Horrifying 'Lotus Feet' in China

Foot binding is a beauty ritual practised in China for more than 1000 years before it was outlawed in 1912. For the last 1000 years, it's estimated that approximately 4.5 billion women had been subjected to this painful art.

Foot binding in China has been outlawed in 1912 since the practice harmed the Chinese women
Credit to www.bbc.co.uk

In ancient China, the ideals bound foot are:

• A foot should be no longer than 3 inches. (A perfect 3-inch foot is called 'a lotus of gold', 4-inch foot is considered 'silver', and for a foot of more than 4 inches, it's called 'iron lotus') Ermm, every China girl that time would aim for gold I guess, not silver or iron.
• The cleft between the heel and the sole should be 2-3 inches deep
• The foot should be an extension to the leg rather than a stand for the body

Can you imagine this? 3 inches basically equals to less than 9 cm. People often said I have small feet, but I'm nothing for sure compared to these Chinese women with bound foot. Hehe. I actually took a ruler to measure my foot, and mine is 20.5 cm! :O

'Lotus feet' is a symbol of beauty and elegence
Photo by Jo Farrell

Binding the feet was one of the main avenues for women in China to find a husband or marry into money
Photo by Jo Farrell

The foot binding ritual begins with the clipping of the girls' toenails and the soaking of the feet either in hot water or herbs, nuts, urine and warm animal blood. This is to soften the tissue and bones of the feet to facilitate manipulation. All the toes on the feet, save the big one are broken and folded under the sole and then the toes are bound in place with a 10'x2'' silk or cotton bandage. These wrappings are removed every two days to allow the washing and manicuring of two nails to avoid infection, but after that the feet are wrapped tighter again. Lastly the arch of the foot is also broken and the foot is pulled straight with the leg. The shoe sizes are also gradually reduced to accommodate the shrinking feet.

And...the pain won't stop here. The girls would also have to walk long distances with that bandaged, broken feet, so that their own weight crushes the feet into shape. Occasionally, the flesh of the foot is also cut, or sharp objects maybe inserted in the bandage to encourage 'excess' flesh to rot away so that smaller feet can be achieved. After 2 years of excruciating pain, the girls will get tiny feet of lotus shape, but since the feet naturally will grow, they may need to do the process for additional 10 years or so to ensure that the toes stay in place. Arghh, pity them much!

Small-sized shoes of a woman with bound feet
Credit to Google

Here I include excerpts from When I was a girl in China, stories collected by Joseph Rupp, told by a few women with bound feet:

"It is extremely painful to bind, and at first it makes you sick...changing the colour of your skin all over your body, even on your face. You don't feel like eating for quite some time and you're unable to walk at all - I had to wait at least a year before my toes were broken under and the arch was pushed up at least two inches." - Li Xiu-ying

"When I first started binding, it was very painful...so much that I couldn't sleep at night. I was still able to walk, though. Many girls suffered more than I did. When I couldn't stand the pain any longer, I would secretly loosen the bindings; when my mother found out she wouldn't get angry or scold me. She had bound feet, too, and understood how much it hurt. She would let me keep the bindings loose for a while, but I always had to wrap them up tightly again.I would wash and rebind my feet every day - it had to be done that often because the binding cloth gets caked with blood and pus." - Su Lian-qi

Zhou Guizhen, 86 says that she regrets binding her feet. "But at the time, if you didn't bind your feet, no one would marry you," she says.
Photo by Louisa Lim, NPR

Here I include a video for you guys to watch:

Ps : I was actually grimacing and gritting my teeth endlessly while writing this entry. Ouchh!