CHINA'S BOUND FEET

Three images stand in stark relief when examining the lives of women during China’s late imperial era. First is the binding of a young girl’s feet as passage into womanhood; her feet were mutilated to attract a husband. Second is the chaste widow and moral exemplar who was expected to be loyal to her late husband and his family until she died. And finally, there is the phenomenon of female infanticide, reflecting the cruel logic of the higher value of sons over daughters. Chinese cultural mores emphasized the perpetuation of the patriline—the father’s side of the family, carried on through his sons. Male heirs were crucially important for tradespeople and peasants, who depended on the labour of healthy sons.

When it came to raising a daughter, traditional, conservative mothers and fathers strove to make sure that she grew up to be a guixiu, that is, a cultivated young lady. From their point of view, she should be polite, demure, and skilled at spinning, weaving, and embroidery. She should know how to mill grain and prepare and preserve food. Ideally, she would also be educated— well versed in the prose and poetry of model women of the past and familiar with some of the many how-to manuals that were widely available. Careful note was taken of a female child’s birth year, month, and day so that later she could be carefully matched to a fiancé. From that day forward, elite and common girls alike were raised to be chaste, disciplined, and hard-working.

At about age six, a girl would have her hair tied up in tufts. Hair tying marked the beginning of preparation for foot binding, a gruesome measure. The girl’s feet would be cleaned and her toenails trimmed to avoid cuts and infection. Infection and gangrene were common during the binding process. To begin, the four smaller toes were folded under, and strips of wet cotton cloth were wrapped around the forefoot. More cotton strips drew the heel forward—exaggerating the arch—and were stitched in place. As the cloth dried, it contracted, gradually breaking the bones of the arch. The girl’s dressings would be changed every couple of days, drawing the foot tighter and tighter. Getting her feet to fit into the ideal three-inch-long lotus shoes could take months of binding.

It’s thought that this practice started among 10th-century court dancers, who bound their feet to dance en pointe—like modern ballerinas. Small feet became a sexual fetish in Chinese society. Sex manuals from the 18th century list four dozen ways to play with a bound foot. Tiny feet and a delicate gait were also crucial symbols of status and good breeding among elite women. The wealthy wrapped their tiny feet in the finest silks and clad them in elegant shoes featuring their finest embroidery. Some ethnic minorities rejected foot binding. But among the Han Chinese majority, it was almost universal by the 17th century, and not effectively banned until the 20th century. 

From the Great Courses: Understanding Imperial China