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RESEARCH PAPER
FOOTBINDING: A PAINFUL TRADITION IN CHINA
By
Liliana Melo
Composition I. I: An Introduction to Expository Writing, Course 101.5767
LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City
November 16. 2006
OUTLINE
Thesis: / Although footbinding increases a woman’s chances of marrying well, it was a violent act against women.I. Footbinding:
A. Definition.
B. Origin and its history
C. Description and Process.
D. Myth around footbinding
II. Footbinding increased a woman’s chance of marrying well.
A. Beauty
B. Eroticism and Femininity
C. Obedience and Discipline
D. Status and Social position in Chinese society
III. Women’s position in Chinese society during 10th century of Imperial China.
A. Family.
B. Women’s work.
IV. Footbinding was a violent act against women.
A. Physical pain and its deformations.
B. Psychological and emotional pain and its relationships.
C. Footbinding thought the death
V. Conclusion.
Footbinding: A Painful Tradition in China
“Keep her barefoot and pregnant,"
- Old Chinese Saying -
During the time women have deformed, mutilated, bounded, changed, manipulated, damaged, and altered their bodies not only to survive in the society, but also to satisfy the men erotically and sexually. Thus, one of the most painful ways in which women participated in and became bound to patriarchy was the footbinding. Footbinding was a Chinese tradition of the binding the feet of women lasted for 1,000 years. Mothers bound their daughters’ feet, and footbinding evolved into a rite of passage into womanhood within the Confucian system, which valued female domesticity and textile arts. “The historical origins of footbinding are frustratingly vague, although brief textual references suggest that small feet for women were preferred as early as the Han dynasty” (Vento 1). This custom was “the act of wrapping a three- to five-year old girl's feet with binding so as to bend the toes under, break the bones and force the back of the foot together” (Vento 1). Its main purpose was to generate a tiny foot, the "golden lotus", which was three inches long and thought to be both lovely and alluring (Ping x). In fact, footbinding symbolized the Chinese nation, civilized man, and the patriarchal power; in order words, the smallness of the feet became a source of pride for the woman - she was considered unmarriageable without them- (Vento 3). In addition, footbinding was the way to introduce a young girl to the patriarchal power that would exist and dictate a woman throughout her entire life. Although footbinding increased a woman’s chances of marrying well, it was a violent act against women. In fact, footbinding was an enduring violence and pain, mutilation and self-mutilation in the name of beauty and good marriage, and was transmitted only through codes of silence that was only a masquerade (Ping xi)
“Theories on the origins and purpose of footbinding are proposed, and the erotic element is strongly stressed” (Ross 327). According to the records and sources, the practice of footbinding was originated during the fifty years that elapsed between the T’ang Dynasty (618-906) and it gradually spread through the upper class during the Song Dynasty (960-1297) (Greenhalgh 7). In the early 10th century, Emperor Li Yu of the Southern Tang dynasty in China ordered his favorite dancer, Yao-niang, to bind her feet in silk ribbons and dance on a platform littered with golden lotus flowers so that her feet would look like new moons. From that day on, foot binding was often associated with the term golden lotus. In fact, the most popular and stylish type of footbinding shoes were known as "golden lotus" or "lotus shoe". Also this term is a synonym for bound feet. Most lotus shoes were beautifully embroidered and about three inches long ("lotus shoes"). The lotus shoes are known to be lovely and alluring to the male population in China (Vento 1). Although footbinding was lovely and alluring, it is also life threatening (Vento 1). Foot binding was something practiced only by those within the royal court but soon women of all social classes were eager to have dainty, "beautiful" and desirable feet (Greenhalgh 8).
In the article “The Disappearance of Footbinding in Tinghsien” by Sidney Gamble explains the situation of footbinding during the twelfth century.
“The highly influential scholar-philosopher, Chu His (1130 – 1200), according to the Dr. Lin Yutang, was “enthusiastic in introducing footbinding in southern Kukirn as a means of spreading Chinese culture and teaching the separation of men and women … The custom does not seem to have penetrated northern China to any great extend under the Liao, the Chin, or the early Yuan dynasties” (181).
By the same token, in the chapter II “Brief History of Footbinding” of the book Aching for Beauty by Wang Ping describes that “Tao Zongyi (1,368) records in his Chuo geng lu that footbinding was still infrequent between 1,068 – 1,085” (31). In order words, the practice of footbinding already started, although it was still rare. Nevertheless, during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), “footbinding began to spread all over China. Bound feet, apart from being the measurement for beauty, became the symbol for social status” (Ping 32). In the same way during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the custom of foot binding spread through the overwhelming majority of the Chinese population. In the article “The Poisoned Lotus” by Beth Harrison confirms the following:
“Although footbinding in China can be traced back to the twenty-first century BCE, the practice spread during the Song dynasty (960-1279CE). By the beginning of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), despite a ban imposed by the Manchu rulers, all classes of Han women (the predominant Chinese ethnic group) bound their feet. (1).
In fact, Ping points out what happened to footbinding during the Qing dynasty:
“Footbinding reached its peak in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), even though the Manchu emperors forbade Manchu girls to bind their feet and throughout their rule gave numerous orders to stop the practice among Han women (the largest population of the ethnicities in China)” (33).
