
The process of footbinding started when girls were anywhere from four to seven years old. It was done so early in her life so that the arch did not have much time to develop.
The mother who was the one to bind the feet, and usually started the process late in the fall or winter, so the foot would be numb and the pain would not be as severe. The daughters' feet would first be soaked in warm water or animal blood and herbs. The special potion that was used for this caused any dead flesh to fall off .She would have her toe nails cut as short as possible therefore not allowing them to grow into the foot. After she received a foot massage, the four smallest toes on each foot were broken. This was not even the worst of the pain. The mother soaked silk or cotton bandages in the same liquid the girl's feet were soaked in. The bandages, which were ten feet long and two inches wide, were wrapped around the smallest toes and pulled tightly to the heel. Every two days, the binding was removed and rebound. This part of the process went on for two years. By this time her feet were three to four inches long. To assure the feet staying small, the ritual continued for at least ten more years.

The process was very painful; every time the feet were rebound the bandages were pulled tighter. But besides just the pain of the process, there were many after affects that were detrimental to the young girls' health. The pain of the bound feet never stopped. The most common consequence was infection. One of appr. 10 girls died as the result.

The reason I did some research on it was a book by Lisa See "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" that describes lives of two girls in China. Reading that book was like entering a whole new world that was heartbreaking and magical at the same time.
6 comments:
Wow that's so sick! Praise the Lord they don't do that anymore... My question is how they even walked all that entire time?? Is it bearable at all? I doubt they had ibuprofen back then....
"the four smallest toes on each foot were broken"
People can do weird stuff for the beauty sake. And what`s more stunning they were doing it thinking that it is just the way it is supposed to be. Crazy!
Sorry, Marina. I did not notice your comment on my blog about the phone number. I`ll e-mail it too you!
crazy! sometimes it just amazes me that we, people, are so stupid!!
Poor little girls. if somebody was making me do this to my baby i would probably break all of their toes first.... then fingers.... just kiddin. in all seriousness, chinese cruelty has always freake me out.
Okay praise the Lord I wasn't born into Chinese culture especially back then. I have a question though how did the heal end up like that and is that her toes underneath her foot?
I am reading the book now and am almost finished, the two girls are now binding their own daughters feet - this has so fascinated me i had to come on the net to see what the heck it is all about - the pain described in the book is unreal, all those poor Chinese women and what were (are?) been subjected to generation after generation is totally horrific
Post a Comment