Foot Binding: The Arc Of their Movements as Dormant as a willow

"....they Gathered Patience;
learning to walk in shoes
the size of teacups,
without breaking..."

Millions of Chinese women before 1912 (and privately after the banning) found suffering the path towards beauty in feet-binding practices. Binding their feet to turn them into prized "Three-inch golden Lotuses"

Bound fee was a status symbol, and the only way for women to marry into money. But this process is not as beautiful as tradition may suggest.

Foot binding woman, Zhou Guizhen (86 yo) says "I regret binding my feet. I can't dance. I cant move properly. I regret it a lot."

So exactly what is foot binding? In a nutshell it was an attempt to stop the growth of the feet. It usually began somewhere between the ages of four and seven.

A bandage, ten feet long and two inches wide was wrapped tightly around thc foot, forcing the four small toes under the sole of the foot. This made the feet narrower but at the same time it made the feet shorter because it also forced the big toe and the heel closer together by bowing the arch of the foot. The bandage was tightened each day and the girl was put into progressively smaller and smaller sized shoes. The entire process usually took about two years at the end of which the feet were essentially dead, useless.

The feet had to be washed and manicured on a daily basis. If they weren't manicured properly the toe nails could cut into the instep and infection could set in. If the bindings were too tight they could cut off circulation which could lead to gangrene and blood poisoning. The feet had to be massaged and given hot and cold compresses to help relieve the pain and help improve circulation. corns would develop on the toes that were bent under and would have to be cut off with a knife.

With the lack of circulation flesh would rot and fall off and sometimes the toes would ooze pus. The pain was said to have been excruciating especially if this process was begun at a later age. The ideal foot would fit into a shoe only three to four inches long. A Chinese saying says, "Every pair of small feet costs a bath (kang) of tears". It is difficult to imagine the suffering that these women had to endure.

And still today Foot binding, though taboo, is a part of fashion, and subsequently still an emblem of art and Beauty. In London Fashion Week Aminaka Witmore designs foot-binding reminiscent designs.