One woman on a mission: saving tiger-head shoes
Print Edition
FOR centuries, tiger-head shoes were all the rage for children in north China, if not the entire country, until about 30 years ago. Now, like the animal itself, the traditional footwear is on the edge of extinction.
Hu Shuqing, 51, from central China’s Henan Province, has spent 17 years collecting more than 10,000 pairs of the shoes. “I will give most of these shoes to public museums, so that our next generation and the one after can see them.”
Chinese people began making tiger-head shoes in ancient times. In China, the tiger was seen as king of all animals. People used to believe that its image would protect toddlers from evil.
Some parents told their children a folk tale about the shoes. A wicked official abducted the beautiful wife of a boatman. Missing his mother badly, her son went to see the official in a pair of tiger-head shoes. The official refused to let the woman go and the shoes suddenly turned into two tigers and killed him, so the family were finally reunited.
Tiger-head shoes had many variants. Some people use frogs or peacocks, while others sewed snakes and scorpions.
Hu was born into a family of paper-cutters, but her mother and grandma both made tiger-head shoes. “My daughter grew up wearing the shoes her grandma made,” she said. Back then she was too young to see the shoes as special.
In 2000, she was attracted by a pair of tiger-head shoes at a temple fair, a festival at Chinese New Year that often features performances and folk markets.
“The tigers on the shoes were embroidered according to paper-cutting patterns,” she said.
From that day, she has collected the shoes.
Normally she travels between September and December. “Kids wear tiger-head shoes in winter,” she said. “They are pretty and warm.”
An intangible cultural heritage inheritor herself, Hu earns about 200,000 yuan (US$29,000) a year. She spends most of her money on traveling and purchases.
A pair of shoes can cost anything from 12 to 150 yuan, but they are not easy to buy.
She remembers a granny in her 70s in a nearby village. “I visited her three times, but she refused to sell the shoes.” The granny was making the shoes for her grandson. “The shoes were handmade and unique.” Hu decided to try again. The fourth time, she bought gifts for the family. Touched by her persistence, the granny gave her two pairs.
Four bookshelves and two basement rooms in Hu’s home are now piled high with tiger-head shoes, mostly red and yellow.
Women in the countryside normally make tiger-head shoes during off-season for farming.
As China develops, young parents prefer more fashionable clothes and shoes for their children. “There are less in demand. As a result, fewer people still want to make them,” Hu said.
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