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This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Pair of shoes and one tie. Leather sole, raised wooden heel (2" h.) painted green. Uppers: metallic thread and twisted cord braid appliqued 4 1/2" either side of toe, 1 1/4" deep, enclosing woven raffia applique. Colours: deep pink, gold, and black. Braid appliqued around top of uppers, and twisted and appliqued down centre of toe. Colours: pale green and beige. At heel: black cotton extension, appliqued 4 3/4" above uppers 4 3/4" w. All on black ground. Black cotton loop on either side, attached to uppers where extension joins. Cotton lining. Padded cotton insole. Separate red tie (part c). (Other tie is missing.)

History Of Use

These makeshift high-heeled shoes were made from existing flat-bottomed opera shoes made of fabric and then nailed onto wooden blocks that serve as the “heels.” After the May Fourth Movement, Shanghai women abandoned foot binding and began wearing Western-style "high heels." These shoes are extremely unusual in many respects: their style, their method of manufacture, and their materials. Their high heels suggest that they were worn with costumes made in the style of actual dress of the time rather than the in the style of the usual imperial world of Cantonese opera. They would have been used to represent a woman, and their size suggests that they were worn by a male actor. The cloth extension at the back allowed them to be fastened to the actor’s ankles with a cloth tie, as were the shoes representing bound feet. The role type may have been “fa daan”, or “female clown”, “neuih chauh”. The style of most Cantonese opera costumes derives from clothing of the Ming Dynasty, with the exception of some costumes that are specific in style to clothing of the Qing Dynasty, for operas set in that dynasty. Ming Dynasty style costumes are used for operas set in all other dynasties. In Cantonese opera, the standards for indicating particular role types and character types through costumes were and are not as strict as those for Beijing opera, and the use of symbols appears to have been inconsistent. The performance style of Cantonese opera is also much more flexible than that of Beijing opera, and change and novelty were and are valued. This is reflected in the costumes. It was important that robes and headdresses be appropriate to each other, but the footwear was less strictly controlled. Early in the twentieth century there was a multiplicity of role types, but the number of role types was simplified over time, and some were merged. More than one actor can play a particular role type at any one time, and they are ranked. Costumes are specific to general role type and often to character type, but rarely to the specific character. Male and female role types can be played by either men or women, depending on their abilities and attributes. In the past, troupes were all-male, but later all-female troupes and mixed troupes were formed. Mixed troupes were accepted in the overseas Chinese context before they were accepted in China.

Cultural Context

theatre

Specific Techniques

Wear on other costume elements shows that the fabric was woven with a silk weft and cotton warp, or vice versa. All visible stitching was done by hand. Cloth tape is hand-woven.

Iconographic Meaning

The high heels probably signified a modern woman.

Narrative

A large group of Cantonese opera costumes, musical instruments, props, trunks, and stage fittings was left with the Jin Wah Sing Musical Association, apparently by some of the many itinerant troupes visiting Vancouver to perform in the Chinatown theatres in the pre-World War II period. There is no certain knowledge of why these materials were not taken back to China by them. They were used by the Jin Wah Sing Musical Association in their performances until they became too dated. The association continued to preserve them carefully, storing them in their headquarters and in the basement of the Chinese Freemasons building until several groups of materials were sold and donated to the Museum of Anthropology.

Item History

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