ii) The Texts (iii) Bars on Windows (c) Contemporary Golden Lilies' (i) The Screen Printing of Advertisements (ii) The Symbol of the Water Lily (B Reviewing the Crucial Elements in 'Pre-Show' Later Transformation and the Turning Point (a) Fan Painting (b) Moon Shape (c) Antithesis Pattern between Ancient Pictures and Contemporary Advertising Slogans (C) Analysis of the Final Presentation, 'Antithesis and Intertext The Issue of Women's Position' (a) Description of the Developed Solution through the Pre-Show (i) Screen-Print (ii) Fabric (iii) Embroidery (iv) Form (b) Analysis of the Detailed Elements of the Individual Series of Paintings (i) Painting Series I (ii) Painting Series II (ill) Painting Series HI (iv) Painting Series IV (c) Review (d) Conclusion 92

109 'Chrysalis'

110 Colour Plate 1. Chrysalis, Oil on Canvas, 91cm x 117cm, 1992 Colour Plate 2. Chrysalis, Oil on Canvas, 110cm x 90cm, 1992

111 (A) Description of the Developmental Stages of Three Exhibitions (a) 'Chrysalis' Before being admitted to this research, my series of art works called Chrysalis' was developed in It became the primary influence on my attitudes and concepts toward my concerns about women's issues today. (Colour Plates 1 & 2) There are two points of description: (i) The Chrysalis Symbol During that period, due to my confrontation with the vast amount of confusion and difficulties mentioned in the previous chapter, I portrayed myself as a 'chrysalis' under great external pressure yet always making a powerless struggle out of my internal urge for transformation. I liken this to a chrysalis challenging its own fate by breaking through its bondage and waiting for its turning point. For a brief account of this series of works, the criticism made by Mr. Liu, Kun Yi, a researcher at the Taiwan Museum of Art, is useful. He writes: The artist expressing her imagery with semi-abstract pictures of the folded body cowering inside of the 'egg' shape, intentionally or unintentionally illustrates her perplexity and the sorrow of being a woman. She illustrates herself as rather powerless to control the reality of the world she encounters. In the collapse of the transition period, the paintings hint at her rebellion and revolt against oppression by depicting profound meditation. This life image is the symbolisation of the human senses by means of image, colours, and symbols. The content is explored in metaphor which allows people to notice that the 'egg' shape is to signify the life growing, in her stage of 'breaking the chrysalis' where the 'readiness to depart' is implied. One often perceives the folded body in the cell, illustrating another life of transformation under tremendous struggle. Therefore, the artist applies strong and vivid colours, large blocks of shapes and moving paint strokes to manage her very liberal and semiabstract picture, containing in fact strong sensation itself. Her works originally deliberately express aesthetic appeal by rather a soft and nuanced approach, softening the radical presentation of the social forces and critical issues. This indirect impact proving to be smooth and profound, indicates much significance underlying the attempt. 168 (ii) The Shoes Symbol l^liou, Kun Yi, The Solo Exhibition of Lin, Pey Chwen, in 'Journal of the Taiwan Museum of Art', Taichung, Vol. 58, 1992, pp

112 In actuality, besides the content Mr. Liou has illustrated and my personal emotional state I have displayed through the symbolic shape of the 'chrysalis', there are also two sub-elements which gradually appeared in my paintings the symbols of 'high-heeled shoes' and 'three-inch golden lily shoes' to be used as the implication of the bondage of women. In fact, the three-inch golden lily shoes, appeared after I began to include the high-heeled shoes in my paintings. During the constant working and thinking, the inspiration was aroused in putting both elements together to be the symbols of antithesis because I saw high-heeled shoes also as a kind of bondage to women in the same manner as footbinding was in the old times. In particular, the life experience I encountered in wearing high-heeled shoes reminded me of the pain and awkward behaviour at the beginning stage of learning to be a 'mature' woman. I bore this tremendous pain in order to walk in high-heeled shoes even when the skin of my feet turned red, swollen and putrid, and thus bandaids and cotton wrappings were constantly needed for pain reduction. However, I still kept persuading myself to wear them in order to express an elegant way of walking, which I needed if I wanted to turn myself into a fashionable lady like other women. The other factor in utilising the antithesis between high-heeled shoes and golden lily shoes was the experience I had in the USA while I was working in Manhattan, New York. The first interesting impression was raised from my observation that most of the office women in Manhattan were wearing sports shoes for convenience and comfort in walking and rushing in the subways and streets to work. Yet, soon after they entered the office, their sports shoes were immediately replaced by high-heeled shoes. This phenomenon indicates again that high-heeled shoes are not functional in terms of walking, but are necessary for women to present themselves nicely and attractively in front of people. However, I was surprised to see myself doing exactly the same thing when I found I had at least five different styles and colours of shoes with extremely high heels laid underneath my office desk one year later. This personal experience is the reason to my connecting high-heeled shoes with footbinding shoes to both allegorise a sort of beauty, a sort of pain, a sort of restraint, and a sort of fashion in their time. Nevertheless, although the motive for putting the shoe symbols in the shape of a 'chrysalis' was quite logical and reasonable, the solution and presentation between realistic symbols and semi-abstract painting looked stilted and unresolved in terms 94

113 of composition and technique. The argument was raised, 'Should expressive abstract painting deal with a particular conceptual topic and issue? or should it merely be the representation of an artist's emotion and personal action without further necessary explanation?' This conflict not only showed through the unresolved pictures between realistic imagery (shoes) and semi-abstract expressive shapes (chrysalis), but also appeared to be the communication between my mind (concept) and the language (symbols) I attempted to describe through my paintings. Perhaps, I was subjective in the exposition of my personal struggle, and lacked a profound study of symbols and imagery for considering the relationship between invisible emotion and visual signs, rather than the simple execution of 'fitting' imagery into the paintings in a rather coarse, less resolved and persuasive way. Thus I have strong insights that this was the bottleneck in my life and my art creation. It was about time for me to jump out of this whirl, and manage to locate another exit and passage. Therefore, after holding the solo exhibition of the Chrysalis' series in the Taiwan Museum of Art in 1992,1 resigned my job and came to the University of Wollongong. 95

114 'Ancient Golden Lilies'

115 Colour Plate 3. Ancient Golden Lilies Series 1,2,3, Oil on Canvas, each 90cm x 50cm, 1993

116 Colour Plate 4. Ancient Golden Lilies Series 4,5,6, Oil on Canvas, each 90cm x 50cm, 1993

117 (b) 'Ancient Golden Lilies' This work was the initiation point for the solution to my personal frustration towards my standing in both art circles and society. During the research period in Australia, the first series of experimental works named 'Ancient Golden Lilies' was conducted simultaneously with my thesis writing. It was inspired by the material I investigated related to the custom of footbinding. The following introduction includes the pictures and the texts about footbinding, and the symbols of the bars of a window. (Colour Plates 3 & 4) (i) Ancient Pictures of Footbinding Due to the research about the custom of footbinding and its historical background relating to the role and status of Chinese women in the extremely male-oriented culture and society, I found the hidden sad history interprets clearly how women lived in such a position of inferiority, abjectness, ignorance, making them no more than sex objects. Therefore, in this series, I painted each of the paintings in rather a complicated mood of sympathy. Six paintings embodying the ancient imagery reveal the story of footbinding, including bound feet, golden lily shoes, and the text I extracted from historical books. However, I did not wish to simply copy them to look unvarying and stiff, but instead, I re-worked and re-interpreted them with my own artistic sensibility by means of expressive colours, textures and dramatic brush work. Each painting is composed of eight small panels to narrate the story of footbinding in general. (ii) The Texts Text was shown in my paintings for the first time, using extracts such as 'Smaller is Better', 'Three-Inch Golden Lilies', 'Any Woman Without Bound Feet Is Socially Inferior' and 'An Untalented Woman Is A Virtuous Woman'. This was my very first and tentative experience exploring the function of text in my art expression, which became one of the very effective elements of communication as well as a strong creative source for my later art creation. However, the written text was treated more expressively and artistically to incorporate other pictures, avoiding the stiff and austere look of poster typography. 96

