The End of Footbinding in China as an Example of the Power of Networks, by June Holley, Network Weaver june@networkweaving.com How do we make a difference? How do we help bring about transformative change? The story of the end of footbinding is a great example of the way networks can be mobilized to bring about dramatic change in a very short period of time.

1. The
End
of
Footbinding
in
China
as
an
Example
of
the
Power
of
Networks
June
Holley,
Network
Weaver
june@networkweaving.com
How
do
we
make
a
difference?
How
do
we
help
bring
about
transformative
change?
The
story
of
the
end
of
footbinding
is
a
great
example
of
the
way
networks
can
be
mobilized
to
bring
about
dramatic
change
in
a
very
short
period
of
time.
Footbinding
–
the
practice
of
tightly
wrapping
the
feet
of
young
girls
so
that
their
feet
were
only
a
few
inches
long
–
started
about
1000
year
ago
and,
over
time,
over
90%
of
all
women
in
China
had
bound
feet.
Because
it
became
a
criteria
for
marriage
and
upward
mobility,
footbinding
was
extremely
resistant
to
change.
However,
a
major
change
effort
began
in
1895
and
within
20
years
the
practice
has
virtually
disappeared.
How
did
this
happen
so
quickly?
Until
the
mid
1800’s,
China
was
very
isolated
from
the
rest
of
the
world.
But
after
1850,
westerner
traders
and
missionaries
entered
China,
and
quickly
and
opening
expressed
their
horror
at
the
practice
of
footbinding.
Chinese
leaders
began
to
see
footbinding
as
holding
back
the
country
from
modernization.
Although
anti-­‐
footbinding
language
created
a
receptive
context
for
change,
it
initially
had
little
impact
on
behavior,
due
to
the
high
stakes
involved
in
changing
the
practice
(fear
of
not
being
able
to
marry
off
daughters).
Lesson
1:
You
need
different
and/or
outside
perspectives
to
make
breakthroughs.
But
in
1895,
things
began
to
change.
The
catalyst
for
this
change
was
a
remarkable
woman
named
Alicia
Little.
Alicia
was
a
successful
novelist
who
had
come
to
China
when,
in
her
40s,
she
married
a
merchant
with
a
thriving
business
in
that
country.
Lesson
2:
Even
one
energetic
and
persistent
person,
acting
as
a
catalyst,
can
start
transformational
change
but…
Network
leaders
are
often
not
the
highly
visible
individuals:
find
people
who
are
acting
as
a
catalysts,
because
they
have
the
potential
to
start
transformational
change
1

2. She
learned
Chinese,
built
a
network
of
very
well-­‐connected
individuals,
and
in
1895
formed
an
anti-­‐footbinding
association
with
a
small
number
of
influential
and
energetic
Chinese
and
western
women.
Lesson
3:
A
catalytic
core
needs
people
who
have
access
to
many
large
and
diverse
networks
to
have
maximum
impact
and
potential
for
spreading
the
change.
Instead
of
funding
organizations,
support
collaboratives
that
are
spanning
organizational
and
different
worlds
and
want
to
experiment.
Fund
the
collaborative
catalyst
role
and
experimentation
not
a
plan.
This
group
decided
to
act
as
a
catalyst
organization
–
encouraging
others
to
invent
solutions
to
this
problem.
For
example,
they
encouraged
influential
officials
to
come
up
with
slogans
that
were
easily
remembered.
In
one
instance,
Alicia
convinced
an
influential
official
to
paint
a
slogan
on
a
fan
that
she
used
when
she
gave
talks.
Lesson
4:
Get
high-­‐powered
individuals
to
participate
in
reframing
the
issue,
using
phrases
that
are
easy
to
remember
and
pass
on.
Provide
support
to
train
and
coach
collaboratives
to
identify
and
build
relationships
with
Influentials
and
help
collabortives
develop
core
ideas
in
simple
ways
so
they
spread
through
peer
networks.
The
“natural
foot”
group
used
money
to
help
jump-­‐start
the
change
process.
Initially,
they
raised
money
for
dowries
for
girls
whose
families
did
not
bind
their
feet,
so
that
they
would
be
much
more
likely
to
get
married.
They
produced
attractive
pins
that
were
widely
distributed
to
those
who
were
against
footbindg.
They
also
had
many
contests
to
encourage
ordinary
Chinese
people
to
write
poems
and
tracts
against
footbinding.
In
just
2
years,
over
8,000
poems,
booklets
and
articles
were
produced
arguing
against
footbinding
and
in
support
of
natural
feet.
Lesson
5:
Restructure
money
to
support
an
endless
stream
of
creativity.
Provide
funds
for
Innovation
Funds
that
encourage
a
continual
stream
of
creativity
and
engagement
by
ever
larger
networks.
2

3.
The
major
successful
strategy,
however,
was
a
new
structure
–
Natural
Feet
Leagues
–
where
families
joined
in
large
associations
where
they
would
publicly
commit
not
to
bind
their
daughters’
feet
and
not
to
let
their
sons
marry
women
with
bound
feet.
Once
300,000
people
signed
up
–
as
was
the
case
in
Shanghai
after
just
a
short
period
of
recruiting
–
families
began
to
feel
comfortable
that
their
daughters
would
find
marriage
partners.
The
formation
of
the
Shanghai
league
then
led
to
a
tipping
point
where,
within
a
few
more
years,
all
families
in
the
city
stopped
binding
their
daughters’
feet.
Lesson
6:
Keep
encouraging
innovation
and
then
notice
what
is
really
working.
Emphasize
the
importance
of
deep
reflection
to
identify
“patterns
of
success”.
Alicia
and
many
others
then
took
to
the
road,
traveling
in
carts
to
cities
throughout
China.
They
gave
lively
talks
decrying
footbinding,
then
shared
explicit
directions
for
starting
an
anti-­‐footbinding
association.
Lesson
7:
Share
the
idea
with
new
networks
and
encourage
people
to
self-­‐organize
to
implement
the
idea
in
their
community.
Once
collaboratives
have
identified
“patterns
of
success”,
provide
resources
to
spread
those
patterns
by
moving
into
new
networks.
Have
resources
to
encourage
and
support
expanded
collaboration
and
self-­‐organization.
The
results:
in
one
rural
community
where
statistics
were
gathered
the
results
were
as
follows:
1889
99%
bound
1899
94%
bound
1919
0%
bound
The
accompanying
powerpoint
can
be
found
at
http://www.slideshare.net/group/network-­‐weaving-­‐be-­‐rhizomatic
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