A Chinese editor asked if readers might supply him with a certain book in vogue at the start of the Republic, which described in detail ways in which tiny feet could be manipulated during the sex act. Variations in technique depended on the size of the male member. This corroborates one statement by the monk that prostitutes studied a special training manual for the tiny-footed.
A manual for men instructed one how to correctly hold the lotus. Massaging, squeezing, and caressing were left to individual preference and specific circumstance. Here are some of the orthodox techniques of grasping the narrow three-inch handfuclass="underline"
Normal hold—with her right lotus in your left hand, or her left lotus in your right hand, have the point of the lotus face upwards. Tightly grasp the side of the lotus in your palms, press the thumb and forefinger on the toes, and jointly cover the instep with the other fingers.
Reverse hold—press with your palm and four fingers on the tip of the lotus and the instep, with your thumb across and under the center of the plantar. Grip tightly, and twist your wrist around so that it faces outwards.
Tightly hold the tip of the shoe between the lower palm, ring finger, and little finger. The middle finger presses the center of the plantar, the index finger is wrapped around the heel, while the thumb firmly encloses the instep. The left hand grips the right foot or vice-versa.
Tightly cover the instep with the palm, locking it under the plantar with the thumb, index, and middle finger. The ring finger and little finger support the heel.
Place the big toe in the center of the palm and press the little finger down on it. With thumb and middle finger forming a circle around the shoe, press the center of the plantar against the “tiger’s mouth” [i.e., the part of the palm between thumb and forefinger].
The shoe lies slantingly within the palm. Four fingers press on the instep; thumb and middle finger meet from opposite sides.
The tip of the shoe rests on the wrist, with the middle finger hooking the heel from behind and under it. Ring finger and forefinger hold the heel from opposite sides, thumb and little finger press the big toe.
Enthusiasts of the lotus advanced many arguments to support their preference. The tiny-footed lady stepped lightly and apprehensively, and concealed her charms. She aroused a mixture of love and pity through her alluringly weak feminine posture. Though her buttocks and thighs were voluptuously developed, her tiny feet and thin shanks made it easy for her to turn herself about in bed. If she placed herself against you when you slept with her, you did not feel a heavy weight. By contrast, a large-footed woman moving about under the bedcovers caused an annoying draft of cold air. It was further argued that tiny shoes were the only attractive part of otherwise drab village dress, that tiny feet were much more economical than large ones, since shoes could be made for them from only a remnant of dress material. The tiny foot had the beauty of the entire body: it was glistening and white like the skin, arched like the eyebrows, pointed like jade fingers, rounded like the breasts, small like the mouth, red (with shoes worn) like the lips, and mysterious like the private parts. Its odor was superior to that from armpits, legs, or glands, and it also had a seductive power. “When I loved a woman, I went all the way and wished that I could swallow her up. But only the tiny feet could be placed in the mouth.”
Rubbing a woman’s foot stimulated and aroused her. One lotus admirer who frequented houses of prostitution requested that the tiny-footed remove stockings and bindings and reveal the bare flesh, but this request was consistently refused. The excuse varied with the season; in winter it was because of the cold, in summer because the woman was used to wearing foot apparel. He became an intimate friend of one prostitute who, after considerable hesitation, confided that play with the foot increased sexual desire. Rubbing the arch of the bared tiny foot deepened feeling and enhanced the sexual act. But prostitutes avoided this because they did not wish to become overly stimulated during the course of their daily work. He finally persuaded his confidant to remove her bindings.
A white lotus root revealed itself before his eyes. The five toes were distinct, rouge-like red in color. The size was just right, as was the degree of plumpness and whiteness. He closed his eyes and rubbed; it was like a ball of white jade. . . .
Another prostitute insisted that customers rub her tiny feet vigorously. The more amorous she felt, the harder she wanted the feet rubbed. The mere scratching of her plantar caused a vaginal flow. A woman living with her lover in Peking in 1927 told him that when sexually excited, she wished only to have her tiny feet tightly grasped. Otherwise, she felt frustrated. She also derived pleasure from rubbing her own feet when washing them or changing socks. She became most excited if her feet were grasped during the climax of intercourse, saying they were useless if not pressed vigorously by a man five or six times daily. She felt that the firmness of a man’s grasp was proof of his feelings towards her.
The euphonious terms used to describe the foot, the shoe, and its appurtenances were many and varied. There was one popular saying that the Golden Lotus was three inches or less, the Silver Lotus four inches, and the Iron Lotus longer than that. The carmine of Carmine Water-Chestnut and Carmine Lotus referred to the color of the shoe, water-chestnut and lotus to its shape. Phoenix Head implied that the tip of the foot was small and pointed like the head of a bird. New Moon depicted the elegant, slender, and pointed bound foot enclosed in silk stockings. Jade Bamboo-Shoots honored the tiny foot which was as warm, glossy, and soft as jade, with its sharp tip likened to a bamboo shoot. Twin Bows referred to the tiny feet successfully formed like the ancient bows used in archery. The bowed shape was also called a hook, and this was the derivation of the terms Lotus Hooks and Fragrant Hooks. Twin Wild Ducks applied to natural as well as bound feet; like ducks traveling in pairs, the feet were always together. Tiny feet might also be called Dumplings, because of their shape, or Red Cocoons, because the same sort of tireless energy had to be spent on tight binding that the silkworm devoted to spinning its silk to form the cocoon.