Mothers did not let their daughters untie the bindings, because they wanted them to look like members of rich families. In order to prevent unbinding, they therefore tied their hands to a pole. In this way, they could not undo the binding. Mothers felt that this was not serious, for once the girls got used to the binding they would like it.
A mother was willing to go to any lengths to ensure that her daughter’s foot became tiny enough to win social admiration. The tiny foot, at first considered as a form of beauty, in the course of time became a mark of distinction as well. Families which claimed an aristocratic ancestry therefore felt duty-bound to stamp their own flesh with this sign of gentility. It was the mother’s first task on arising, and the daughter was powerless either to resist or to stop the pain. She could only weep and beg for permission to unloosen the binding. At this stage even the most indulgent mother proved unresponsive and deaf to entreaties. The request to desist might so anger her that she bound even more tightly. Sounds commonly heard were those of the child crying and being reviled at the same time. “One pair of tiny feet, but two cisterns of tears.” The mother first tried to soften the flesh of the foot and bend under the bones of all toes but the big toe. This part of the task did not yet involve great suffering. But after about half a year the bones of the toes gradually curved inwards, and increasing pressure was applied. The more the flesh deteriorated, the tighter the foot was bound, to accelerate the process. The deep bending of the bones so that they could fit into a bowed shoe signified fulfillment of the mother’s task. These bowed feet were called Golden Lotuses, but the as-yet-unbound feet of a young girl were called Foot Sprouts. The large, stout leg, considered hard to bind, was regarded disdainfully. But girls with small slender legs were comforted, for these could be made to conform most closely to the feminine ideal. Old ladies in the village praised or criticized foot sprouts for either having or lacking the essential qualities. Binding of long and plump legs began earlier, shortly before or after the fifth birthday, out of fear that they might later become increasingly difficult to bind.
C. How did your mother feel when she first began binding your foot?
The replies show that, in most instances, maternal feelings of compassion were more than offset by social considerations. A daughter whose feet were well bound found it easier to get a husband, and her family might be more highly esteemed in society. There was also the aesthetic factor, for only tiny feet were considered beautiful.
Mother did not feel bad about the pain suffered when my feet were bound, for the following reasons. Small feet were then thought to be beautiful. If a person were plain-looking but had small bound feet, she might still be considered a beauty. If she had naturally large feet, however, no matter how good-looking she might be, she was not thought pretty, and no one wanted to marry her. (1)
Mother surely felt bad, but with unbound feet a girl could not easily find a husband. (2)
At that time, noble ladies all had their feet bound. Bound feet, therefore, were not only beautiful but represented family background and social standing. Due to these factors, Mother did not feel bad about it. (3)
For the sake of the future, Mother did not feel bad at seeing her daughter suffering from physical pain. The neighbors criticized her if the foot were not bound properly. Mother would find fault with my sisters if their feet were not bound well. (5)
Mother died soon afterwards, so I was extremely upset. From the age of five, I was reared by another family. My feet felt extremely painful, but I dared not cry in the presence of my stepmother. Sometimes I stealthily removed the binding when my stepmother was not around. She once discovered this and beat me for it, which made me think longingly of my deceased mother. My stepmother was very strict about footbinding. She would take me walking to let the many passers-by see my bound feet. I became aware of the reason for our strolls and therefore dared not let out the binding any longer. My stepmother said that girls all liked to be considered beautiful and that feet had to be bound small. Otherwise, everyone would laugh at a girl who had natural, unbound feet. (6)
Mother enjoyed doing this [footbinding] very much, because the customs of the time required that women bind their feet in order to achieve the tiny foot which symbolized beauty. (9)
When I first started, my foot didn’t hurt too much. This was because the first step was to use a white cloth to wrap around the foot and merely prevent it from getting larger. So there was no pain involved. The real tightening of the bandage started when I was about ten, and that was painful. Mother felt bad, of course, but she was willing to go through with it in order to see that her daughter grew up to be beautiful. I never loosened the bandages, since I didn’t feel extreme pain. Some girls tried to do this, but their mothers prevented it and reminded them that by loosening the binding they would fail to grow up attractive. And girls ten years of age were generally willing to suffer pain for the sake of beauty. (10)
I remember that, when the binding first began, I did not feel pain and, in fact, thought it very interesting. Mother told me that only through footbinding could a woman become more beautiful. Therefore I gladly endured the process. Mother did not feel bad when she saw me in pain because she was doing this to enhance my attractiveness. My feet, even after ten years of age, did not feel pained but only restricted. Perhaps other girls secretly removed the bandages, but if their mothers found out, they were either beaten or the binding was sewn to prevent its being loosened. (11).
There was also a practical factor involved in the degree to which feet were reduced, for while a mother wished that her daughter’s feet be as small as possible, she had to consider the economic situation of the family. If the family expected the girl to work in the future, her feet could not be too small. So many country women did not bind their feet. (4)
The informants sometimes volunteered statements about how they had reacted; and here reactions differed from “I was unaware of pain. ...” (8) to “... I cried out because of the pain in my foot. My mother and grandmother could not bear to see me cry, so we all cried together.” (7) Mrs. Yang also stated:
Grandmother fooled me by telling me that I could let my foot out. I was very happy. But then she took a piece of bamboo, formed it into a “u” shape, and pressed two of these very tightly around the heels of my feet so as to inhibit their growth. This kept the heel rigidly in place and prevented it from turning inwards; it was very painful.
The young child might rationalize the suffering because of her feminine vanity:
At first, I suffered very much, and often spent sleepless nights because of the pain. But I did it to be beautiful. [Did you ever stealthily loosen the bandages?] The women of my family all bound their feet. I, in the hope of being beautiful, never loosened the bandage because of the pain and gradually got used to it. Other girls loosened the bindings, but if caught they were beaten and forced to bind them tightly again. I didn’t dare do this, and suffered from beginning to end. (5)
D. What shape of bound foot was considered the most beautiful?
Our informants agreed that the smaller the foot, the more delicate and beautiful it was thought to be. This was because “the small foot symbolized aristocracy and beauty.” (11) There were other secondary attributes: “The surface of the foot had to be as high as possible, for if the surface were low the foot would be too long.” (3) “A swollen appearance or an arched shape of the instep were regarded as the ugliest.” (4) “The most beautiful foot was high, straight, and erect. This meant that the instep should be high and erect, while the area from the instep to the toes should be straight.” (5) “The smallest foot . . . was considered the most elegant and upper class. The front of the foot was supposed to be somewhat pointed.” (6) Mrs. Yang (7) was the only informant to offer the striking statement that ". . . some children started the footbinding process as early as one month and four months of age. They were such tiny infants that they were unaware of the pain. These bound feet were the most beautiful.” Mrs. Yang’s allegation that footbinding started in infancy was also found in studies of China made by late-eighteenth-century Western authors, but these appear to have been based on hearsay and misinformation.