Chinese Foot Binding
Today, the situation for women in China is unacceptable by Western standards. However, when compared to the situation in historic China, today’s circumstances are favorable for Chinese women.
For generations, women in China have been treated as second-class citizens in the Chinese male-centered society. Throughout Chinese history, women were denied education and independence, while others were sold as servants or consorts. In the poorest parts of China, female infants were so undesirable that newborn girls were sometimes killed. The practice of foot binding is yet another example of the inequality Chinese women faced in the past.
Foot binding was an ancient custom in China, lasting from the 10th century until 1911, when it was made illegal by the government. This tradition involved tight, painful binding of the feet and toes using bandages in order to keep the feet as small as three inches. The practice rendered the feet practically useless, confining the woman to her home. At first, it was practiced by only the very rich, who regarded it as a status symbol. Over the years, the practice spread to even poor farming families until only the poorest of the poor had daughters with unbound feet. By then, foot-binding had become a must for females because unbound girls were considered unsuitable for marriage.
The practice of foot binding started when a girl was anywhere from four to six years old, during which time a mother would [usually break and] bend her daughter’s toes under her feet and tightly tie bandages around the feet to keep them from growing. As a result, the toes would grow into the sole of the foot in a misshapen manner, destroying the normal arch and making normal use of the feet totally impossible. This process took several painful years to finish, and often caused infection, gangrene, and even death. Girls were finally unbound when the feet stopped growing, leaving them with useless three-inch “Lotus Feet.”
To parents, having daughters with tiny feet symbolized that her family was so rich that their daughters did not have to work, thus elevating the status of the family. In addition, the small, unsure steps of a woman with lotus feet were considered very feminine, while the inability to walk long distances helped to ensure the girl’s virginity, as she could not leave home.
The ramifications of this debilitating practice were huge. The practice existed in almost every social class to the point where women with bound feet were a majority. Because of this custom, women became totally dependant on male relatives, thus reinforcing their subordinate positions in life. Women stayed at home, unable to work or to have any sort of public life. The practice was an ingenious, as well as cruel, method of social control over generations of women, keeping them from seeking independence and liberation.
x-ray of the normal and the bound foot