Is it true that Chinese women used to bind there feet in order that they'd stop growing. Sounds horrible?

Question

ugh! I almost wish I had,nt asked.

Answer 1

Yes it is true. 'Foot binding was a custom practiced on females for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the early 20th century. In Chinese foot binding, young girls' feet, usually at age 6 but often earlier, were wrapped in tight bandages so that they could not grow and develop normally; they would, instead, break and become highly deformed, not growing past 4-6 inches. As the girl reached adulthood, her feet would remain small and dysfunctional, prone to infection, paralysis, and muscular atrophy. It should be noted that this was initially a common practice only in the wealthiest parts of China, particularly in north China. However, by the late Qing Dynasty, foot binding had become popular among people of all social classes, including the poor. Today, it is a prominent cause of disability among elderly Chinese women. The practice of foot binding started during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). According to legend, women were bound in this way to replicate an imperial concubine who danced with her feet wrapped in silk; the other concubines were envious and they all started binding their feet in order to impress the emperor.' Visit Wiki, link below, to learn more.

Answer 2

It is true and the result was horrible. The aim was to get a foot so small that it would fit in a tea cup, and the binding began when the child was around six. Not surprisingly, the women were crippled. This was part of the the point, of course, indicating that she came from such a high status family, she had no need to walk, let alone work.
This idea of adopting practices that make it difficult for high status women or women generally to do much is not confined to China. In our culture, impractical or binding clothing served the same purpose (tight corsetry, heavy or hooped, floor length skirts etc. high heels)
Normal sized feet were considered hideous and would damage a girl's marriage prospects. The practice continued into the first part of the twentieth century.

Answer 3

Their mothers or other female relatives did the actual binding.
The practice caused the feet to stop growing. Because Chinese men considered tiny feet sexually attractive the girl with the smallest feet could be assured of an advantageous marriage.
The children endured years of agony but that was bye the bye.
Unfortunately the perpetrators are all dead now and even if they were alive they would cite social custom as the motive.

Answer 4

Yes, because tiny feet were considered a mark of beauty. It was a common practice in China until the mid-20th century. The women didn't do it themselves; usually their husbands demanded the practice to continue. The men in China were the ones fighting hardest against the law forbidding foot-binding. And you're right, it was horrible. It also usually resulted in the woman becoming crippled later in life.

Answer 5

Yes. For some reason it became a sign of beauty in the Chinese culture to have tiny feet, so they would bind them. Just the upper classes. The peasant women were left alone so they could work.

Answer 6

Yes, it's true. There are some old pictures in medical books and such showing the cramped, twisted, distorted feet that must have hurt them at every step. I understand they sometimes had to break the child's toes to make them fit in the binding.

Pearl Buck wrote about this, and she lived in China for many years. So it was still going on at least in the early part of the 20th century, in some parts of China. Maybe even still today, for all we know.

It's quite amazing what's been done in the name of vanity over the centuries, all over the world.

Answer 7

Yes, and horrible it was indeed - if you read the book Wild Swans by Jung Chang she writes of her grandmother's suffering and (if I remember correctly) has photographs. The feet were bent back on themselves in childhood and bound, so that the bones broke and quite often the flesh rotted and smelled and it was, of course, terribly painful. The 'reason' given was that men found small feet sexually appealing, but that has as much objective validity as - for instance - female genital mutilation nowadays, and almost certainly was one of those instruments of social control that many societies have (explicitly, as with the bound feet and excised genitalia, or implicitly, as Western societies have esteemed huge bosoms or whatever's the current style).

Answer 8

yes it is true, because the fathers used to have their daughters feet bound so that their daughters were worth more at marriage time... some grown women had feet only 3" long and the smaller the feet the more she was worth... they were brides of men that never expected them to do anything except have sex and these men found that it was very erotic to have small feet... the ball of the feet touched the heels they were actually bound in half and stuffed into tiny satin embroydered shoes

Answer 9

Yes but I heard that the same Women are now binding their Husbands heads to stop them getting to big too.

Answer 10

True. Lasted for many centuries until finally outlawed nearly 100 years ago. 1911 I think.

There are pictures, and for a practice that was supposed to be considered "beautiful", some are quite horrific.

This webpage is as good as any on the subject:

http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/China/04/hutchins/hutchins.htm