The journal “The Body as Attire” by Dorothy Ko introduces the symbol of the Chinese nation and civilized man in the bound foot. In a 17th century story we are shown how officials decided to strength their defense against the barbarians. “One suggestion is to entice them (the barbarians) to civilize their customs by having their women follow the Chinese method: have them all tie up and bind their feet into the arch shape. Their men would thus be indulgent; would become lax in striking and lancing. This would weaken and subdue the barbarians” (Ko 11). During the 17th century China also introduced the “Chinese clothing and civilizing project” (Ko 12). Here clothing “headdress, dress, and shoes”(Ko 12) all became symbols of political control and the Chinese nation. At this time China was constantly being invaded and therefore the clothing of an individual became a function of friend or foe. “Unadorned bodies and feet were thus seen as visible signs of savagery of peoples”(Ko 12). Visible unbound feet were seen as being savage-like than it is only normal that a woman would want her feet bound. Not only because as a woman she would be placed at the bottom of society, but also she had to have unbound feet as well she would be lower than the lowest.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the first anti-foot binding society was formed in China (Ping 36). The main point of the anti-foot binding society was that the pain a woman went through in the foot binding process and through her life was an obstacle to her education (Broadwin 421). Society members argued that the practice of footbinding was painful, deforming and crippling, and it was a sign of sexual indulgence (Broadwin 427). As a result, “boundfoot women symbolized China’s lack of military strength, lack the economic productivity, and dissipation in individual erotic pleasures” (Broadwin 427). In the same way, Harrison says:
“After the fall of the Manchus in the early twentieth century, a national propaganda campaign against footbinding began. Women with bound feet abruptly lost their high social status. In anti-footbinding meetings, women's feet were bared, humiliating them and satisfying curious spectators. Suddenly footbinding was no longer a female rite of passage but a symbol of national shame” (2).
Finally in 1911 with the revolution of sun Yat-Sen, foot binding was officially outlawed.
The process of footbinding was in effort to make the feet narrower, but it also made the feet shorter because it forced the big toe and the heel closer together. In fact, this process was synonym of “the violent mutilation of the feet eliminates between human and beast, organic and inorganic” (Ping 3). Not only did footbinding whisper “seduction, eroticism, virtue, discipline, and sacrifices, but also it taught little girls about pain, about coming of age, about her place in this world, about her permanent bonding with her mother and female ancestors” (Ping 4). The process of footbinding had the following step:
1. “Place one end of the bandage, about two inches wide and ten feet long, on the inside of the instep and from there carry it over the four small toes and wrap them once.
2. From de inside of the foot, pull the binding toward the front point and turn it tightly around the big toe.
3. Wrap the heel from the outer side of the foot, and pull the binding toward the front point so that the heel and toes are drawn together as closely as possible. Wrap the front except for the bid toe.
4. Wrap over the instep, go around the ankle, and return to the instep.
5. Turn toward the heel and wrap the binding from the inner side of the foot to the front point.
6. Wrap from the inner side and over the instep ton the outer side. Wrap around the heel and pull the binding back toward the part of bending cloth on the instep.
7. Repeat the process from the beginning until the entire bandage is used, then sew the end to prevent the binding from coming loose” (Ping 4)
“Little girls were initiated into the binding between the ages of five and seven, when their bones were still flexible qi (primary life force) and their minds mature enough (dongshi) to understand the importance of this bodily discipline to undergo a long period of intense physical pain. The trauma radically changed her sense of the body in space and her sense of being in general” (Ping 6).
“Although the upper class began to binding as early as age three and the peasantry began as late as age twelve or thirteen. The initial binding was always performed by the mother or grandmother, whose “maternal feelings of compassion were more than offset by social considerations,” such as the necessity of finding a husband for the girl” (Greenhalgh 9).
“Once the girl’s foot had taken the desire size and shape, she would spend the rest of her life caring for the health and hygiene of her small feet and making the footwear she would use on them. Size and shape was both subject to continuing attention, effort, and some degree of transformation” (Turner 464)
Julie Broadwin through her article “Walking Contradictions: Chinese Women Unbound at the Turn of the Century” explains that “every locale and social class had different ideal sizes and shapes for the altered foot” (428). By the 1600’s, which is considered the height of the footbinding obsession, the perfect Lotus Foot was a mere 3” long. For women from an elite family, the 3” bound foot was the desired size. The wealthier women employed servants to do daily tasks and could afford to be carried around their village in sedan chairs instead of walking. For poorer women who needed to work, 5” was considered an acceptable size. Not only was the size a factor to judge the perfect Lotus foot, but also the shape of the foot was taken into account. If the foot were misshapen, as in crooked or a large big toe, it was not considered beautiful. The popularity of the properly proportioned and well-shaped Lotus Foot made the girl who possessed them a good catch for marriage. For a girl from a poor family the well-bound lotus foot could give her the opportunity to marry into a higher class.
Likewise, footbinding was around some myths among men. Kaz Ross in his article “(Hand) Made in China: the curious return of the footbinding shoe” points out two important assumptions of footbinding.
“The first is the importance of vision: seeing is believing. The second is that the bound foot is the ‘sexual holy grail’. Although the bound foot may not look immediately ‘sexy’ within western sexual taxonomy there is an unbreakable link between the bound foot and sex, which becomes stretched (but not broken) once the bound foot is nothing more than a curious oddity and an obvious symbol of the exotic rather than the erotic” (318).
In the same way, “the multiple values, inclining beauty and morality, which women believed their bound feet embodied, remained relevant” (Broadwin 418). Footbinding was “a tradition that evolved in the concept of "ideal image" including beauty, marriage and sex” (Vento 3). Footbinding was also considered charming, showed a sense of class, and was the symbol of chastity in most Chinese cultures. It was believed to promote health and fertility, although in the reality the tradition was malodorous and virtually crippling (Vento 2). In fact, it was a way to keep women in seclusion from the rest of the world, which made them more dependent on others and less useful around the house. Therefore, the beauty of the foot could not be divorced from the beauty of the shoe.