FOOT BINDING

The Europeans of the 18th and 19th centuries, who often mentioned "the tiny feet of Chinese women" as an example of endless elegance, usually had a very vague understanding of what they were actually talking about. People of that time highly valued small hands and feet (not only in women), they were a sign of aristocratic breeding. When they heard about the "bound feet" of Chinese beauties, they simply imagined a very small foot in a tight, beautiful stocking that prevented the delicate foot from losing its shape when walking.

The reality was quite different. The famous "lotus foot measuring three cun"islightly less than 10 centimeters upon closer inspection was a horrifying cult with broken bones, atrophied, and mummified toes.

"My grandmother's feet were bound when she was two years old. Her mother, who also had bound feet, first swaddled her feet with six-meter pieces of white fabric, folding all the toes except the big one under the sole, then pressed the foot upward with a stone to break the bones. My grandmother screamed in agony and lost consciousness several times. This process lasted for several years. Even the broken bones had to be constantly held in tight bandages to prevent them from fusing together. For years, my grandmother lived in a state of endless excruciating pain."iZhao Yun, "Wild Swans: Three daughters of China".

The three cun foot resembled a deformed hoof, with atrophied toes pressed against the sole, which sometimes partially mummified and even fell off. However, they often remained in a state of constant inflammation and decay. That's why the feet were unbound daily, washed with fragrant lotions containing healing agents, tightly re-bound (as the foot could expand without binding at any age), and inserted into narrow stockings known as the "Phoenix hook," which were stuffed with aromatic herbs to counteract the smell that would emanate from the deformities. On top of the stockings, they would wear tiny rectangular shoes in which women even slept because their feet were constantly cold due to impaired circulation. In any case, the feet were never shown to anyone without the bindings and fragrant herbs, especially not to husbands: it was not proper for men to know what was hidden beneath the bandages and aromatic herbs.

A woman with such feet could often only walk very slowly (in particularly severe cases, only with the help of servants supporting her under the elbows). However, in some cases, if the foot binding was done successfully and the woman had certain skill, she could move on them for a relatively long time, although her gait was quite specific: small, mincing steps with a constant swaying of the hips, knees lifted high, and balancing with the hands. This gait was called the "Phoenix step" or the "Phoenix walk" and was considered exceptionally graceful.

Interestingly, we do not know the origin of the foot binding custom. There is no mention of it in Chinese texts until the 10th century CE, and the earliest references date back to the 10th-12th centuries. By the end of the Song Dynasty (late 13th century), foot binding had become quite widespread.

Although it is tempting to attribute this custom to male oppression of women, it was purely a women's institution. Women invented it, practiced it, and men usually had no involvement in it, even in the most patriarchal times. It was usually the mothers, senior wives, and grandmothers who made the decision of which girls to bind, when, and how.

Chinese male philosophers occasionally expressed their views on foot binding, sometimes recognizing it as the best way to preserve femininity and chastity, and other times condemning it as a harmful disfigurement in pursuit of decadence. However, in general, women's feet were considered a women's matter, and discussions about it in society were rare, at least until the 19th century when Western influence in China led many local thinkers to reevaluate traditional practices. Many Chinese authors wrote pamphlets against foot binding around that time. Furthermore, even earlier, this custom was harshly criticized by other invaders of China, such as the Manchus, who considered it exceptionally barbaric. Although they did not ban foot binding for Chinese women, in the 17th century, the Manchus imposed severe punishments for anyone who dared to bind the feet of a Manchu girl.

Nevertheless, Manchu women started to look towards Chinese beauties and eventually began wearing footwear that imitated small feet - a kind of cothurni platform shoe where the foot was positioned almost vertically. The last empress of China, representing the Manchu Qing dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi, can be seen wearing such footwear in all her formal portraits. (It should be noted that Empress Dowager Cixi strongly disapproved of the foot binding custom. American artist Katharine Carl, who visited China in 1904 and painted a portrait of Cixi for the World's Fair, recalled that the empress demanded to have her former nanny's feet unbound, despite the nanny's resistance, and if possible, treated to restore her ability to walk normally.)

In response to Manchu oppression, the Chinese regarded the small feet of their women as a sacred ancestral covenant. As a result, lotus shoes became a symbol of Chinese patriotism and nationalism. The practice of foot binding became widespread, even among peasant families, although initially it was primarily the affair for the aristocracy, officials, and prosperous merchants.

Since binding of a girl's feet required a significant amount of time, attention, and resources, poor families would bind the feet of either their eldest daughters or the most beautiful ones in the family. These small feet were almost a guarantee of a successful marriage. For young women who were enrolled as singers in local courtesan houses, the small foot was more important than any other physical attractiveness. This was because a whole complex of myths revolved around the lotus foot.

