HIS3501A.doc

HIS3501A Topic Studies in Traditional Chinese History: The History of Chinese Women Lecturer: Priscilla Chung Tutor: Melody Montague Chinese Footbinding: The Story of the Golden Lotus Final Paper Esther Lee, Nina Ko Sara Vantournhout Introduction The Chinese practice of footbinding is a cruel, mysterious, but also extremely fascinating custom that lasted for more than a thousand years. A pair of perfectly bound feet symbolized ideal beauty. For the Chinese, these wondrously small ‘Golden Lotuses’ were a piece of art and an object of erotic desire – but, what exactly is ‘footbinding’? When did this custom originate, how did it spread throughout China, and why did it come to an end? And finally, why did Chinese women, generation after generation, continue to bind their daughter’s feet? In this paper, we will attempt to unravel some of the mysteries that envelop the Chinese cult of the tiny foot by discussing four topics within the theme of Chinese footbinding: the practice, its origins and history, the importance of the anti-footbinding movements and the different interpretations of footbinding. Practice Footbinding was a daughter’s initiation rite into the women’s community. Her first binding took place in the depths of the women’s quarters under the direction of her mother. A girl’s feet were mostly bound when she was between five and eight years old. At that age, the little girl was probably unaware of the fact that she was being prepared for sexual service to her future husband. But she was most definitely aware of the immense pain caused by the bound feet during the early stages.The success or failure of footbinding depended on skilful application of a bandage around each foot. Howard S. Levy described the process of footbinding as follows: “The bandage was wrapped in the following way. One end was placed on the inside of the instep, and from there it was carried over the small toes so as to force the toes in and towards the sole. The large toe was left unboun