The Lotus Shoes by Jane Yang

The Lotus Shoes is the debut novel by Jane Yang which is set in the late nineteenth century when China is beginning to open up to the influence of the Western world. The story has two narrators, Little Flower, who was raised in poverty and sold as a muizai (a servant) to the Fong family when she is child, and her mistress, Linjing, who has been raised in a privileged position as her father’s favourite daughter. Yet, Linjing is jealous of Little Flower’s perfect ‘golden lilies’ (bound feet) which are highly prized in the marriage market and her embroidery skills which endear her to Linjing’s mother.

When her father orders Linjing’s feet not to bound as he plans to marry her into a progressive Chinese family who frown upon foot binding, Linjing manipulates her father into having Little Flower’s feet unbound out of spite and the girl grows up with deformed feet as a result. This is just one of the many malicious things Linjing does to Little flower over the years even when she claims to value her servant’s friendship. While the two girls start out as adversaries, the story suddenly jumps ahead ten years and we are told by Linjing that the two have developed a bond over the intervening years and have become friends, however Linjing is an untrustworthy narrator as she tends to see things they she wants to see them rather than how they actually are. Fearing being mistreated by her future mother-in-law, Linjing decides she needs Little Flower with her and destroys the girl’s marriage prospects.

Due to her position as a subordinate, Little Flower doesn’t have much of a say in her life but she is nevertheless a far more spirited character than Linjing and everything she does is with an eye to her future marriage where she will finally be free of servitude in the Fong household. But when Linjing destroys her prospects, Little Flower is devastated and her attempt to escape her fate almost robs her of her ability to embroider. Little Flower’s embroidery skills are much admired within the Fong family but the exquisiteness of her designs make Linjing jealous as she cannot hope to compete. Little Flower’s skill also contributes to her developing a close bond with Linjing’s mother which makes the other girl jealous.

When her position in the Fong household is usurped by the birth of a long-awaited male heir, Linjing soon finds herself at the mercy of her father’s second wife who unravels a secret about Linjing’s birth that will cause the girl to question everything she has ever known. Ostracised from her family, Linjing must rely on the charity of her maternal aunt who is the head of a group of sisters who have taken a vow of chastity. With no practical life skills, Linjing has to rely completely on Little Flower but she is in for a rude awakening when Little Flower tells her she is no longer her servant and she should be now treated as an equal. Linjing is astounded by Little Flower’s audacity and it drives a wedge between the two girls that almost leads to tragedy.

There were a lot of things I liked about The Lotus Shoes but there were also a few I did not like. I enjoy books set in pre-revolution China and this one held great promise as it was set in a time where Chinese customs were in danger of being overshadowed by Western influences. Linjing’s father’s decision not to have his daughter’s feet bound is based on the fact that Westerners find it distasteful and he is engineering a marriage for her with a progressive Chinese family who have a lot of business dealings with Westerners. However, perfect ‘golden lilies’ are still prized by Chinese families and Linjing’s big feet leave her future marriage prospects almost impossible.

The relationship between Little Flower and Linjing reminds me a lot of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See where two girls form a friendship until they reach the age where their class differences start to interfere. The fortunes of the two girls change as the story develops until the poor girl ends up being the wealthy one which puts their relationship under severe strain. The bond between the two girls was allowed to develop over time and was all the better for it, however we do not get that in The Lotus Shoes. The friendship between the two girls is all in the head of Linjing who claims she has learned to appreciate Little Flower, however we don’t really get a sense of why since Linjing spends most of her time sabotaging any happiness Little Flower may gain. It’s all very frustrating and I would have much preferred to have had only Little Flower as the narrator.

The wider themes regarding how women are perceived in Chinese society are far more interesting since none of the women portrayed, whether they are of high or low rank, are really free to be themselves. A high ranked woman goes from being the property of her father to the property of her husband where her position is only valued on her ability to have a son. In her own household, a wife is often subservient to her mother-in-law and has to put up with the machinations of sister-wives who are jockeying for position. At the bottom of the ladder, female servants are doomed to a life of servitude unless their owners are agreeable to an eventual marriage, however they are really only exchanging one form of servitude for another.

I also would have liked to have seen a bit more focus on how Western influences were affecting Chinese customs during this time period. There are a few throwaway remarks about how the West has been responsible for the growing addiction to opium amongst the Chinese population but this is not expanded on as the author chooses to concentrate on female issues. A female missionary tells Little Flower she should be holding out on marriage until she finds a man worthy of her which is a huge deal to Little Flower as she cannot imagine such a thing. However, Little Flower soon comes to realise that no woman, Chinese or Western, is really free in a patriarchal society. All in all, not a bad debut novel and I would certainly read more from this author.