Foot Binding.

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Hanna Cheung

Foot Binding.

Throughout history the human population has done many obtuse things in the name of physical beauty. These methods range from fairly simple and inoffensive (such as make up) to extremely the horrific (lipo-suction and foot binding).

        Foot binding in China is basically exactly what the name suggests. The binding happens to young girls from the ages of three to seven years of age. Sometimes even later than this if the girl was needed to help her family, as many peasant girls did.

        The purpose of foot binding was to stop the growth of the feet, as small feet were prized in China.

As was said earlier the biding of the feet usually began between the ages of three and seven. Ideally three was the best age as the bones of the foot would not have fully developed and would allow the foot longer to change its shape.

        To bind the foot a bandage ten feet long and two inches wide was used. The foot of the girl was bathed in hot water containing herbs and then was massaged. What happened next was that all of the toes, except for the first, were broken, turned under and pressed to the sole of the foot. The foot was then bound tightly with the cloth strips. Next the arches of the feet were broken so that the foot could be pulled straight with the leg and so shortening the distance between the toes and the heel.

 Illustration shows the foot-binding process.

     The drawing is adapted from Chinese texts.

        The idea was that in the end the girl would have a foot that was around three inches in length. Girls who ended up with the ‘prefect’ length of just less than three inches were deemed to have “Golden Lilies”. Feet that were four inches and five inches in length were known as “Silver Lilies” and “Iron Lilies” respectively. The girl was asked to wear a small pair of slippers; these slippers were always beautifully embroidered and were made entirely of silk. The size of the slipper would be reduced, as the binding was wrapped progressively tighter during a course of about two to three years. These shoes often came with accessories as foot binding gripped the nation. Things such as anklets, socks, embroidered foot binding cloth and ankle bindings.

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 Image of a slipper that was worn

on the bound feet of females.

        It is certainly hard to believe that such a painful and barbaric practice lasted for over 1000 years legally.

        

It is not certain when exactly foot binding began. Though it is thought to have begun in the Tan dynasty (618-906) but did not catch on fully until the Soong dynasty (960-1297). During the Soong dynasty the custom gradually spread through the Chinese upper class. Then during the Ming period (1368-1644) and Ching dynasty (1644-1911) the practice of foot binding swept trough China ...

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