118 (iii) Bars on Windows The other element is the bars on the windows. The structure of bars separated each picture and emphasised the uniform rectangular shapes which consist of different imagery about footbinding such as shoes, women, feet and texts. It was to signify the stereotype of beauty, and the restrained nature and formatted style of women's life. It also provides the related meaning for the 'window' indicating that women live behind a window, just as if they lived in jail without their own space and freedom, because the scope of their living was limited inside the chamber mentally and physically. However, the decorated patterns which I picked up from Chinese traditional ornamentation, appear outside the windows in very vivid and pretty colours (Jade Green, Emperor Yellow and Chinese Red) which can be regarded as the beautifying frame of the picture offering the implication that outside the 'bars' women who like patterns and decorated objects live within a certain pattern and quarter. The shape of the 'chrysalis' embodying the woman's figure inside exists in every painting, by the use of a very free and loose touch, while it is still highly capable of expression about the constraints or bondage of women. The reason I was not ready to dispose of such a shape as the 'chrysalis' was because it represented the continuous series of art creation from my last exhibition. I could not simply and immediately cut off this concept as I, myself, was not yet fully mentally transformed into a butterfly. 97

119 'Contemporary Golden Lilies' *"V

120 Colour Plate 5. Contemporary Golden Lilies Series I, Oil / Screen-Print on Canvas, 80cm x 150cm, 1994 Colour Plate 6. Detail of Colour Plate 5

121 Jl. ^^Lj }*A ) % ma^wi Colour Plate 7. Contemporary Golden Lilies Series II 1,2, Oil on Canvas, each 200cm x 150cm, 1994

122 (c) 'Contemporary Golden Lilies' In this experimental presentation I was aiming to express the state of contemporary Taiwanese women in their pursuit of the current trends of beauty and fashion. Many advertisements from the beauty industry, I have collected from Taiwan, were utilised as the basis for my research. My artistic background both in visual art and design, and my recent research on women's life in society have raised my awareness to the issues involved in the visual forms and images used in advertising. Also, these advertisements can act as the best responses, which easily display the demands of female consumers as well as the most current social trends in an extremely real and rapid way. Therefore, the images of the female body, the slogans and texts within the advertisements are applied to my paintings, when the mentality and behaviour of 'contemporary footbinding' can be found in such modern imagery and the language of advertising. They were basic elements and the inspiration for my paintings, and subsequently, became the important extended and correlated creative source for my later series of art presentation. The following discussion includes the screen-print of advertising, and the symbol of the water lily associated with the mentality and behaviour of contemporary pursuit of beauty: (i) The Screen-Print of Advertisements The presentation of the elements of selected advertisements was loosely screenprinted onto the surface of the painting. (Colour Plate 5) Due to such visual imagery has proved itself well enough to illustrate the original production, I had no desire to repaint nor to alter the appearance. Of course, collage could have been used to display the advertisement as well, which I did experiment with initially. However, I perceived that collaging the object (i.e. a piece of an advertisement or catalogue) was very difficult to integrate with the paint surface. The technique of screen-print was easier to combine with the picture, especially when a few brush strokes indicating the 'chrysalis' were used within the screen-printed image, to mediate between both shapes and to soften conflict between materials. One of the slogans I screen-printed is from the advertisement of 'Women's Talk Beauty Company', showing the daring heading 'Don't allow your man to have easy control of you with one hand'. (Colour Plate 6) 98

123 (ii) The Symbol of the Water Lily The other important element I explored here was the symbol of the water lily. It appeared for the first time to replace the image of the deformed feet illustrated in the previous series of 'Ancient Golden Lilies'. This alteration was made after more comprehensive research on the custom of footbinding with the following reasons: 1. As previous investigation, the hidden story for the custom of footbinding was concealed by the romantic poetry and men's fantasy, although the bound feet were ugly and horrible. It is in the same way that the bound feet were always covered up by the tiny shoes made of very pretty embroidery and craftsmanship. It presents the fact that ancient Chinese women could only present themselves beautifully externally, and hide the pain and tears internally and silently. Basic to such concepts, the so-called 'pretty women' were in fact defined and confined within a certain standard and aesthetic regulation, which was falsely eulogised, beautified, romanticised and socialised by the patriarchal culture of that day. Just as the deformed feet were beautified, plastic surgery and body reconstruction are socialised and formalised, the 'false look', 'external beauty', 'standardised appearance' and 'artificial beauty' are certainly a good interpretation of women as well as the targets I criticise. Therefore, the more effective presentation was to emphasise the mentality and behaviour of footbinding in a rather 'beautiful' approach by showing the 'beautiful' object in its 'external' appearance. 2. The purpose of showing the opposite side of ugliness, by depicting footbinding as the beautiful flower of the water lily, reveals yet another layer of meaning. The facets of ugliness frightening, shocking and tragic I have explored through a very delicate, indirect and subtle approach. This is grounded in the philosophy of the Chinese, which often takes consideration from the opposite side of a radical approach. This might explore hidden strength because power is not always expressed overtly but lies beneath a vast bulk of potential. 3. In western feminism a flower is often used to allude to female sexual organs, expanded to represent a kind of transformed object. It is to overthrow the stereotype of male ideology (metaphrasing the beauty as the flower), as well as to challenge the concept of the female body being materialised in the patriarchal view. 99

124 \ The analogy of the flower is based not on a shared abstract quality, but rather upon a morphological similarity between the physical structure of the flower and that of woman's sexual organs hence on a visual, concrete similarity rather than an abstract, contextually stipulated relation. 169 The way I present the flower is different from that western feminist approach, but it has a similar effect when the concealed story of footbinding is unfolded through the beautiful symbol of the flower. It is identified as the logo and trademark for everything I am criticising, which is related to a mentality and behaviour similar to footbinding. I have defined it in this way in order to challenge the traditional ideology. 4. The water lily in Chinese mythology represents 'beauty', 'the bathing hibiscus', 'beautiful women growing from the water', and a beautiful and special flower that has been revered thoughout history. According to the article, The Flower of the Water Lily, several meanings for the water lily are documented. For instance, it can represent a person with a character as pure as a water lily 'coming out of the mud yet not polluted'. Also, it is associated with the Goddess of the Buddhist religion representing holiness without fault, and therefore the lily becomes a sign for Buddhism. However, the most popular meaning for the water lily is to compare women 'as fresh and beautiful as the water lily growing out of the water'. Hsi Shih, one of the four famous Chinese beauties in Chinese history, is named the 'Water Lily Goddess'. 170 Furthermore, there are many poems related to beauties and lilies in Chinese history. For example, the poet Pai, Chu I of the Tang Dynasty used to illustrate the very beautiful palace lady, Yang, Yu Huan as, 'The cheeks of the lady are like a water lily and her waist is like willow'. In the poem called 'Water Lily Beside the Lake', beauty is portrayed as 'Water lily blooms all over the river make the water red in colour, which is just like the face of beauty' The most relevant saying about the water lily, as mentioned previously, is that Emperor of the Chi, does not only count his Princess Pan to be as beautiful as water lily, but also created many water-lilies made of gold on the floor of his palace, asking her to walk over them. He then praised the result that 'Every Step 169 Linda Nochlin, p. 93. l^ho, Kung Shang, [Ed.] Clearer Fragrance, Art Book Company, Taipei, 1988, p HO, Kung Shang, p