When reading Chinese erotic literature from the 13th to the 18th centuries, we rarely come across descriptions that modern readers would find attractive and sexual. There are no mentions of breasts, hips, or buttocks - nothing of that sort. And it's not because of modesty or chastity, not at all. Chinese erotic authors were quite liberal and explicit in their descriptions of what not even Casanova could mention, even more so when writing under pseudonyms. However, bypassing the caves, seashells, rain, clouds, and other standard metaphors for describing sexual acts, we can see that the main focus of the male lover is always on the woman's feet. Here are some lines from the classic 17th-century erotic work "The Golden Lotus," (The Plum in a Golden Vase) which serves as an exemplary sample of such prose:

"Ximen intentionally brushed the chopsticks off the table. Luckily, they fell right at Jinyan's feet. He immediately bent down to pick them up and saw two golden lotus petals - small, pointed feet measuring three cun. He has immediately forgotten about the chopsticks and squeezed the embroidered shoe in his hands."

"Ximen was at a loss for words to express his admiration for the beauty. He embraced her and lifted her skirt to take a look at her feet. Clad in silk shoes as black as raven's wings, they filled him with indescribable delight."

"Then a silken stocking was raised high, and two slender crescent moons appeared above his shoulders in an instant."

"The ‘golden lotuses’ rose and toppled... What a pleasure it was!"

The small foot was the epitome of sensuality, the focal point of female mystery - it was exactly what men could never fully see and comprehend.

In addition, the myth associated eight important qualities with the bound foot:

1. Weak feet make a woman charmingly weak and submissive to men;

2. Women experience intense arousal when a man touches their feet, and even a slight squeeze of the foot always elicits moans of pleasure (Recalling the image of a foot bound in stockings and bandages, it is easy to believe that even a gentle touch could indeed evoke a moan - the question of enjoyment, however, remains open);

3. Girls who have undergone foot binding become particularly patient and resilient, including in marital bed encounters;

4. Women with bound feet develop plump thighs and a voluminous posterior, as the muscles in their legs are poorly developed;

5. Due to the peculiar gait of women with bound feet, their intimate muscles are well-trained;

6. Women with bound feet more frequently give birth to sons, as their subdued Yin element is rarely able to overcome the masculine Yang element;

7. Foot binding makes the skin of the entire body delicately silky and smooth as butter;

8. Bound feet not only make the body more sensitive, but also add sensitivity to the soul of the beauty.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the first gesture of a Chinese matchmaker was to lift a maiden's skirt. A foot longer than four Chinese cun (approximately 12 cm) instantly turned a wealthy and beautiful woman into an undesirable candidate in the marriage market.

Medieval China was a society with an extremely rigid hierarchical structure. Your rights and obligations, behavior, speech, social circle, your entire life, even the color of your hat and the height of the gates in your fence, were determined by the position you occupied in this pyramidal system.

However, unlike Europe, there was no strict fixation of social positions based on lineage and family. Personal qualities often mattered more than noble lineage or family wealth in medieval China. A talented son of a peasant had a good chance of obtaining high court titles, provided his parents had raised him properly to excel in examinations.

The social mobility lifts for women, on the other hand, could be even more head spinning. A girl from the lowest strata of society could become a concubine of an aristocrat and a respected mother of his children. Polygamy worked in favor of women in this context.

Gracefulness, elegance, imagination, musical and literary abilities – all of those were not just feminine coquetry, but rather tools that families could use to significantly ascend the social ladder.

Even if a girl did not promise to become a "beauty that shakes kingdoms," binding her feet could immediately secure a relatively prosperous future for her. Bound feet themselves held value that would be eagerly accepted by a well-to-do family, even if she became a second or third wife. A woman with small feet would not be sent to work in the fields; she would not be able to be a robust servant for arduous labor. The tiny feet made her practically disabled, dependent on care, and capable only of fulfilling relatively light household duties like weaving or sewing.

Therefore, mothers who crippled their daughters were truly not just "doing what they thought was best," but were guaranteed to secure a prosperous future for their daughters through this torture. Yes, a girl would cry, but it is okay, as she will laugh when she grows up.

On the contrary, a mother who was interested in having her daughter as a free nanny for her younger children, a free servant or a worker would refuse foot binding. This mother was more likely to remain an old maid and, if married off, would serve as a worker herself.

The drama of the "unloved big-footed daughter" amidst her bound sisters, who were pampered by their parents, is a very popular theme in folklore and literature. However, this Chinese Cinderella usually does not find a prince but becomes embittered and seeks revenge against her family, ultimately ending up in court and on the gallows.

So, it is very uncertain how modern critics of past savage customs would behave in the shoes of Chinese medieval mothers. Sometimes, it is very useful to walk in someone else's phoenix shoes - it helps avoid hasty judgments.

Foot binding was strictly prohibited only in 1949 by the Communist Party of China. Prior to that, feeble attempts by the authorities, including Empress Dowager Cixi, to combat this ancient custom ended in failure. However, the Communists announced the foot binding to be "inflicting severe bodily harm" and implemented corresponding penalties, which promptly deterred advocates of traditional values from this ancient custom.

Nevertheless, the life of the new China did not require such strict measures. Under the communist rule, the purpose of foot binding disappeared. There were no more advantageous marriages, concubine institutions, or other bourgeois endeavors in the country. Chinese women were quickly brought down to earth and sent to work on national construction projects in a matter of years.

1. Yun Zhang, "Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China"

2. Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, "Plum in a Golden Vase"

3. Stories of Lao Cha about the Unusual

4. Shen Fu, "Six Records of a Floating Life"