K. What were the shape and color of the shoes?
There was no limit to the style, color, or embroidery, and individual preference determined selection. The colors red and green were preferred. (2) Mrs. Feng (1) stated that black shoes with embroidered flowers were worn before marriage, and similarly embroidered red shoes were worn after marriage. The bride wore red shoes at her wedding, but there was no color limitation on other occasions. (3, 5) Elderly ladies wore black shoes as a rule and red embroidered shoes on birthdays or holidays. (10) “A woman who becomes advanced in years shouldn’t wear red shoes.” (6) According to Mrs. Feng (1), there were both flat and high-heeled shoes, the former often worn during adolescence. However, Mrs. Kuo (3) stated that only high-heeled shoes were worn. She must have been referring to the exception rather than the rule. Mrs. Ting (4) usually wore flat-heeled shoes, reserving high heels for going out or attending parties.
High heels were for the sake of beauty and were allowed to be worn before or after marriage. Flat heels were also worn, whether one was married or single. I started to wear high heels at about seventeen or eighteen years of age. (5)
Mrs. Liang (9) started when she was ten years old. “High heels were not only easier to walk on, but were prettier in appearance.” (6) “I didn’t wear flat-heeled shoes, because you couldn’t walk on them. ... A woman with bound feet had to put her weight on the heel when walking.” (8) For rain wear, the entire sole of the shoes was augmented by a wooden surface. There were false “three-inch lotuses,” one technique being to place the high heel of the shoe under the sole of the foot and use an additional piece of wood to support the heel of the foot. (3) There were ladies, who were either too old to start footbinding or had given it up because of the pain, who wore special shoes. They had a high heel, so they walked with the swaying gait of one with real bound feet. But they feared that others would discover that their feet were not bound. (10) The natural-footed might try to conceal this by walking on the tip of the toes in specially made shoes, with the rest of the foot being concealed under their long trousers. (11)
Green as well as red shoes were worn on congratulatory occasions, with white shoes worn when attending the funerals of one’s closest relations. The color yellow was considered unsuitable. Young people wore red and green laces, the middle-aged either black laces or black with white intertwined. Poems in praise of tiny feet invariably referred to the red shoes:
Women whose heels were so wide that they protrude beyond the shoe were ridiculed with this folk saying:
L. Were shoes part of the dowry?
Shoes and binding cloths were essential parts of the dowry, with the amount varying according to one’s resources. The woman’s family supplied the dowry in most cases, but among the wealthy it was provided for by the husband’s family. (7. Yang: Interviewer’s note to reply 13.) The shoes might be placed inside the man’s shoes and with the binding cloth alongside. (1)
There were usually four, eight, twelve, or sixteen pairs of shoes. Clothes were divided the same as shoes, for use in the four seasons. . . . The formal ceremonial dress was made by the bridegroom’s family, while the shoes were made by the bride herself. (4)
Mrs. Ch’en (5) stated that, while most brides had at least six pairs of shoes, she had twelve pairs, (cf. 8)
The dress and hair ornaments were prepared by the bridegroom’s family, but shoes and other things were prepared by the bride herself. After the wedding, the bride gave her husband’s sister, mother, and grandmother one pair of new shoes each. This was called “dividing the shoes.” (5)
Mrs. Shih (11) also made twelve pairs of shoes as part of her dowry, eight pairs less than Mrs. Ting (10). The bride sometimes had to send each woman in her husband’s family a pair of shoes, making them as attractive as possible. (6; cf.9) By giving her mother-in-law a pair of beautiful tiny shoes, the bride indicated her skill as a shoemaker. (11) However, if the husband’s family were considerate, they might say that other things could be sent in place of the shoes. (8)
These shoes were displayed during the wedding, and people who came to see the bride’s dowry would comment on how small and beautiful the shoes indicated that her feet must be. (12) On the wedding day, the bride with an especially small foot might place her foot on the table for everyone to see, putting it on top of a spoon to prove how small it was. (13) (A Chinese spoon is about two inches long, and arched.)
When I married, I did not see my husband, because of my parents’ wishes, until the wedding night. Because of the darkness of the room, some brides didn’t see their husbands clearly enough to recognize them until several days after the wedding night. (11)
In keeping with custom, the newlyweds visited the bride’s maiden home. This was called “return to the gate.” The day they came back from the visit, the bride had to present a pair of shoes to each in-law. These shoes, made before marriage, were called “return to the gate shoes.” (3)
The size and shape of the bride’s feet were considered vitally important. When she alighted from the sedan chair to enter her husband’s home, she was surrounded by friends and neighbors who inspected her foot size. Everyone praised the tiny-footed bride, pleasing the parents and delighting the groom who saw her for the first time. If, however, her feet exceeded the norm, everyone laughed at her, and the father-in-law felt mortified. There was and still is a Chinese custom called Disturbing the Bedroom on the wedding night, whereby tricks are played on bride and groom by the wedding party. At Ningpo, any guest could hold the bride’s hand or foot without being refused. Some would even measure the foot with a ruler and make sarcastic remarks if it were large or poorly shaped. So there was a constant social pressure on the bride-to-be to bind effectively and avoid being publicly shamed.
M. How prevalent was this practice?
Regardless of class or relative wealth or poverty, all women bound their feet. The only exceptions were nuns, Manchu women, and maids, though maids who bound their feet were considered much more valuable. (1) Most women bound their feet. Exceptions were few, for those who did not bind their feet in fear of pain would soon be in fear that they would be old maids to their dying days. (2) The only ones who did not bind their feet were either servants or women who did not have a mother to look after them. (6, 8) Only aboriginal women did not bind their feet. (7) Two ladies admitted that poor women did not bind their feet, one saying this was because they had to perform arduous labor. (5, 3) Mrs. Ting (10) said that the average family had maid servants and that with bound feet one couldn’t wash clothes or do any work which required kneeling. She said that women with bound feet were called “Wives” or “Fine Footed,” while those with natural feet were called “Coarse Footed.” The only exceptions to binding were women who specialized in types of heavy work. (11)