The SSP Facebook page (see also the Links page under About>Resources>Links) features several videos showing the special relationship between humans and footwear.  For example the effect of new red dancing shoes on the dancer in the YouTube video Tanzschule is shown beautifully.  We are left to imagine what the dancer is thinking and feeling.  The same may be said for the Seated Dancer in an old Roman statuette from the late third or early fourth century A.D.

Recently, I received a message from Ruixing  Lu that he found some baby straw shoes at  The Straw Articles store near Chenghuang Temple in Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai.  The shoes were made in a Shanghai suburb and are contemporary. Thanks to Luki, my translator, we know that Ruixing wrote “囡囡小草鞋” as the topic.  “囡” is in the Wu dialect. It is a nickname for little kids.  Ruixing created a link for us to get a preview of the new items.  The Wu dialect is spoken in an around Shanghai.  It has properties of a separate language but is considered in China to be a dialect of Chinese.  If you would like a brief introduction of this ancient dialect, Luki provided a link here.  The shoes are now in the Collection and are labeled C17 and C18.

In addition, Ruixing sent two pairs of womens’ sandals found in a suburb of Wuxi.  They date back to the 1920s.  We know this because these sandals were found in a closet with old letters, wedding invitations and other items in the attic of an old Wuxi building during the demolition of the Zhengxing Road in March of 2010.  They are now in the Collection as items C19 and C20.