H. How was the foot bound?
The foot was bound in a variety of ways, but with one objective in mind: to bind the cloth tightly and effectively. There was no definite way, but the general principle was to bind it so tightly that it couldn’t be let out. (9) “The binding of well-bound feet did not get loosened and have a swollen look; such women did not feel pain when walking.” (3) One common method was to place one end of the cloth on the surface of the foot below the ankle, pressing it down by hand. The other end of the cloth was then wound around the heel and returned to the original position. All the toes were forced under the foot surface, and great pressure was applied in binding. (2, 3, 4) “Usually the front part of the foot was wrapped around two times and the rear part three times.” (5) The front part of the bottom of the foot was pressed down so as to connect with the heel. The shape of the foot was like a figure 9 and the toes were in an upside down position towards the underside of the foot. (12)
Later one took the big toe and tried to have it touch the heel of the foot. Therefore the shape of the foot encased in white cotton cloth resembled a fist. After a long time, the foot became so much insensitive dead flesh. (11)
Women sewed the binding into place with needle and thread. White cloth was used, and the foot was bound tightly both front and back. One had to use needle and thread when the foot was first bound, for in that way you prevented the binding from being opened. Later, my foot became terribly painful, and when Mother opened the bandage and looked at my foot it was already slightly odoriferous and rotted. (6)
“I inserted the end of the cloth into my own bandage, and never had to use needle and thread to tighten it.” (5) “I did not sew the binding fast.” (8) “Some women wore socks on top of the binding. Linen socks and then shoes were worn. (2; cf.4)
Whether or not one wore socks was one’s own choice.” (3) “After binding, one did not have to wear socks.” (9) “Feet well-bound needed no socks, and the binding would not get loose. But there were large small feet, and it was hard to bind them tightly, so in those cases socks had to be worn.” (5) “Two multicolored ribbons were sometimes placed on the shoes to help tie the bound feet to them.”
Strength was applied not only in binding, but in tightly sewing the binding. By preventing loosening, success was ensured. The foot did not become smaller because of the binding, but because this caused the flesh to rot away. A mother who wished to accelerate this might break open the flesh with porcelain tiles in order to speed the process of decay. Bone softening medicines were also used. Besides the lamb’s blood technique popular in Ta-t’ung, there was a formula which consisted of a broth made from monkey bones. The legs were bathed in this broth daily, and as a result the bones naturally softened and became easy to bend and bind.
I. What did you do when you went to sleep?
The binding was not to be loosened during the sleeping hours, for otherwise the feet would grow larger. (11) Some women, who sought comfort, always loosened the bandage but later discovered that their feet could not be bound as small as before. (5) When going to bed, almost all ladies “. . . wore sleeping shoes over the bandage. I could not sleep if these were not worn.” (7) Mrs. Liang (9), our oldest informant, told us that she expected her corpse to be dressed in bedroom shoes prior to burial. In order to keep these shoes from getting soiled, she always swept the bedroom clean. (8) Sleeping shoes were worn because “. . . it was unaesthetic looking [to see the bare foot]; therefore everyone had in readiness sleeping shoes, put on only when one went to bed. When I got up in the morning, I changed them for ordinary shoes.” (10) One of the main-landers wore soft bedroom sandals over her regular shoes instead of changing as the others did. (1)
Sleeping shoes were kept in a special drawer in the bedroom and were only worn when preparing for bed. They were usually red, elegantly styled, fragrantly perfumed, and of a satin or silk texture. These shoes were greatly prized and sought after as love tokens. A woman might secretly give them to her enamored as proof of love sentiments, preferring them to shoes she had worn on the outside which might soil his hands. Sleeping shoes under the bedcovers excited the male because of their fragrance and softness, and because the deep red of the shoes effectively contrasted with the white of the thighs. One type of sleeping shoe had detailed pictures of amorous play embroidered on it. These varied greatly in price, depending on the skill of the artist, and cost as much as five ounces of silver per pair. Perfumed sachets were placed in the sides of sleeping shoes to offset foot odors and emit a pleasant fragrance.
J. How often did you rebind?
Mrs. Yang (7) rebound her feet every day, although:
. . . when my feet were first bound, I was distressed. To distract myself from this, I tapped my feet on the wooden bed to help me forget the pain. The toenails could not be cut during the first lunar month of the year, for we were told that the foot would smell if they were cut at this time.
A few informants may have exaggerated about how often they washed after the binding was removed. Mrs. Ch’en (8) claimed that she washed her feet once every two days, while Mrs. Liang (9) stated that she washed them about this often only during hot weather. To prevent unpleasant odors, alum was rubbed between the toes. While Mrs. Ch’en (5) rebound daily, she only washed her feet once every three or four days out of fear that they might grow larger.
In my youth, I would wash my feet once every two days. Now I wash once every three or four days. In the winter, it’s all right if I take a few more days between washings. I also used to change the bandage daily, but now that I’m old I change it once every three days. If you wash the foot when it is first bound, it can be painful. If later you wash it slowly, it feels very comforting. (6)
The two ladies from Lukang (10, 11) admitted that they only washed their feet once every six or seven days. This statement was corroborated by our Nan-t’un informant’s (12) remark that women . . usually washed their feet and bathed once a week.” Mrs. Liu (13) alleged that some women didn’t wash their feet more than two or three times a year. Foot washing was done infrequently. (4) There were villagers who didn’t wash all year and only bound the foot roughly so that it resembled a pig’s foot or a rice dumpling. Swatow ladies of the eighteen-eighties washed their feet once a month, or oftener, with the bandages still on them. They were put into a bucket of hot water and soaked. The bandages were then removed, the dead skin rubbed away, and the foot kneaded more fully into the desired shape. Pulverized alum was laid on, after which clean bandages were quickly applied. A failure to rebind quickly led to renewed blood circulation in the feet and multiplied the pain, which was felt the least when the feet were benumbed by the firmness and pressure of the bandages.
It was common to leave the feet unwashed during bathing, placing them outside of the bathtub. (4, 5) There was a widespread superstition that the woman who removed bindings and washed her feet in the same basin as the rest of her body would be changed into a pig in the next life. Like the Korean upper class, mothers or servants might do the washing for the girl in childhood, but this ceased with adolescence. “When I got bigger [over ten years of age], I washed them myself in a private room out of shame that someone might see my bare foot.” (10) “When I got older, ... I had a servant bring water into a private room, where I did the washing myself.” (11) Did a husband ever help with the washing? “Women washed their own feet, and never asked servants or husbands to do this. It would have been unthinkable!” (5) “Rich or poor, before or after marriage, one washed her own feet.” (3) “A husband cannot wash his wife’s feet.” (6) This was the testimony of women reared in conventional circumstances, but our earlier discussions of the sexual implications of footbinding show that washing the foot or covertly seeing it being washed was an erotic attraction to the foot fetishist.