Lotus shoes (used in footbinding) For many hundreds of years Chinese women bound their feet and those of their girls in the search of an ideal form of beauty. A noble Han Chinese woman with normal sized feet would have great trouble in finding a suitable husband, while a peasant woman with tightly bound feet may have married above her station. The binding of a girls feet usually started between the ages of six and eleven. All but the large toe would be broken and forced under the foot. Tight binding would then push the ankle towards the toe gradually breaking the bones in the foot. The foot size considered the most desirable, known as the Golden Lotus, was only three inches long. Feet fore-shortened to between three and four inches was a Silver Lotus, while those in excess of four inches were called Iron Lotus. The Manchus Qing dynasty (1644-1911 AD) disapproved of many Han traditions including foot binding. An early Qing emperor, Kangxi, imposed a ban upon foot binding in 1664. However, this ban lasted for only three to four years before the Ministry of Rites submitted a memorial bringing about a repeal of the law. The first society to argue against foot binding on the grounds of the pain it caused to the young girls preventing their education was formed in Shanghai in 1895. Daughters of society members were guaranteed a marriage from amongst other members of the society despite their normal sized feet. The rise of the New Republic of China following the fall of the Qing dynasty passed a law forbidding foot binding in 1915. With this law in place, foot inspectors with the right to impose monetary fines attempted to prevent further girls suffering this painful process. However, foot binding persisted for many years particularly in remote rural villages. Sanggunian:lifepaths360/index.php/a-history-of-foot-binding-in-chinese-culture-3-4196/ -Aira M. Almoguerra
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 10:16:06 +0000
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