Written by:
Sophie Tan, Year 12
Women with bound feet are looked on now-a-days as a rarity. The survivors of this curious tradition are now mostly 80 years and counting; but that is not to say interest in the age-old practice of foot binding has dwindled with their numbers. The modern viewer is at once drawn to the delicate foot, swathed in layers of stockings, socks and heavily embroidered slippers, as they are appalled by the grotesque distortion of the foot itself – a distortion that resembles a pig’s foot.
The origins of the bound feet, romanticized as ‘lotus feet’, remain shrouded in myth. One tradition dates back to the Shang Dynasty (1700-1027 BC), when the Empress Da Yi supposedly demanded that foot binding be made mandatory in order to make her own clubbed-feet the model beauty of the court. The more widely accepted story, however, is that the Emperor of the much later Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) was captivated by a dancing girl, who bound her feet to resemble two crescent moons. Interestingly, some scholars have argued that the allusion to the dainty and small foot of Cinderella may be seen as an indication of the tale’s Chinese origin. Indeed, in their scramble to have the slipper fit their bigger feet, Cinderella’s step-sisters are supposed to have mutilated their feet to fit the tiny, exquisite slippers – a mutilation very much like the laborious process of foot binding at the time.
In a China dominated by the whim of men, what men wanted, men got. Due to their small feet, women had to resort to the so called ‘lotus gait’, a mincing manner of walking achieved by bending the knees slightly and hobbling about on the heels. The taut muscles around the hip and thigh area, which resulted, was considered to be physically attractive. So all consuming was this fetish, in fact, that a Victorian missionary noted that, ‘The girl with a three-inch-sole and an ugly face ha[d] a better chance in the matrimonial market than a five-inch-soled girl…[with] a face like a Madonna.’ What’s more, the transcending allure of the lotus feet was such that men were said to drink from the foul-smelling bandages of the deformed foot, of which the smell was though to be rich and exotic. Certainly, the process of binding the foot, which involved curling the toes under the arch and breaking the bones, gave rise to a number of problems. Restricted blood supply during the winter months would result in necrosis, especially if aggravated by frostbite. Bacteria that accumulated in the folds of the toes – or rather, a remnant of what had once been toes – meant that pus and blood would very often ooze from the foot.
Women of the time were only too willing to pander to the ideal of ‘lotus feet’. The ultimate sacrifice in the name of beauty, women had their feet bound from a very young age - around the ages of 2 to 7 - while the bone had not yet hardened. Some submitted obediently, in the belief that bound feet was the only way to make them more valuable in the marriage market, and more able to maintain or – or better – their station in life. Others hid and were forced, by stick and whip, to comply with the excruciating process of foot binding.
The foot was first soaked in a warm solution, which could range from water to a concoction of animal blood and herbs, in order to soften the arches of the foot. The toes were then broken and folded back, with a cloth wound tight over the bones. The foot would have to be unbound regularly and washed, to avoid dangerous infections. In some cases, perversely, sharp objects were purposely pierced into the binding, so that toes rotted and fell off of their own accord; at the end of the process, which took around 2 years, the girl achieved the 3-inch ‘Lotus of Gold’. A four-inch foot was called the ‘silver lotus’ and an even bigger foot was condescendingly termed the ‘iron lotus.’
The bound foot was a source of pride to the woman, her husband and her family. In more elite circles, mothers would promise sons in marriage only to girls who had had their feet bound. But much more than being merely an aesthetic quality, the bound foot was a symbol of a woman’s patience and submission, endearing qualities to the traditionally minded Chinese man. A woman had to rely on helpers to aid her in travelling any sort of distance, especially those from the upper classes where the strictest forms of foot binding occurred. A wife (or wives) with bound feet was a symbol of power for both men and women. Only women from the upper echelons of society could afford to have their feet bound; girls from rural areas were forced to live more mobile lives. Indeed, some women from the lower classes did bind their feet, but only with the prospect of marrying rich. They became a very potent symbol of power to men: only rich men could afford a wife who need not lift a finger to help bring in wages.
The current attitudes versus the traditional attitudes to foot binding are, of course, very different. The contemporary man or woman looks back on the practice of foot binding with repulsion; the once exotic smell of a decomposing foot is now taken for what it is – the horrible smell of a decomposing foot. The practice of foot binding went out of fashion in the 1900s after it was banned during the communist regime, and although some Chinese, particularly in the rural areas, tried to trick the inspectors – some wore large shoes over their pygmy feet and stuffed it with cloths – the idea of the ‘Lotus Feet’ is now a dim memory of the past.
Punishing beauty treatments still continue in China, needless to say, as it does in other countries. A few years ago, in fact, there was a contest for the ‘Ugliest Girl in Shanghai. The prize? 100, 000 RMB for cosmetic surgery. In Japan, some people break their teeth to satisfy their own notion of ‘beautiful’; in Thailand the Kayan people elongate their neck by shrinking their torso and lowering their necks with heavy rings. Practices like this still continue, but perhaps the culture of foot-binding in China remains one of the ultimate sacrifices for beauty recorded in history. Very few cultures have practiced a tool of deformation on such a large, consistent scale. And perhaps, none have lasted a millennium.
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