125 of the Water Lily'. This was the origin of 'Golden Lilies' as the name for the deformed bound feet. 172 Therefore, the flower of the water lily I have used here is to include and unify all these themes and ideas. It is impossible to simply illustrate it only through the shocking images of deformed feet. If the major purpose of my research and presentation merely focused on an explanation of the ugly side of the binding procedure, it might mislead the audience to only see one particular custom but to neglect the whole underlying problem of the patriarchal system. Thus the images of deformed feet showed in the last series of paintings are no longer found here. In the Painting Series I, the flower was treated formally as the trademark or logo in a round shape, while the elements of the advertisements were screen-printed on the top and bottom of the painting to show that the nature of the advertisement is similar to the bondage of footbinding. In the Painting Series II, (Colour Plate 7) the flower closely connected with the female body is incorporated with the pattern of the water lily to stress the nature of both elements again that the female body and the flower are all seen as beautiful ornamentation in the patriarchal view. The female body with large breasts illustrates that women who own their 'big breasts' are beautiful and fashionable just like the ancient women who had 'tiny bound feet'. However, although the elements of the water lily and advertising worked well, I perceived that such a presentation of inserting the intersubjective discourse for my sentimental state through my expressive brush touches and symbolic chrysalis shapes becomes conflicting and a handicap here. Once again, I hit another time of bottleneck, and I sensed strongly that the abstract expressive shape was no longer able to give a satisfactory solution for this topic. This was the turning point which allow me to delete the old way of thinking. The chrysalis was about to disappear and I was willing to try a new way both for my life and my creation. 172 Ho, Kung Shang, p

126 (B) Reviewing the Crucial Elements in Later Transformation and Turning Point 'Pre-Show' This presentation was made in the middle of 1995 when I went back to Taiwan for a six month research period after living in Australia for one and a half years. My concepts of women's issues were being gradually clarified, through the exploration of research and painting in Australia, as well as the growing sensibility towards the artist's position and recognition regarding women's subjectivity. This was a crucial moment and an essential stage in reviewing and reassessing both different cultures together. Being away from my native country had created a distancing function for me to gain insight into things from a different angle. Much material regarding the artist's identity and the position of women was gradually gathered and became a powerful and influential creative source and critical viewpoint from which to assess my society objectively. Returning to Taiwan, I saw myself as an 'outsider' able to penetrate a number of social disorders and patriarchal problems, but at the same time I recognised myself as an 'insider' able to appreciate and consider all the facts of the situation in my society. These were also the causative factors in my own formation and growing. It was during this perceptive stage that I finally realised where I stood and what my responsibility was in society. I am no longer confused, nor struggle with myself, nor feel self-accused for my role and status as a woman/woman artist. Instead, I know I can present myself as a female artist/taiwanese artist as long as I detect that women's problems can be turned into a bridge for both men and women to communicate with each other, as well as creating a better understanding and a mutual way of thinking and behaviour. I became very alert to current incidents in my society, and I even went back to the colleges, where I had lectured previously, in order to open courses related to the topic of my research, such as Women's Art Appreciation and A Case Study on the Strategy of Advertising Design. The courses on women's art appreciation brought to my notice how little material exists on women's art history in Taiwan, and how ignorant art students are in appreciating women's artworks in the patriarchal academic institutions. This fact urged me to be more responsible for this research and teaching of women's art. It also stimulated me to start publishing articles related to feminist art and women's art research, as well as participating more in women's art conferences whenever I could. 102

127 During the time and engagement of researching, teaching, discussing with students, and being involved in several conferences of women's study and women's art with other female artists, I was invited to join the feminist group Women's Study with a gathering of a number of famous feminists and professors from the universities from all over Taiwan. Participating in the women's movement was principally a path for me to understand our social events. In fact, rather than being totally involved in that social movement, I choose to concentrate on my art creativity with the perspective of women's experiences and vision. In June of 1995,1 presented a new series of paintings in the K. J. Art Gallery in Taichung, Taiwan. This experimental work clearly revealed that my former stage of uncertainty had become clarified, and I finally went through a process of reincarnation by breaking through the chrysalis. In other words, it seemed as if the clouds were dispelled and that I saw the sun. The complicated and busy elements in my past paintings had simultaneously been simplified and reinterpreted through a different approach in terms of form, style, technique and concept. The element of the chrysalis and the abstract expressive strokes eventually disappeared. Thus the following descriptive sections are the best narration and evidence, which can be deemed as a vital milestone in approaching my final presentation. Those elements include (a) the water lily appropriated from ancient fan painting, (b) the extended meaning of the moon shape, and (c) the antithetical images of ancient pictures and contemporary advertising slogans. 103

128 'Pre-Show'

129 Colour Plate 8. Pre-Show Series I, Oil on Canvas, 180cm x 190cm, 1995

130 Colour Plate 9. Binding, Oil on Canvas, 100cm x 110cm, 1995 Colour Plate 10. Holding Within the Palm, Oil on Canvas, 100cm x 110cm, 1995

131 (a) Fan Painting The flower of the water lily, as described in the previous painting series, is the basic element for this series of presentation with more meaningful perspective. The shape I painted before was merely the production from my own creative imagination in terms of motif, pattern and decoration. However, such imagery was criticised by an art scholar, in that the flower was not pretty enough. This led me to study the shape and appearance of the water lily more closely through looking at the real object, photographs, illustrations and its interpretation in Chinese traditional paintings. In the book, How to Paint the Water Lily m l found an interesting fan picture called Bathing Water Lily from the Sung Dynasty painted by an anonymous artist, (Plate 27) which shows a water lily formally and nicely set in the centre of a fan. It also reminded me of the nature of the motif I had used in the previous paintings. In addition, because the research experience created a great impact on the search for my own position and identity, I am now more conscious and sensitive towards the sources of Chinese culture. This urged me to place more emphasis on the application and appropriation of ancient Chinese imagery into my work, to stress the important relationship between the artist and the characteristics of cultural background, as well as between the making of art and cultural heritage. The other idea that I discovered in the fan painting, in fact, was the best interpretation for my concept, when I found one ancient photograph in the book Three-Inch Golden Lilies, showing four ladies sitting together with fans in their hands. (Plate 28) The photo originally was assigned to display the appearance of women with bound feet, but I discovered the fans in their hands coincidently fulfilled the function of demonstrating women's cultural role in history. The feature of the fan can also be considered as a tiny and minor object, or pretty decoration in the hands for cooling. The characteristics of the fan I have emphasised above, in fact, serve the purpose of being multiple symbols. I saw the roles of ancient Chinese women were reflected in the tiny decorative object, the fan. Therefore, the water lily in the fan painting possessed much deeper layers of concepts and representation allowing artists to expound their concepts as well as allowing the audience to ponder and meditate on its several folds of meaning. l 73 Ho, Kung Shang, [Ed.] How to Paint the Water Lily, Art Book Company, Taipei,

132 X SB *.*! *! (*«. Plate 27. Anonymous, Bathing Water Lily, Sung Dynasty Plate 28. Chinese women with bound feet sitting together with fans in their hands

133 \ In the Painting Series I, the fan shapes with the water lily and other images repeated on the six small square panels, were constructed as one large painting. (Colour Plate 8) It shows strongly that the 'repeated' and the 'stereotype' of beauty were presented in the 'square' space, making them look 'standardised' and 'uniform' and limited inside the square just as women were limited inside the women's quarters. Paintings in the right and left rows were of different imagery of women and shoes nicely 'growing' from the water lily, whether representing the symbols of ancient times or today. The left-hand side of the three panels depicts the most stereotyped, that of a beautiful face and body. She should fit the image of western women, which I purposely chose from photographs of posters and advertisements from the beauty industry. The high-heeled shoes appeared again to stress the related assumption of beauty and bondage I have discussed before. Applying the same format of conceptual interpretation and art presentation into theright-handside of the fan paintings, I painted inside the water lily the stereotypical female face and body of ancient Chinese women which I appropriated from Chinese paintings. The three-inch golden lily shoes were displayed in contrast to high-heeled shoes on the left side for the purpose of creating an antithesis. The three panels of painting in the centre are the texts and pictures from particular sources. The image in the upper section is from a poem depicting the beauty of the growing water lily 'Wind can not even intrude on the beauty growing from the water', I took from the fan painting, Water Lily Growing from the Water, by Huen, Soh Ping. 174 In the middle section is the historical painting titled Every Step of the Water Lilies, painted by Mu, You Zu 175 as mentioned in the last chapter, to show the origin of the name of footbinding when Princess Pan was illustrated standing on the lilies made of gold. In the bottom section is an ancient medical prescription indicating how women were to bind their feet in order to be soft and pretty, as already discussed in the previous chapter on footbinding. This series of paintings, however, looks beautiful and uniform like a poster or advertising image. The message I would like to claim, is that women follow the fashion of beauty in different ages but the standard will be constantly changed and identified in a patriarchal society, which urges women to pursue an aesthetic sense l 74 Ho, Kung Shang, 1990, p. 31. l 75 Ke, Chi Sheng, p

