Suffering for Beauty

8/7/2019 Suffering for Beauty

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Suffering for Beauty ± Graphic Photos of

Chinese Foot binding

Suffering for Beauty: The Beloved Curse of the High-Heeled Shoe



The barbaric practice of foot binding in

China began in the 10th century sometime during the Tang Dynasty (618-907)and ended over a thousand years later. Foot binding was practiced on young girls

usually six years of age and younger. Feet were wrapped in tight bandages andbroken so they couldn¶t grow. Foot binding was generally practiced by wealthy

families, as only wealthy families could afford to have the women of the housenot at work. It was a sign of prestige, beauty and wealth.

Eventually, foot binding moved from wealthy city families to women in

the countryside, where women realized they could marry into money by havingthese prized three inch feet. For centuries, women suffered terrible pain in the

hopes of having a better future.

Zhou Guizhen, who is 86-years-old, shows one of her bound feet where the bonesin the four small toes were broken and forced underneath the foot over a period of time, at her home in Liuyi village in China¶s southern Yunnan Province, February 2007. Villages in China

where women with bound feet survive are increasingly rare but the millennium-old practicenevertheless took almost four decades to eradicate after it was initially banned in 1911. Full story

at Wired.



To bind feet, feet were first soaked in a warm bowl of herbs and animalblood, which caused the dead flesh to fall off. Toe nails were cut back as far as possible to

prevent ingrown toenails and infection. Silk and cotton bandages were dipped in the solution andwere wrapped tightly around the feet after the toes were broken. Four toes on each foot were

broken and folded under. The big toe was left intact. Feet were often bound so tightly that evenshort distances were unable to be walked.

The bandages became t ighter after drying. While drying, the toes were forced down and inward.

Sometimes cuts were made in the sole of the feet to make the binding process easier. Most footbinding was done during the winter months, when it was thought the cold would numb the pain.

The wrapping process was repeated every couple of days with fresh bandages. Each time, thebandages were pulled even tighter, causing excruciating and long lasting pain.

In 1912, the Chinese government ordered the cessation of foot binding. Women were ordered tounwrap their feet. Failure to do so resulted in heavy fines and in some cases, death. When the

Communists came into power in 1949, they too ordered a nationwide ban on foot binding. Thiswas especially devastating to women with bound feet because most of them were forced to

perform hard physical labor in the 1950s.

According to the American author William Rossi, who wrote The Sex Life of the Foot and Shoe,40 percent to 50 percent of Chinese women had bound feet in the 19th century. For the upper

classes, the figure was almost 100 percent.

The ideal foot was three inches in length. Three inch feet were calledgolden lotuses. Feet that were between three and four inches in length were called silver lotuses.

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Suffering for Beauty