Beauty From Other Cultures-China & Foot Binding

Beauty From Other Cultures-China and Foot Binding

Of all the ancient Chinese customs, Chinese foot binding- also called lotus feet- is a beauty subject that I’ve always been fascinated by, and have researched on and off throughout my life. It wasn’t always about beauty. The practice also showed your status in life and your identity as a Woman and as a Man. There’s even a small very glossy book published in the last decade, with just pictures and pictures of the shoes worn by those Women with bound feet. I feel a weird kind of awe when I look at those pictures. Although this book had no pictures of Chinese bound feet, just looking at the pictures of the shoes, gives you an idea of the freakiness of it all.
OMG!!! Can you imagine? I couldn’t play water volleyball, go for a walk, or dance like no ones watching.

X-ray of feet

Chinese Lotus Shoes 

                                                                   

It’s estimated that 4.5 BILLION (some say only 2 BILLION) Chinese Women were subjected to this practice over a 1000-year period. As you can imagine there is much history involved-which I will go into briefly.
There are many theories, but no one is sure how this custom or what ever you would like to call it -started. Some say it was started as a way to emulate the tiny feet of a prince’s favorite concubine. Some say bound feet started after an empress who had club like feet. Her feet became viewed as a desirable and  beautiful attribute.
I have to say that not ALL of China practiced foot binding. There is a long history about who in China practiced this and the competition between different factions.
Foot binding was first practiced in the elite class of families and represented the females freedom from manual labor, and the males ability to afford the burden of a wife-or wives-who only directed the household, but did no physical labor. The foot binding process took a lot of years and pain to accomplish the 3 inch or Golden Lilies ideal.

O.K. The bottom line is that the process WAS pretty gruesome. Breaking the arch of the foot and four toes-THEN binding all that IN-to an eventual 3-inch total foot length, AND at an early age-mind you. OOOWWWW!!!!!! Not only is your childhood ruined, but so is the rest of your life. Your rendered inoperable. This was pretty?? Open sores, puss, stench, toenails digging into your flesh, gangrene, and even death. One old lady I read about said she was a virtual prisoner in her own home for 75 years. She felt too much pain for her to walk very far. Although there were dance troops with bound feet, and women who worked in the fields after the Communist Revolution-they were ALL in great pain. Foot binding was banned in 1912, and women were told to unbind their feet or they would be killed. Is that all?? What else can be done to these poor souls? In 1949 the Communists enforced a strict prohibition on binding, which included all areas of China, even ones so remote that they had never heard of the 1912 edict.
These tiny-three inch feet were supposed to look like a lotus shape, and the families took great pride in attaining the shape. Elegant embroidered silk slippers were made especially to enhance the lotus look. As you can imagine that walking with bound feet was very painful and difficult. The knees had to be bent slightly and one had to sway to maintain the proper movement to go forward. This walk became known as the Lotus Gait. They also wore shoes called “flower bowls”, on a high platform made of wood or with a small central pedestal.

Flower Bowl Shoes

O.K. I know this is a weird thought, but I’ve heard and read about this crevice in the bound feet. Men loved these tiny little feet.  They would hold them, rub them, and do what they wanted with them-if you get my drift.

Chines Foot Binding-"In her own words."

Beauty from other cultures-an interesting subject.  I think I’d rather have rings around my neck or plates in my lips. At least I could still walk. Signing off!!!  Ali O.