Cultural Chinese Foot Binding

When—and why—was the practice of foot binding trendy?

The first recorded binding occurred in the 10th century. According to the story, an emperor had a favoured concubine, a dancer who built a gilded stage that formed a lotus flower. When she bound/contorted her feet into a hoof-like shape and danced on the lotus, the practice became very trendy; after all, she was the emddperor's favorite concubine and the other concubines attempted to follow in her footsteps and gain the emporers praise. So foot binding started with the royal court and then caught on throughout China, beginning in the south of the country and gradually reaching the north.

In the 1300's, foot binding had become much more popular, and by the early Qing Dynasty (in the mid-17th century), every girl who wished to marry had her feet bound. The only people who didn't bind their feet were the less fortunate , ethnic Hakka people, and women whose career in fishing required them needed to have normal feet in order to balance themselves on boats. strong text

At what age did girls get their feet bound? What did the process entail?

Girls would have their feet bound between the ages of four and six; any younger, the girls couldn't handle the pain, and by the time they were above the age of six their feet had already developed. Four to six was the preferable age because you could reason with the girls and aid them to endure the pain. Foot binding would occur in a ritualistic ceremony accompanied by other traditions intending to ward of bad luck.

The procedure required contorting the girls' toes underneath the sole, using very long ribbons to wrap their feet all the way to the ankle. Basically, the idea was to keep breaking the foot whenever it grew too big, a process that usually took between two and three years. Then the feet would be bound for the rest of the girl's life.

The girls, naturally, developed a peculiar way of walking—almost as if they had hooves. And in order to enable them to move around, women with bound feet developed strong muscles in their hips, thighs, and buttocks, so much so that these characteristics were considered physically attractive to the Chinese men of the era.

When was foot binding unfavourable?

In the 19th century, nearing the completion of the Qing Dynasty, Western countries settled in China and many Western people began to move to the country. This coincided with the peak of foot binding, when the practice was most common. So a majority of Western women, particularly the wives of Christian missionaries, became strongly against the practice, producing pamphlets and even opening shelters in support of afflicted women. Around the same time, Chinese intellectuals who had studied abroad in Europe and in North America returned to China and stated their support for abolishment. So by the time Pearl Buck was writing in 1923, after the Qing Dynasty had fallen, the practice had become unfashionable.

This change in fashion suddenly had a perverse side effect: Many girls who had had their feet bound in order to recieve marriageable standards abruptly found themselves unwanted by their spouse because foot binding was no longer trendy. Worse, in larger cities some people would find women with bound feet and cut off their bindings, a humiliation because these women would never, ever manifest their bare feet to anyone—not even their husbands. For them, the process that began with a lot of pain and tears likewise ended with pain and tears. Government officials even came to people’s houses to forcibly remove the bindings on women’s feet, if they refused to them themselves. They would display the bindings in their windows to shame them.

By the time Mao Zedong took control of China in 1949, foot binding was no longer in practice except in a few remote, mountainous reigons in China.

Was there any push-back in support of foot binding among traditionalists?

Yes. In Shanghai there were numerous debates between apposing individuals of foot binding and advocates of natural feet—debates that were well-attended by both men and women. At first, those who proposed foot binding were successful in these debates, but soon enough those that opposed it prevailed. One statement was this: Unbound women would show off their beautiful bare feet, which stood in such stark contrast to the disturbing, ugly images of bound feet, which only looked good in artisan-crafted embroidered shoes.

Jo Farrell is documenting a tradition that is dying out with China’s oldest women: foot binding.

A concluding clip hilighting the effects and method of foot binding