Chinese Foot Binding

Photo Credit:tony d c *-* for your eyes only *-*

There is a lot of controversy as to the true origin of the practice of footbinding. It lasted more a thousand years spanning Five Dynasties. Rumors has it that the last emperor of the South Tang Dynasty, Li Yu, ordered his favorite consort, Yao-niang to dance in front of him atop a golden lotus pedestal that was specially built. She wrapped her feet in long strips of silk cloth not unlike the ballerinas in toe shoes today. The emperor was smitten by his concubine's bound feet beyond his wildest imagination. Immediately, the practice of footbinding became a symbol of feminine beauty, royal approval, social status and spread to all levels of society.

I have seen bound feet firsthand when I was a young child. My cousin's grandmother had tiny bound feet and as inquisitive kids, we never dared ask why her feet were kid-size. We always knew she was up and about from the sound of the lotus slippers dragging across the wood floor upstairs. When she took her afternoon naps, we would "borrow" her ornately beaded and embroidered lotus slippers and wear them while playing grownups.

My young cousin used to tell me that women have bound feet in China so that they would not run away and only the aristocrats have small feet. I never quite understood then why there was a reason for my cousin's grandmother to run away.

It was only after I acquired the pair of lotus slippers a few years ago did my interest in the practice of foot binding in ancient China become rekindled.

These are pictures of a genuine pair of lotus slippers I was fortunate enough to purchase in a jade market in Hongkong many years ago. These were hand-embroidered on cotton usually made in the home of the young girl who would wear them or by the wearer herself. Great care was made to sew and embroider the tiny shoes as these were considered part of the female's intimate apparel. The color of the shoe, style, and lavishness of the embroidery played an important role in attracting attention and showing social status
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This pair of lotus slippers barely measures 4 inches long. The ideal size of a well-bound foot foot was 3 inches and should be shaped like the bud of a lotus flower, full and round at the heel and coming to a thin point at the front. In order to achieve this length, the arch of the foot must be broken and all the toes, except the big toe, must be permanently bent toward the sole of the foot. The tiny pointed foot can now slide easily into the lotus bud-shaped slippers. The smaller the shoes, the more desirable, sexier and marriageable the young girls would be to prospective husbands.


How small is small?
The ideal size was a 3-inch bound foot ('Golden Lotus'), and no longer than 4 in. (10 cm), called 'Silver Lotus'. The bound feet would bend, becoming so concave they were sometimes described as "lotus hooks." When the women tottered on their lotus slippers or shoes, they would sashay their hips in a seemingly provocative manner which was known as the "Lotus gait." This walk was considered particularly alluring.


Photo Credit:otisarchives3
These tiny bound feet wearing fashionable embroidered lotus shoes were smaller than the tea cup and a normal shoe in this photograph.

Photo Credit: DrJohnBullas------- Photo Credit: MadarimWel

Tiny bound feet were a sign of refinement and beauty which enhanced the prospect of marrying into wealth. Foot binding restricted a woman's movements, hence making her hips larger and the body seemingly more voluptuous. It was also a way of deterring the women from straying and running away from beatings and encouraged fidelity and chastity. Bound feet was the ultimate symbol of female submission and male dominance in China.

The bound feet was deemed the most intimate and erotic part of the female anatomy. It is not surprising that wives, consorts, prostitutes, paramours were selected solely on the size and shape of their bound feet tucked into these tiny embroidered shoes. The unbound feet were rarely seen without the lotus slippers which all the more created a sensual mystique around them. Poets wrote about the delights of the "lotus feet" and ancient sex manuals outlined and illustrated the many ways these can be enjoyed and caressed.

A woman with bound feet was also forced to walk on her heels to spare pain inflicted on the bent toes. Walking this way strengthened the muscles of the female organ and the nerves in her feet became more concentrated and sensitive making her bound feet a major errogenous zone. It is no wonder that the tiny bound feet appealed to a man's libido and was an erotic obsession.

Photo Credit:Flickr Jin Lee

The Han Chinese girls, from the wealthiest to the poorest had their feet bound. But it was less prevalent among the poor women who had to toil in the fields. The Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and the Manchus did not practice foot binding. The Manchu rulers of the Qing Dynasty tried to abolish the practice of foot binding but without success because the practice was already too firmly rooted in the custom to break. The practice of foot binding continued into the 20th century until anti-foot binding reforms were called by Chinese and western missionaries. Finally in 1911, with the revolution of Sun Yat-Sen, foot binding was officially outlawed, but the practice continued on in many areas. It was effectively abolished after the Communist Party banned it in 1949.

This regal and elegant doll with its bound feet and tiny lotus shoes seemingly reminded me of a Chinese Barbie Doll. Tiny bound feet with lotus slippers were the fashion and rage in Ancient China for over a thousand years. It was a passport to marrying well.

The use of corset as an undergarment to slim the figure have been around since the 16th century. It was used by men and women for aesthetic and also for medical reasons. Later more of the wearers were women and the style of the corset changed through the Victorian, Edwardian eras until after the World Wars. The corset have enjoyed a revival in the 20th century as top garments aside from undergarments and as fetish fashion and bondage corset.

These were corsets used in the 1890's to change the contour of a woman's body instantly so she can achieve an hourglass figure, with the tiniest possible waistline. The corset was worn as an undergarment for 18 hours a day, 365 days a year for training as it took practice to sit up straight without leaning back in a relaxed manner. Bending forward was almost impossible to do as the boning in the corset structure stiffens the woman's torso. Why do you think the gentlemen were there to pick up those dropped hankerchieves?

The corset reduced the waist considerably and exaggerated the bust and the hips. This was often referred to as the hourglass figure. In spite of the constricting effect of the undergarment which made it hard to breathe, these women seemed to be happy with the resulting effects of sporting tiny cinched waists. The men folk were twice as contented.

The dresses were tailor-made to the compressed shape of the woman's torso with the corsets worn as an undergarment and not based on the woman's actual body measurements. Wearing the tight-lace corset everyday not only changed the posture but the way a woman carried herself when she walked. After a year or so of being encased in this tight contraption, suffering for beauty becomes worthwhile.
Photo Credit:Helen Stern

This lens received a Purple Star Award on April13, 2011. My heartfelt thanks to the lensmaster who nominated this lens. I am deeply honored.