134 decided by others. This painting is designed to criticise the mentality and behaviour women have pursued in the past and today through an antithetical approach, using symbols and imagery of women's faces, bodies and shoes from contemporary times and ancient days. The comments I received about this series of paintings were that the style of presentation was similar to Pop Art in a very postmodernistic approach. This shows again that my personal confusion had disappeared and no longer became the focal impetus for my painting. What replaced it is rational, realistic, precise, repeated imagery like a printing or illustration, which was appropriated from either the poster or ancient painting. In this logical presentation, the painting speaks for itself and the imagery stands for its own meaning, without an often uneasily read artistic emotional involvement. 106

135 (b) Moon Shape In Painting Series II, the fan shape is extended to convey the idea of a 'moon' shape, revealing the profound capacity to comprehend and portray the feminine character from the aspect of Chinese philosophy. (Colour Plates 9 & 10) In traditional Chinese cosmology the world was composed of two complementary elements, 'The Yin, the female, stood for all things dark, weak, and passive; the Yang, the male, for all things bright, strong, and active'. 176 The / Ching, Book of Changes, also maps out the interaction of the principles of Yin and Yang: Yin the Negative Essence, corresponds to darkness, to water, to the moon, the depth, to all things feminine; Yang, the Positive Essence, corresponds to light, to hills, to the sun, to all things masculine. 177 Therefore, the moon can be defined as the secondary and succumbing role of women on the dark side of the sun. In addition, the moon can be a metaphor for the never changing object in any 'time' and 'space' of human history. This is the symbol which best corresponds to the theme that the beauty standard and painful reconstruction will always exist, like the moon, which appears everywhere to be viewed by all. It becomes the symbol of the female body under constant review and appraisal by others, trapped in a continuous, circular process of classification. The background of the moon is in a rich texture of black indicating water at night. In it also lurks a sentimental description of the moon reflecting from the sky into the pond of water lilies. l 76 Katie Curtin, p. 10. l 77 Florence Ayscough, p

136 \ (c) Antithesis between Ancient Pictures and Contemporary Advertising Slogans Inside the moon shape are the ancient pictures I chose from the historical book of Three-Inch Golden Lilies. It unfolds as a representation of the 'truth' which needs no imagination or fabrication from the artist. The painting titled Binding reveals the historical fact that a woman is binding her feet, with the words of the poem, 'Bind hard to be sharp, curved and thin', inside the moon shape. (Colour Plate 9) It contrasts with the slogan on the left-hand side of panel which states, Constructing and sculpting your shape by binding all over your body', which was the original slogan from an advertisement. Another painting titled, Holding Within the Palm, shows thetiny golden lily shoes being held inside a man's palm, with the poem inscribed, 'The tiny delicate foot is inside the palm'. This contrasts with the contemporary advertising slogan stating, 'Don't allow your man to have easy control of you with one hand'. (Colour Plate 10) These paintings not only throw into relief an interesting and ironic function in the sense of illustrating my antithetical statement, but also adapt to a unique form and genre of painting. This adds a new dimension of representation corresponding to the contrasted panels of different features, composition and structure which I have explored. This series of paintings serves as a Pre-Show, which received quite positive comments in my art circle, especially because it was the first exhibition since I had returned from Australia. However, during discussion with my supervisor about the Pre-Show, it emerged that the format of my work might even be constructed like the traditional long' shape of ancient Chinese painting, and the proportion and position of the moon could be emphasised much more clearly and purposefully. This became the major essential alteration for my final presentation. I also found that in Painting Series II the texts which, although carefully written and painted, still could not fulfil their purpose as well as the printed version in posters or advertisements. Also, the repetition and stereotype of the water lily in the fan shape in Painting Series I, which I painted carefully with exacting attention to detail was still imperfect, because the free hand technique is too loose, unlike a machine or a computer. However, after constantly reviewing and rethinking, such defects were corrected and improved upon in the next series of paintings, and finally exhibited in the Taipei Fine Art Museum, 1995 and Project Artspace in Wollongong, 1996, serving as my final presentation. 108

137 (C) Analysis of the Final Presentation, 'Antithesis and The Issue of Women's Position' Intertext (a) Description of the Developed Solution through the Pre-Show Before the analysis of the individual art works of the final presentation, I include description of the resolution of the Pre-Show to give a clearer interpretation of the crucial elements. The structure became the foundation and basic framework towards the final pieces in terms of the thinking process and end result. The final works are connected with the Pre-Show as closely as each breath is to the next, with a continuous concept and style being developed and refined. Thus this portion of the description is focussed on the development of solutions in the Pre- Show including the use of Screen-Print, coloured cloth, embroidery and the form itself, all of which function together as the most suitable final solution. (i) Screen-Print As I mentioned previously, the features of repetition and stereotyping of beauty in each fan shape were not best served by painting freehand. It is difficult to achieve perfect shapes and effects in the paint quality itself, and hard to reach the desired aim of stereotype and standard. Therefore, the technique of Screen-Print became the main method of solving such problems. The Screen-Print for this section was quite different from the expressive treatment in the early series of Contemporary Golden Lilies'. Three plates of screen-print were carefully designed, rendered from the original fan painting, and produced for the red outline of the water lily, the green shape of the leaves, and the yellow ochre colour of the fan background. The basic outlines of exact shapes and colours were then further re-touched with oil paint. Through much experiment, the final outcome achieved my desired expectation. Therefore, once the mass production was accomplished, the broader development of the next series of work into the huge wall-sized painting became possible and exciting. The original combination of twelve square panels was now extended and expanded into the large composition of thirty-six panels, each three metres square, to create a kind of installation. It is the essential work, accenting and embodying a deeper and broader concept with the purpose to express the idea of antithesis and intertext between ancient beauty and contemporary beauty. The large panel of 109

138 paintings also enabled me to participate in and reveal more comprehensively relevant documents and pictures, thus giving a more powerful visual impact as well as creating a more profound understanding for the audience. Nevertheless, as soon as the fan painting started, the imagery inside the water lily associated with ancient and contemporary objects became the subject which I wanted to explore. Screen-Print became the vehicle once more to unfold the imagery I appropriated from history books and advertisements. Instead of copying the exact colours and shapes from the original pictures, I only printed the outline of the imagery then re-touched them individually, while retaining the original shape so that the spirit of the original pictures remained. Besides Screen-Print of the fan paintings and objects inside the image of the water lily, the documents related to medical prescriptions and pictures of Every Step of the Water Lily, painted in the last series of paintings, are also produced by the same method. Those documents are not shown inside the water lily as in the fan paintings I thought it might be more effective if they were printed on different material instead of canvas. Therefore, the medium became my next challenge when the question was posed as to the best method to present the images to convey the meaning. This was the crucial moment and turning point, when the material became significant as it was a breaking of the traditional presentation of oil painting. Up to this stage, I had a growing sense that the concept I was seeking was not solely dependent on the painting or paint itself I was not working on a traditionally beautiful landscape or composition in terms of paint quality, colour combination, and spatial arrangement but was aiming at another broader field of presentation and concept. This new approach allows the re-application and appropriation of any kind of technique, imagery and material as long as it is meaningful and reasonable. Because the dimension of creativity and presentation should not be limited solely to a narrow ideology and conservative interpretation. I learnt not to be afraid to employ such ideas and became flexible enough to experiment with it to attain a broader vision and outcome. 110

