Guest Author - Heather J. Hasan
Each culture has its own idea of what constitutes beauty. Early American women would bind their waists with corsets to make their midsections smaller. In ancient Japan, staining the teeth black was considered not only a symbol of high class but also high beauty. Ancient China had foot-binding. From beautiful silk slippers to gliding dances rumored to have started the trend, bound feet were the ultimate symbol of beauty, power, and wealth.
The exact origin of foot-binding is not recorded in any book. The earliest and most prominent legend of the beginning of foot-binding is the tale of Sung Dynasty (960 - 1279 A.D.) Prince Li Yu and his concubine, Yao Niang. Prince Yu demanded his young concubine to bind her feet for toe-dancing, an early variation of ballet. She would perform on a platform shaped as a lotus. This is likely how the term "golden lily", which refers to the bound feet, originated. This legend has been disputed throughout history because walking is nearly impossible with bound feet and dancing would be out of the question. The legend pertaining to a Shang Dynasty Empress is a more probable story. This particular Empress was born with a club foot. In order for her deformity to seem less peculiar, she asked her husband to order all young girls to have their feet bound. No one knows which story is true. We do know that whoever started this ritual brought to life a Chinese tradition that would last for well over a millennium.
The task of binding a young girl's foot was left to the mother. The child's feet were soaked in an herbal tonic, then rubbed with special ointment to rid the feet of dead skin. After the soaking and rub, the child's 4 smallest toes were broken. Bandages soaked in warm water and herbs or animal's blood were wrapped tightly around the 4 broken toes and up to the heel. The feet were unbound and rebound tighter every 2 days. At 2 years, the feet were approximately 3-4 inches long. For the feet to remain this size, the process would continue for at least a decade.
Tiny, delicate silk slippers with intricate designs were worn on the bound feet. These slippers, often refered to as "lotus slippers", can be seen in many photos of Chinese women during the 19th century.
The binding had many effects on the young girls. The pain was excruciating. The stench of the blood-soaked bandages was overwhelming and often caused shunning of the young girls. If the feet were unbound in time, toes would likely fall off due to lack of blood being supplied to them. Toe nails would curl and cut into the skin causing the flesh to decay. The physical deformities was permanent and death was not uncommon due to atrophy and infection.
Foot-binding was done mostly by upper-class families in the ritual's early history, but by the time of the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911 A.D.), only poor families who needed the women to tend to the home and crops did not partake in the ritual. The end of the Qing Dynasty marked the end of dynasties in China as well as legal practice of foot-binding. The government officially banned the practice, demanding women to unbind their feet or face death, thus ending a detailed chapter in Chinese history and culture.
The effects of this practice can still be seen in many elder woman whos feet remain bound after many decades. The ritual is still practiced in some remote areas of China although it remains illegal.
