Background

Residents of China's rural villages often lacked basic medical care, and consequently often relied on superstitious beliefs to ensure that their children would lead long, healthy lives.  These beliefs often influenced what the children wore, for their clothing often had various auspicious designs embroidered or appliqued on it--these designs were thought to help ward off evil spirits.  Many clothing items were made in the shape of dogs or pigs or other animals so that evil spirits would be fooled into believing that the child was just an ordinary animal--and the spirits would have no reason to harm these animals.

One animal frequently used for protection was the tiger, the king of beasts, for it was thought that the tiger would scare away ghosts.  Tigers appeared on hats, stuffed animals, pillows, and shoes; parents hoped that by having these tigers around, the child would be more likely to grow up to be as strong and as brave as a tiger.  Furthermore, the tiger eyes in tiger shoes would give a child additional eyes to see more clearly while walking.  Tiger garments were also significant because of a wordplay: the character for tiger is pronounced in a way similar to the way the character for wealth is pronounced (both are pronounced hu), and thus many parents thought tiger clothing would help the child to have a prosperous future. 

The above information is adapted from Arts and Crafts of China by Scott Minick and Jiao Ping, published by Thames and Hudson in 1996 (p. 20).

Our Tiger Shoes

The tiger shoes sold by Chinese Folk Art were hand-made by women from a village in Shandong Province.  No two pair are alike, though all have either red or green as their dominant color. 

The shoes are not sized, and are more for decoration than for wearing, though they could be worn.  Each shoe is 5 1/2 inches (14 cm) long, and is 3 1/8 inches (8 cm) wide at the widest part (2 1/2 inches [6.5 cm] wide at the narrowest part). 
 
 

No. TS-01(red) $18 per pair Pair(s) Don't show the cart after I click "Add to Cart"	No. TS-02(green) $18 per pair  Pair(s) Don't show the cart after I click "Add to Cart"