The craft of making of string shoes (xian xie) from hemp or cotton could date to as early as the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD). In 2019, the same technique was used to make this pair of string shoes as part of a project devoted to the preservation of traditional crafts, led by fashion designer Ma Ke (b. 1971), the founder of Wuyong (Useless). She has made numerous visits to remote areas in different parts of China, recording traditional craft skills on the verge of extinction, along with the personal stories and reminiscences of ageing generations of artisans.
These indigo-dyed, cotton string shoes have quilted soles, known as ‘thousand-layered soles’, for comfort and durability. The process of making the soles is time-consuming, and involves stiffening the cotton fabric with starch, using a paper pattern to cut out multiple sole shapes and trimming them with bias-cut cotton edgings. Finally, small stitches are sewn all over the soles, using thick cotton thread to give them a quilted appearance and texture. Ma Ke named the shoes, xing jiao (‘walking foot’), a reference to itinerant Buddhist monks who would travel around to visit masters or educate followers.