Footbinding was usually considered completed when the bones were broken and the four toes were bent in a neat row towards the plantar. But mother kept binding for three more months, until the surface and the big toe looked like one bone. The foot was about three inches long, with the front about as wide as one’s finger and the heel less than an inch wide. It was impossible to get it more slender. Pressure was always applied near the little toes, and I wept throughout. The “breaking” process took place from the age of six years and eight months to seven years and five or six months. The northern custom was to start when the child could walk, at about four years of age.
A neighbor’s child started at five. Father opposed early binding, but mother took advantage of his having gone to another province to start the binding when I was six years old. Mother bound my feet for the next five or six years, but never again as tightly as she had that autumn. My feet recovered from their ailments, and binding became an accustomed thing. I couldn’t walk distances, but I could get about freely and slept well at night. My feet were still bound tightly, however, after each washing. Father returned when I was nine and, when he saw that I had tiny feet and did not cry, remarked to mother that binding was after all not very difficult to accomplish. At thirteen or fourteen, mother ordered me to bind by myself, not letting me use a shorter binding or eliminate the use of the bamboo splints. I would have liked to have let my feet out after starting to study, but discovered that I couldn’t walk a step if the bindings were loosened.
My wife, a native of western Peiping, once revealed to me her childhood experience of footbinding. Women in her family bound their feet; otherwise, they could not get married. Her elder sister started at four and achieved four-inch lotuses after two years of suffering. Her second and third sisters had similarly tiny feet. But by the age of eight my wife still hadn’t begun, because her mother was bothered by a coughing illness which kept her in poor spirits. One day grandmother came to visit. She lived in a part of south Peiping where everyone bound and knew such a perfect technique that even someone slightly grown could achieve three-inch lotuses. Grandmother began the process a few days later.
Grandmother first washed the child’s feet in warm water for about an hour to soften them. Then she used a five-foot cloth, pressing the toes towards the plantar but leaving the large toe exposed. She forced the large toe upwards with a smaller binding. My wife had to wear a hard-soled shoe and felt such fire-like pain that she couldn’t walk. A few days later the binding was tightened, using an inflexible eight-foot cloth made of western horsehide. Each toe was bound tightly with white cloth; the other cloth bound the entire foot and was sewn into place. Shoes with very hard sides and a thin sole were worn; bone piercing pain was felt with the slightest step. Grandmother ordered her to walk, saying that otherwise the toes couldn’t be forced under to reduce the foot and achieve a beautiful effect. Deterioration of the flesh occurred a few days later. The feet were washed nightly, with the peeling flesh removed and alum sprinkled on. Grandmother told her: “Because you’re so big, this is the only way to reduce your feet. We can get them to a little over four inches in about forty days.” The forty days of pain were indescribable. Shoes were changed every ten days, each smaller than the last. Three-inch lotus hooks, in a bowed and new moon shape, resulted after about half a year. At fourteen, she wore wooden-soled bowed shoes and usually felt no pain in walking. She was of robust physique, enjoyed perfect health, and was stronger than her three sisters [who had bound at a much earlier age]. Though she had suffered, the result was attractive.
Because I was not the eldest, mother did not start binding my feet until I was thirteen. Even at that age I was about the size of an eight or nine year old, with small hands and feet. My feet were first washed in hot water and then rubbed for one hour. A six-foot cloth was slowly and rather loosely wrapped around them. Mother then placed my feet by the k’ang and slowly but firmly pressed down on them with both hands, gradually bending under the toes. The binding felt loose and in no way painful. This was followed by daily binding and washing; the feet were massaged by hand until pain was no longer felt. The feet, bound more tightly daily, gradually became smaller.
The toes were inspected daily, to see that they were bending under towards the heart of the foot. Even when they were tightly bound, I felt no pain. Because mother was sympathetic, she would tightly bind, put silk stockings on my feet, and then massage them vigorously both inside and out. [The foot was stretched out flat on the k’ang, with the girl in a reclining position.] This brought me relief in about half an hour. The vigorous massage restored blood circulation, and the cloth seemed to impinge only lightly on the bone structure.
In less than a year, the feet had become pointed and less than four inches long. The method was painless; massaging accounted for sixty to seventy per cent of the results, the binding only thirty to forty per cent. The foot never swelled or suffered any malfunction; I was able to walk slowly but comfortably. It was only at night, sleeping footbound near the hot k’ang, that I felt distressed. If it was too hot my feet swelled and hurt, but the only way to avoid this pain was by frequently changing positions. Mother’s massage had great effect. Women who still bind their feet would diminish discomfort considerably by following this method.
I am a southerner, born at the end of Manchu rule, at a time when women still revered bound feet. Mother started to bind mine when I was four. She first went to a pharmacy to buy three-tenths of an ounce of grease and half an ounce of almonds. She boiled these in water and soaked my feet in the solution until the water got cold. Alum powder was sprinkled between the toes as a perspiration preventative. Mother used a pen to trace the shape of my natural feet, as a remembrance. She bent my toes towards the plantar and bound the foot, leaving the large toe outside of the binding. She wrapped a second cloth around my heel and big toe, getting the toe to point upwards like a new moon. The end of the cloth was sewn in place. She told me to walk, saying that if I didn’t the foot would be badly shaped and would suffer from a multitude of ailments. The pain was severe, but I dared not disobey her for fear of otherwise becoming ill and requiring medication. The next day mother washed my feet in a medicinal mixture and bound them tightly. This became a daily habit, and I did nothing but walk around. After five or six days, I discovered upon removal of the binding that all the toes except the big ones were bruised. Mother wiped off the blood and changed the binding cloths. After four years, my feet were properly formed. They were three inches long and an inch wide at the heels, with big toes pointing upwards like a new moon. I disliked the morning binding intensely, because it was time-consuming and very smelly besides. Later, mother bought three-tenths of an ounce of borax and mixed it in with the foot-washing water. This prevented the smell for five days. I washed my feet and changed the binding cloth daily. The cloth was three feet long and an inch and a half wide. Mother made all my shoes but the sleeping shoes; these I made myself. Women at that time knew how to sew. The toes were already fixed towards the plantar, with the small toes close to the heels. There was a deep, ugly-looking crease in the plantar. When my feet were placed flat on the ground, the big toes were the only ones visible, pointing upwards. Mother praised me for my tiny feet, and I felt very proud of myself.