My fellow curator Ruixing Lu contributed these boots along with a description in Chinese of their purchase in a rural area near the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, along the coast south of Shanghai.  Ruixing’s daughter Lu Qi (luki) is in process of tanslating the document but there was a bit of English, Phragmites australis (Cav,) Trin. exSteud, just enough to tell us that the main construction material is the common reed.  This is large perennial grass with a distinctive fuzzy seed head in fall and winter that grows in wetlands globally in temperate and tropical regions. These boots look just perfect for the wet coastal plain on the edge of Wenzhou that is intensively farmed.  The wooden soles are essentially raised platforms good for walking in shallow water and mud, similar to some Japanese shoes.  The uppers consist of a netting, likely made from dried leaves from the reeds on which material consisting mainly of the seed heads is woven.  This creates a felt-like vamp that is very light weight and airy.  This would allow wet feet to dry quickly inside of the boots.  In a subtropical region like this one, waterproof footwear would cause feet to sweat and no doubt this would promote the growth of fungus and bacteria.  Fast-drying footwear keeps the feet much healthier in tropical climates.