Introduction to "The Story of an Inch Rope"
In 1924, there was a severe drought in southwestern Shandong. A nine-year-old girl, Xiao He, was sold as a child bride with two bushels of sorghum. She had her feet bound, learned calligraphy, and survived in the Yellow River burst, locust plagues, wars, and coal mine dark wells. Carrying a pair of silver bracelets and a section of reins, she survived a narrow escape: she could not be broken by floods, could not bend under the pressure of a well, and could not collapse in famine. She measured the troubled times with her three-inch feet, and guarded her home with her motherly nature.
"The Story of an Inch Rope" describes the famine and turmoil of the 30 years of the Republic of China. It also describes how a woman transformed "selling one's body" into "selling one's life", and then wrote "selling one's life" into "nurturing one's life" -