139 (ii) Fabric Besides the above realisation about the material, the other problem I recognised was that advertising slogans, which I had painted on the canvas in the Pre-Show, were lacking in power. Therefore, a search for a better solution became the vital stage for breaking through the limitations of the canvas and imperfect handwriting. Through careful searching, I became excited by the use of the suede, which was the fabric used for commercial oil painting. When I checked through all the material shops I knew in Taipei city, I found that more fabrics such as satin, cotton and nylon were also interesting materials with which I could experiment. A satisfactory result was attained with the printed documents working effectively on the black suede, because they are easy to throw into relief by the use of yellow ochre colour. However, it was not so successful for the advertising slogans on the large surfaces of the paintings. They looked dull and showed no contrast, when they were supposed to be presented in high contrast against the right panel of the painting for visual impact. Therefore, the subsequent material, satin, was eventually decided on. The particular bright colours I favoured are considered very feminine colours in Chinese culture, such as red, red-pink, pink, pink-purple, purple, purple-blue. Also, the most important reason I chose such colours is because the traditional costumes in Chinese traditional opera have women wearing bright silks or satins in shades of red, pink and purple. Besides, silk material was originally invented by the Chinese, so it also symbolised Chinese tradition and culture respectively. Satin, which is the equivalent of artificial silk, still conveys the same idea to people in this technical age, allowing them to relate to such a traditional medium. Ill

140 (iii) Embroidery The beautiful and rich embroidery on silk garments associated with the needlework of Chinese women motivated my next stage of art exploration. In a similar way to silk, the embroidery possesses many characteristics relevant to my presentation, which connect it with Chinese culture and the tradition of women's needlework. In Chinese tradition and history, embroidery on silk symbolised beauty, value, and class (i.e. embroidered images of the dragon were always used as a symbol of the emperor and the phoenix for the empress). Moreover, skill in needlework was the fourth virtue that women were supposed to have. As investigated in the last chapter, one of the Confucian theories Li Chi, Record of Rites, states that women should have 'Three Obediences and Four Virtues'. The fourth virtue is that women's occupations are handiwork and embroidery, which defines women's role by a certain job and limits women's status in that particular area culturally and socially. Therefore, silk and embroidery imply many folds of meanings in terms of technique, material, culture, and women's oppression in Chinese tradition. Both elements become intimately and absolutely connected with each other about the life of Chinese women, providing a rich area for research into the issue of women's position, as well as breaking through the bottleneck of my use of the medium of oil paint. Therefore, applying embroidery skills into the presentation of the advertising slogans became challenging. While the technique of embroidery stands for needlework as women's work in the fourth virtue, revealing the role and status women had in pasttimes,the contemporary advertising slogans in embroidery are certainly capable of conveying a much deeper meaning and providing more appropriate interpretation than in the previous paintings. The technique of embroidery automatically expounds its own features and capacity, and the slogans function to distinguish the different time and space between traditional and contemporary values, and between old and new societies. It becomes ironical when both these elements come together to show correspondence with each other, even from a critical point of view. The embroidery technique I applied here is an appropriately modern technique, using the electric sewing machine instead of sewing by hand. This again accentuates the contrast and antithesis which gives a manufactured finish to create a very traditional cultural imagery. I deliberately chose the most traditional \ 112

141 Chinese calligraphy script style to stress the strong contrast between traditional culture and modern consumer culture, between the traditional needlework and the quickly produced electric embroidery. Thus the embroidery on satin has not only explored its cultural meaning related to the needlework of women's occupation, but also illustrates the cultural problems associated with women's role and status. Notions of the position of women as 'slave labour' in the manufacturing industries particularly in the clothing and sewing industries might be also perceived by use of this technique. Also, I used embroidery to show that traditional women's work, such as needlework, handcraft or embroidery in western society was reclaimed in the 1970s and recognised for its own value and contribution, which had been omitted and effaced by patriarchal art historians and critics in the long existing history. However, in Taiwan, embroidery is still categorised as only a craft and a low artform because the ideology and aesthetic is still very conservative and narrowly controlled by men. They still see that women's work in their daily lives is simply concerned with trivial things, removed from high art value and creativity. Therefore, through embroidery, I have challenged such an ideology, to reclaim the value of women's art in all fields, so that it should be recognised and given its due position. 178 Victoria Lu, The Art Phenomenon in the Postmodern Era, Artist Publication Co, Taipei, 1990, p

142 (iv) Form In the last series of paintings, I decided to play with another aspect of Chinese art tradition. The format of my paintings was extended into the elongated shape, which matches the format of Chinese traditional scroll painting, to functionally correspond to the concept I have been pursuing both culturally and visually. Therefore, this elongated form apart from the first series of paintings emphasising the square combination of the stereotyped, uniform, and standardised beauty in a framed and limited space, became another important element of my presentation. 114

143 'Antithesis and Intertext The Issue of Women's Position'

144 ^p%^ jf ^^n 1 r^ i J Colour Plate 11. Painting Series I, Oil on Canvas / Screen-Print on Suede / Embroidery on Satin, 300cm x 300cm, 1996

145 Colour Plate 12. Detail 1 of Colour Plate 11

146 K» JH L3 i ^^5*W^B Colour Plate 13. Detail 2 of Colour Plate 11

147 Colour Plate 14. Detail 3 of Colour Plate 11

148 Colour Plate 15. Detail-^! of Colour Plate 11

149 (b) Analysis of the Detailed Elements of the Individual Series of Painting Now that after I have described the developed solution through the Pre-Show, the analysis of the detailed aspects of each series of painting (Series I, Series II, Series in and Series IV) is more easy understood: (i) Painting Series I A smaller form of this series of work was originally developed for the Painting Series I in the Pre-Show I had presented. After the exploration of the Screen-Print technique, featuring the precise and multiple function of mass reproduction, the formal format of twelve square panels now became a flexible dimension for further expanding my concepts, emphasising the 'stereotype' of uniform beauty. This solution expanded the original limited presentation into a wall-sized installation, where it creates an exciting and varied visual impact. Basically, it is a 3m x 3m installation composed of thirty-six small square panels, each 50cm x 50cm, placed together but separated visually into two categories. (Colour Plate 11) The left-hand side shows images of contemporary beauty the ideal to strive for, to be like western women. The right-hand side shows images of ancient Chinese beauty, combining three elements the images from fan paintings, the prints of ancient documents and the slogans as text in embroidery. These components not only contrast traditional and contemporary imagery, but also create an antithesis between particular images, producing an intertext by use of the texts associated with the beauty standards in both eras and societies. The following analysis are in three sections, including images from the fan Paintings, documents and embroidered text on satin. 1. Images from the Fan Painting As in the miniature painting previously discussed, the images taken from traditional fan paintings are set up in antithesis. On theright hand side in the upper section, three representative traditional faces of Chinese women growing from the water lily illustrate the stereotypical face of ancient beauty which has slanted eyes, thin eye brows and small lips usually described as 'willow eyebrows', 'apricot eyes', 'cherry mouth' in the poems by men. (Colour Plate 12) In the bottom section three figures of ancient Chinese beauty pose with attractive gestures, whether standing or sitting. (Colour Plate 13) In the central section three tiny 115

150 golden lily shoes emphasise this symbol of women possessing small feet to claim their beauty and class. (Colour Plates 12 & 13) All these images are intentionally taken from historical books or traditional Chinese paintings to convey a historical representation. On the left-hand side in the upper section, three images inside the water lily depic the most standardised and beautiful ideal of the woman's face in contemporary Taiwan the western woman's face with large blue eyes, thick eye-brows, blond hair, high nose and full lips. (Colour Plate 14) In the bottom section I have featured the sexy bodies of large breasted western beauty, while the high-heeled shoes are shown in the middle section. (Colour Plate 15) All these appear abundantly in mass publications, revealing the current social trends which demand new aesthetic standards in order to capture the essence of modernity for women in today's Taiwanese society. The antithesis of the images from the fan paintings offers me the medium to assert again that subjectivity did not exist for women, and the position of their bodies and consciousness was not recognised as they have always been subjected to changing beauty standards. As pointed out by Naomi Wolf: 'Beauty' is a constantly changing currency system, and like the price of gold or any economy it is determined by politics, and it is the best belief system that keeps male dominance intact. 179 Therefore, the question should be raised, 'What is the next portion of women's bodies to be re-moulded once the fashion standards change again? What is the position women should take to claim ownership of themselves?' 2. Documents The section of documents in the centre of the work embodies five elements including one historical picture, two documents about footbinding and two sets of instructions on breast reconstruction, which have been screen-printed on to the suede in yellow ochre colours. Two of the images had already been utilised in the Pre-Show, which are the painting of Every Step of the Water Lily the picture documenting the story of the original name of the Golden Lily and the medical prescription for footbinding introduced previously. A new document of footbinding presented here is the life experience of footbinding narrated by one l 79 Naomi Wolf, p

