Question: Can
you recognize where is this sound from? (A hint: Foot wear!)
Answer:
A pair of
Chinese clogs! Does the sound from this traditional Chinese footwear sounds
familiar to you?
Chinese clogs, 木屐 which translated as 'wooden clogs', or the Hokkiens called it 'Cha Kiak'. But i have never called it one of these names. Instead, my family mentioned it as 'Keg', a Cantonese word I suppose.
The origin is from China, but mostly worn by Malaysian and Singaporean. Looking from the appearance, it has thick wooden soles painted in red. Besides, a plastic skin with some nails nailed on the sides. Size? It's usually big. Unlike slipper, there is no left or right for the foots. Both sides look the same. Furthermore, it is not slippery. For the design, most of the clogs are in plain red. However, some clog makers will draw some fancy design on the clogs such as strips and pattern in order to have a prettier look on it.
Chinese clogs, 木屐 which translated as 'wooden clogs', or the Hokkiens called it 'Cha Kiak'. But i have never called it one of these names. Instead, my family mentioned it as 'Keg', a Cantonese word I suppose.
The origin is from China, but mostly worn by Malaysian and Singaporean. Looking from the appearance, it has thick wooden soles painted in red. Besides, a plastic skin with some nails nailed on the sides. Size? It's usually big. Unlike slipper, there is no left or right for the foots. Both sides look the same. Furthermore, it is not slippery. For the design, most of the clogs are in plain red. However, some clog makers will draw some fancy design on the clogs such as strips and pattern in order to have a prettier look on it.
Do you
notice the differences between the clogs at the left and right?
According
to some Google research, the left one with straight-designed sides are made for
men, the right one with curvy-designed sides are made for women. And I just
realized that I’VE BEEN WEARING THE MEN’ TYPE! I used to think this is the one
and only type…. Now I feel like I’ve been teased for my whole life, haha.
Back in
those days, I remembered my grandparents always wore their Chinese clogs when
they walk around the backyard, go to the farm, go to the toilet, do the dishes
at the kitchen. Thanks to its height and non-slippery feature, so the foot won’t
get wet and muddy.
Apart from
that, the Chinese clogs are used for wedding as well. It’s a religious taboo that
forbid the Chinese to gift someone a pair of shoes, but a totally different
case for Chinese clogs. It represents a sincere wish of hoping someone to live a
wealthy and contented life ahead. It also brings a meaning that new footwear
for a new journey in life. This tradition is still practicing by some
Chinese in this era.
Nevertheless, nowadays
just hardly to find a pair of Chinese clogs and perhaps we don’t really see
anyone wears it in real life anymore. Most of the people think it’s a pretty old-fashioned
footwear. Since there are so many decent looking footwear out there, plus they don’t
make noises.
Isn’t it sad to see this unique yet traditional Chinese footwear to get forgotten and become part of the history? That's my item to submit for the global time capsule project. See you in 2120!
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