151 \ woman named Chin, Shu Hsin and inscribed by Yen Hsien. (Plate 31) An extract states: I lived in the Font Head Village of Ping Hsi when I was a child. Small bound feet were always deemed as a beautiful symbol in my village. My mother performed the binding for me when I was only six years old. My feet were washed firstly in warm water, and my four toes were forced to bend inward to the centre of the foot and then bound with strips as tight as possible...i felt sick and was unable to walk The contemporary instructions suggesting how to enlarge the breasts are taken from the advertisements of the beauty industry, for instance, the advertising content of 'Li Hsi Beauty Company', which introduced all kinds of methods and techniques for breast reconstruction. The other is the advertising from 'Women's Talk Beauty Company', which gives five steps for reaching the best breasts such as, Increasing the Height, Enlarging the Size, Re-Sculpturing the Shape of Breasts and Lightening (to pink) the Colour of the Nipple'. These documents whether related to footbinding or breast enlargement all forge an ironic statement to talk about the same thing women's bodies are always reconstructed in an artificial way to be seen as a beautiful object. The texts can also read as an analogy for how women are anxious about the 'point' (feet or breasts) according to the particular instruction which forms the focus for the fashion standards and the cultural artifacts. Such a motif elicited from me the response to screen-print the image of Every step of Water Lily twice in order to explain that both phenomena of body construction are attached to similar procedures and to cultural bondage. 3. The Embroidery Texts on Satin Aside from the above antithetical images and documents, the embroidery texts on satin in six colours are thetitles and the definition of beauty in different eras. They are presented in golden embroidery, and interwoven with other panels, the fan paintings and the documents, to function as intertext with each other. They also provide an interesting visual effect because of the shiny, smooth texture of satin, which is its unique quality. It was the very nature of the material that I wanted to remain and be accentuated. l 80 Ke, Chi Sheng, p

152 The embroidered texts on satin such as 'Beauty of Water Lily' are presented on both right and left sides to demonstrate the relationship between beauty and the flower of the water lily. The other texts such as 'Ancient Beauty' contrast with 'Modern Lady', as well as the 'Three-Inch Golden Lilies' contrasting with the Contemporary Golden Lilies' which are the antithetical texts on both sides to identify their similar nature and symbolic meaning. The most significant part of the text about the standard of the best bound feet says, 'Thin, Small, Pointed, Curved, Fragrant, Soft, Formal' because it is the general standard to judge the best 'Golden Lilies'. It becomes the texts parallel with the standard for today's sexy body, which must possess 'Pointed, Firm and Soft Breast and Thin Waist', like the body of western women and that which most women in Taiwan are pursuing today. Therefore, besides the cultural aspects of the embroidery on silk, the text functio in comparing and interacting with two different beauty standards has formed a unique scripto-visual format. This gives way to a profound and extended significance, with the substantial theme incorporating the imagery and documents together in a wholeness. The above three elements are arranged and interwoven with each other to shape a large panel in the form of a chequerboard. The colour is varied, the imagery is rich, the material forms a shiny counter point and the content is complex, even though the form is simple and uniform. 118

153 (ii) Painting Series II This series of works is composed of six joined paintings which are also the extended work developed from the Pre-Show. However, as I have mentioned before, the form of the painting has been reconstructed into an elongated shape of 120cm x 200cm with reference to the format of Chinese traditional scroll painting. The moon is now located at the top of the canvas to accentuate the distanced object far away from the water lily at the bottom. In the meanwhile, it creates an atmosphere where both are interplaying and interrelating with each other. The moon in the six panels is presented in exactly the same position to stress the uniform and standardised features for stereotypical beauty represented inside the moon/fan. The images screen-printed inside the moon are ancient images carefully chosen from historical pictures. These have then been modulated and recreated to interpret them as old pictures or ancient documents with historical facets and meanings. The water lily in each painting is simple, with similar shaped leaves, but having its own individual gesture. This simplicity attempts to create a focus on the central point of each work. On the left of each panel of canvas is a panel of satin. The text on the satin is Chinese calligraphy in golden embroidery giving a traditional appearance and meaning as well as to emphasise the contrast in space, time and technique as I have already described. The black background has also been simplified from the complicated and textured surface in the early works to the simple and smooth presentation of a water pond with little flowing lines, which suggest water ripples on the pond's surface. The dark water can signify women's life experiences, which are circumscribed by the sphere constrained and focused on their perfection in terms of appearance and behaviour in front of people. This is just like the flower of the water lily, which is rooted under the water but still presents itself attractively and beautifully, even when it has gone through the unknown process the painful procedure of footbinding, plastic surgery and body reconstruction. However, the other level of meaning for water, that I emphasise from a positive aspect, is a symbol of opportunity for women to manage their bodies and go beyond the bondage of the aesthetic standards created under a patriarchal society. They will be free from the dark side of the water and ultimately released from limitations, if they stand for their own position with their individual viewpoints. Once they pass through this 119

154 layer of restraint black water there will be less doubt and hesitation ahead of them. The technique of embroidery and the material of satin, as mentioned previously, possess many layers of meaning in terms of women's objects, women's virtue, and their place in Chinese culture. Also, the title of each painting is exactly the same as the statement in the embroidered text, which I have appropriated from the slogans from advertisements. The slogan is carried out in Chinese calligraphy to highlight the contrasting aspect between the traditional and modern. The title of each painting was also translated into English to decode the meaning and provide engagement for the spectators. The six paintings are now individually analysed together with illustrations. 120

155 Colour Plate 16. Breasts Are the Most Romantic Landmark for Female Bodies, Oil on Canvas / Embroidery on Satin, 120cm x 200cm, 1996

156 Painting 1. Breasts Are the Most Romantic Landmark for Female Bodies (Colour Plate 16) The text on the red satin stating, 'Breasts are the most romantic landmark for female bodies', is the original slogan from an advertisement of the 'Women's Talk Beauty Company'. It emphasises the importance of the breasts for the female to attract her man. (Plate 29) The accompanying photography beside the slogan is of a female model wearing a bathing suit to show her big breasts the most romantic landmark. Such slogans indeed insult women completely if you read with a keen sight, for this hints that women in Taiwan can only possess good lives by relying on being alluring to their men with their large breasts. The theme superficially emphasises women's liberation in an ironic style but simultaneously discloses the traditional ideology women are to please men and men's desire. The image inside the moon contrasting with the text is the image of the tiny golden lily shoes superimposed with the document of footbinding. (Plate 30) The document is the partial text of the narration of the footbinding experience of Chin, Shu Hsin telling the inside life story of how to achieve a pair of tiny bound feet, which I have re-applied from Painting Series I, in order to connect the image of shoes to a deeper interpretation. (Plate 31) As previously explained, the bound feet were something mysterious which aroused men's fantasies and sex obsession. Therefore, the golden lily shoes I show in this painting are not only to present the tiny size of the feet inside the shoes, but also to tell the complex story of sexual viewpoints, men's aesthetic standards, and women's trusting and naive behaviour. 121

157 SA t*sk fht «*«MNHNHNM»- nt^swi -:!7«WW ' KM *» *MMM* StAI Plate 29. Breasts Are the Most Romantic Landmark for Female Bodies- Advertisement of the Women's Talk Beauty Company' Plate 30. The golden lily shoes collected by Dr. Kei, Chi Sheng lit MM** ata i$> Jt 1% 4ft *. dfc> # t #* * $ # >n» *. A. It f v -4SL «s **Y> ft A -0 tit '1 19 L m 4?? >&» >* ^ &» ** \ n 3ra Ju- ^L m xvt * ^ m ~*~ &3*,-?* % 1 ** *t <L g* M J5S 1 -jh.-& 4L <rii sf? 4 if "fr s ^r -Jsr ^ M is. g, a II Plate 31. The document of footbinding experience of Chin, Shu Hsin collected by Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng

158 Colour Plate 17. It Makes Me Thin In Such A Short Time, Oil on Canvas / Embroidery on Satin, 120cm x 200cm, 1996

159 Painting 2. It Makes Me Thin in Such A Short Time (Colour Plate 17) The text on the reddish pink colour states, 'It makes me thin in such short a time' which was the slogan of the 'Famous Beauty Company'. The model in the advertisement possesses an ideal and slim body that makes female consumers feel ashamed of their fat bodies. (Plate 32) It is just as Wolf says: The advertisers who make women's mass culture possible depend on women feeling bad enough about their faces and bodies to spend more money on worthless or pain-inducing products than they would if they felt innately beautiful. 181 Such mentality and behaviour today is like the life experience of Mrs. Wu, Mei Chu in the binding described in the last chapter. She said that she felt so ashamed of her big feet, and swore to herself that she would bind her feet harder and harder, even if she often felt no joy and was unable to live a normal life. The quick way to reduce fat in the so-called High-Tech era today is by un-natural and artificial techniques, such as the use of plastic surgery, liposuction, electric shock or forced diets. This is, in fact, the same sort of process as constructing the bound feet in ancient times. Therefore, when this slogan is placed beside the ancient picture in the moon/fan, showing the ancient woman binding her feet with great effort, it sets up an antithetical situation. The original picture of an ancient woman is an historical illustration collected by Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng. (Plate 33) 181Naomi Wolf, p

160 . UfpPi [ AMOl S Plate 32. It Makes Me Thin in Such A Short Time Advertisement of "Famous Beauty Company' ' i»». «" -*JSm&-'^v. Plate 33. The picture of a woman binding her feet, Anonymous, the private collection of Dr. Ke, Chi Sheng

161 Colour Plate 18. This is the Point Women Desire and Long For, and Men Focus on and Pay Attention to, Oil on Canvas / Embroidery on Satin, 120cm x 200cm, 1996

162 Painting 3. This Is the Point Women Pay Attention to (Colour Plate 18) Desire and Long For, and Men Focus on and The text on the pink panel is the original slogan stating, 'This is the point wome desire and long for, and men focus on and pay attention to', from an advertisement for the 'Fong Zu Tien Beauty Company'. (Plate 34) The illustration of the advertisement indicates different shapes of the breast, such as the drooping breast, the shrinking breast, and the most sexily shaped breast in order to convince consumers that only sexy breasts are what women long for and men focus on. The slogan contrasts with the image inside the moon/fan displaying a man kneeling down on the ground beside the woman. (Plate 35) The picture is taken from the book Three-Inch Golden Lilies and the original is in the private collection of Dr. Kei, Chi Sheng. The expression shown on the woman's face is happy and she is very proud of her small feet, while the man is touching her feet and smiling. As previously quoted from Dr. Ke, the bound feet indicated that women were willing to bind themselves to be attached to their men forever, because women's tiny feet were the most intimate and attractive part of their anatomies. 182 My statement is that the part of the body which men focus on, and women long to be perfect today is the breast, whereas in ancient times it was the foot. The location has changed, but at the same time the submissive position to the will of men has not really changed. l 82 Chang, Chiung Fang, p

163 Plate 34. This is the Point Women Desire and Long For, and Men Focus on and Pay Attention to- Advertisement of 'Fong Su Tien Beauty Company' Plate 35. The illustration in the book Three-Inch Golden Lilies, Anonymous

164 Colour Plate 19. Allowing You To Be Chin Up and Chest Out, Oil on Canvas / Embroidery on Satin, 120cm x 200cm, 1996

165 A Painting 4. Allowing You To Be Chin Up and Chest Out (Colour Plate 19) The text on the pinkish purple panel inscribed 'Allowing you to be chin up and chest out', indicates that a woman can be full of confidence and have pride in her big breasts. This is the slogan from the Choun Chin Beauty Company'. (Plate 36) When a woman's chin is up it means that her face is happy and complacent and she can feel proud of something. In order to emphasise the facial expression of the 'chin up' I chose an image from an old painting titled, Enjoying the Flower, painted by Zen I in the Ching Dynasty. 183 She is absolutely at ease as she gazes beyond the viewer, with her chin up and supported by her hand. l 83 Shen, I Jeng, Selected Paintings of Beauties Through the Ages, in 'How to Paint the Water Lily', Ho, Kung Shang [Ed.] Artist Book Company, Taipei, 1990, p

166 .Vtfjfig. '*;%/;'; 1 HHITiAt _. iwkfiw* $3 ' M-f*<*f l7 1*li ^ if *»»*«* tm K * & «91 s a m n-wttflu kk «*»»«A Iff».«+!*- tf*«(5«+ f. \$ 8 ft&**sh»«i«gh fc» >*mm - fi*k ***» SfSfU** If I* 'ft d««a»» **»* ft- **J?tft? 6Ii.ll. fcsc 4-*«tUttS ft(t»a stswi* fta^feftft ftftf I i ffl S 6 f J6 * M 1 * > I * f 11 3» SMI* lit l' K ^ ;~ K I fa 11* a -1 a «Iift4ffii; i i i i i i > i i * I * R t * I i i Plate 36. Allowing You To Be Chin Up and Chest Out- Advertisement of the 'Choun Chin Beauty Company'.'. < ; ' '/."-.-- ^iwwwspa&m. *N' ^ ^* m * * - ' ^ - ^ Plate 37. Zen I, Enjoying the Flower, Ching Dynasty

167 A Colour Plate 20. Round, Full, Soft, and Firm Breasts Give Women Confidence, Oil on Canvas / Embroidery on Satin, 120cm x 200cm, 1996

168 Painting 5. Round, Full, Soft and Firm Breasts Give Women Confidence (Colour Plate 20) The slogan from the 'Dan Li Beauty Company' appropriated on the purple panel states that, 'Round, full, soft and firm breasts gives women confidence'. (Plate 38) Below this slogan is a large photograph showing a confident western woman with large breasts. The other small illustration beside this is the opposite situation, displaying a woman who covers her chest with two arms, indicating it is very shameful if a woman does not have big breasts. This echoes the state in ancient times, where women without tiny feet would not have the confidence to allow their feet to show, in exactly the same way. To contrast with the slogan is the ancient picture displaying a beauty who lies down on her bed with a very confident expression and graceful gesture. (Plate 39) This paintingtitled,a Wakeful Nap by an unknown artist was also used as the illustration for the article called A Thousand Years of Golden Lilies Disaster. 184 In this painting, it is noticeable that hertinyshoes are shown quite obviously outside her skirt. It illustrates again that she has no need to hide her feet, instead, revealing them in quite a daring and alluring attitude because: A woman with bound feet was seen as the epitome of beauty, gentility and was most prevalent amongst the upper class. 185 On top of this, the part of this ancient picture I found most interesting is that a appears in her hand to enhance her attraction. This further attests to the decorative function of the fan I have stressed in my paintings. l g4 Yih Meng, p. 25. l 85 Katie Curtin, p

169 * SP Plate 38. Round, Full, Soft and Firm Breasts Give Women Confidence- Advertisement of the Dan Li Beauty Company' Plate 39. Anonymous, A Wakeful Nap, Ching Dynasty

170 Colour Plate 21. Don't Allow Your Man to Have Easy Control of You With One Hand, Oil on Canvas / Embroidery on Satin, 120cm x 200cm, 1996

171 Painting 6. Don't Allow Your Man to Have Easy Control of You with One Hand (Colour Plate 21) This text, 'Don't Allow Your Man to Have Easy Control of You with One Hand', had already appeared in the Pre-Show. It indicates a woman who possesses large breasts, which are bigger than the palm of a man's hand. The picture in the advertisement even shows a man's hand trying to grab the breasts of the model. This is the most popular and famous slogan in Taiwan's consumer market today and was created by the 'Women's Talk Beauty Company'. (Plate 40) Contrasting with the slogan is the ancient picture displaying a man holding the foot of the woman he is fond of. (Plate 41) According to the article, Sexual Culture in Ancient China: Bound feet were a mysterious and intimate part of ancient Chinese women's sexual attraction. For the man in the picture, fondling the woman's bound foot is highly stimulating. 186 Therefore, this contrast is a very interesting and ironic scene describing that me love the point of a woman's body with the same mentality, but the only difference is the size and the part of the female body men would like to control and possess. The breasts are better if they are bigger, but the feet are better if they are smaller just the desires of different times. The picture is taken from an illustration in Sinorama Magazine, June issue, l 86 Chang, Chiung Fang, p

172 : wtmmm&z&t^fm A^ gg#* wswnkmwmmmvssmm»ass«*»» - *IH?AMH»«X7IMM' U -»» \...':.'. : :, V, : : ;',»SKS«JW»»» < m Plate 40. Don'r A//ow Your Man to Have Easy Control of You with One Hand- Advertisement of "Women's Talk Beauty Company' Plate 41. Illustration in Sinorama Magazine June issue, 1995, Anonymous

173 In summary, the form of Painting Series II is related to the format of Chinese traditional scroll painting. The combination of two panels is also meaningful by contrasting the different materials and different content, emphasising the different beauty standards in different times and societies. In this series the paintings reveal their message through very simple elements such as the image painted in the moon, the flower of the water lily, and the text of advertising slogans. However, they explore a very deep and profound criticism of the mentality and forms of behaviour women submit to and men desire. 127

174 Colour Plate 22. Painting Series /// 1,2, Screen-Print on Suede / Embroidery on Satin, each 100cm x 50cm,

175 Colour Plate 23. Painting Seires III 3,4, Screen-Print on Suede / Embroidery on Satin, each 100cm x 50cm, 1996

176 Colour Plate 24. Painting Series III 5,6, Screen-Print on Suede / Embroidery on Satin, each 100cm x 50cm, 1996

177 (iii) Painting Series JJJ This series of paintings, composed of six joined panels, is the combination of Series I and Series II adopting the square form and utilising the idea of the combined panels to unify the whole concept which I had planned. (Colour Plates 22, 23 & 24) However, the texts inscribing the ironic slogans from advertisements are now finalised in one simple element and sign the golden lily, embroidered in gold. This is treated as a logo or trademark to define the images on the right hand side of the panel, which is in fact the symbol of footbinding I have portrayed in the previous works. Basically, the images I have employed and screen-printed onto the suede on the right hand side are the same as those I adopted in Painting Series I, such as stereotyped and fashionable faces, bodies and shoes from different times. This is to stress and repeat the original concept, but now expressed in a different approach and form. I have tried to present the works in the exhibition as one whole presentation and intact space, that gives the message its force of argument. The viewer can read, look and be involved in the art presentation as one single theme. Thus the elements were repeatedly explored to strengthen the concept and visual impact. Each series of paintings is displayed as a unique form and expresses the same concept, in the meanwhile, coordinating with each other in order to create variety, whether in the visual aspect or from the perspective of the mental concept. 128

178 Colour Plate 25. Detail of Colour Plate 26 Colour Plate 26. Painting Series TV 1,2,3,4, Oil on Canvas, each 30cm x 300cm, 1996

179 (iv) Painting Series IV This series came into being to express the last development of the final presentation, which describes the moon and the water lily in the black water in a rather romantic and free expressive way. The images inside the moon are also appropriated from historical imageries, such as the ancient woman performing her binding, the beauty holding a water lily, or the lady sitting inside a boat on the water lily pond. The document was the medical formula for footbinding which appeared in the previous series of paintings. (Colour Plates 25 & 26) The position of the moon and the water lily in this series becomes a critical element. It is an attempt to obtain an atmosphere suggesting the interrelated meaning between beauty, the flower and the moon. This invites the viewer to participate in the ancient spirit of Chinese history and the beauty myth of the bound feet. Such an extremely long shape for the canvas of 30cm x 300cm offers a powerful visual impact. Hopefully the viewer can be caught up easily and appreciate the mode of display, and can be affected by the sentimental phenomena in the paintings, where the moon appears on the top, middle and bottom in a correspondence with the water lily. The paintings give an appearance of beauty and loveliness, but they hint at a serious message and ironic statement something darker which I have stressed with my whole creative evolution and presentation in the works and in this documentation. 129

180 (c) Review There were more than twenty critiques and reviews on this final presentation when it was exhibited in the Taipei Fine Art Museum from 28 October to 26 November 1995 before being presented in Australia in (Plate 42) This gives me the opportunity to add other judgment into this document in supporting my viewpoint and confirming my theme. Therefore, the partial comments from three important and representative critiques in different specialist areas, i.e. the art critic, t feminist, and the art researcher, will be introduced as follows, including article from the Ming Shen News, Taiwan Weekly, and the Modern Art Magazine of the Taipei Fine Art Museum. Ms. Hung, Pao Ping in her article Beauty Myth Intertexts with Painting writes: The women's issue has been the important topic for Lin, Pey Chwen's art exploration for a long time. Her recent exhibition still shows the same attempt with immediate and explicit formulation and research work, which has revealed her better vision by amalgamating all the women's issues into a clearer picture and deeper capacity. The style of Ms. Lin is not as critical as other feminist artists'. People can very easily realise the theme of the exhibition via her clear but indirect (soft) painting language which, in fact, offers more strength for a deeper rethinking...her art work, a sort of allegorical, historical painting, utilises the symbolic approach allowing the texts and the imageries to sit together for the antithesis purpose, where she presents all her concepts thoroughly and successfully. Her methodology acknowledges the importance of allegorical theory in an historical aspect to question a vacuity in women's identity in which subjectivity shifts, while they are deflected through desire to become sexual forms to be filled by other's aesthetic standards. 187 The article Aesthetic ViolenceNiolent Aesthetic published by the head of the 'Women's Study Association', Dr. Lin, Fong Mei, expresses her opinion from the aspect of feminism. I see the topic for the art presentation of Lin, Pey Chwen, in fact, as an argument between violence and the aesthetic. She adopts the ancient visual elements to contrast with the slogans of the advertisements of the body reconstruction which make contemporary women in Taiwan suddenly see the fact they still have not reached true liberation yet. l 87 Hung, Pao Ping, Beauty Myth Intertexts with Painting, in 'Ming Sheng News', Taipei, 31 October

181 However, her art presentation is not only in the single direction of criticising the patriarchal ideology, but also embodies the rich ambiguous questions for women to rethink through the beautiful signs, such as the water lily, the shoes and women's faces and bodies, which all spread the strength of attraction and seduction. Therefore, in a close observation of Lin's paintings, the spectators are easily caught up by the attractive imageries she appropriated from historical pictures, which provide a kind of visual pleasure and illusion. Yet, its irony is infused into the accompanying slogans of advertisements which appear immediately beside the beautiful pictures to remind the viewer not to get trapped inside the beauty frustration and fascination. 188 The art researcher in the Taipei Fine Art Museum Dr. Hsu, Wen Chin writes: The most important content raised by Lin, Pey Chwen in her exhibition is the issue showing the substantial influence of consumer culture in Taiwan. She applies slogans of the advertisements together with ancient pictures of footbinding to create an illusion of time and space in attesting to the allegorical impulse, as well as in criticising that contemporary women in Taiwan are heavily governed by the consumer culture. They are convinced into pleasing men's desires by suffering their own physical pain through different kinds of body reconstruction. This is no different from the mentality and the behaviour of footbinding in ancient times. Her installation work in each section functions thematically by signalling a debate on women's position and subjectivity. Such clear observation towards the fashion trends indeed serves as a stunning blow to give a hit to women's silly behaviour in blindly pursuing their external appearance...lin, Pey Chwen stands in her position of the woman artist. Her significant contribution, through her art presentation and publication, in striving for truly creative space and the identity for women's art in Taiwan is markedly recognised in our art realm. 189 l 88 Lin, Fong Mei, Aesthetic Violence/Violent Aesthetic, in 'Taiwan Weekly', Taipei, Vol. 1 November 1995, pp l 89 Hsu, Wen Chin, A Revelation of the Water Lily, in 'Modern Art Magazine', Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, October 1995, p

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