18 determined by the time of year when they were born. Lao tong was also an
everlasting relationship. To communicate with each other, they used a written language called nu
shu which was secretly practiced away from the influence of the men. By nu shu, they wrote many things such as poems, prose, and even their life story on a fan,
shoes, or handkerchiefs.
4. Sociological Review of Footbinding in China
The practice of footbinding had been in China since the twelfth century under the Southern Song Dynasty Pan, 1998, p. 364. Footbinding was practiced
formerly by women in the royal palaces as the symbol of royalty, the nobility and the very rich. However, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the practice
of footbinding started spreading throughout China Jackson, 1997, p. 11. The origin of footbinding is still unknown. Jackson said that there are
various opinions about its origin, based on historical evidence, local tradition, and scholarly conjecture. Not all Chinese tribes did footbinding. There were only
Manchu, the conqueror of Ming Dynasty and the Hakka people who could avoid binding their feet. Most footbinding was done by the Han Chinese women
Fairbank, 1986, p. 69. Han people were more than 94 percent of China’s total population Jackson, p.18.
Footbinding was started, crippling the girls, when they were aged five to seven. This practice was done with some specific aims. According to Naquin and
Rawski 1987, p. 80, their toes were tightly bound and the feet were wrapped to
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19 keep them the small size which was considered desirable for wives. It means that
if a Chinese woman bound her feet, she had more chance to have a good marriage arrangement.
Besides, Fairbank explained that small feet would lead them to have respect from the community as well p. 69. In short, this practice of footbinding
was obligatory for the Chinese girl so that she would be marriageable and successful in her future life. Meanwhile, in Smith’s opinion, this deforming of the
feet was “…both a symptom and a cause of ever more rigid sexual segregation. …brought both status and suffering to Chinese women” 1994, p. 249-50. Status
played the role of spreading the footbinding. Considering this practice was formerly practiced in the imperial period by a beautiful dancer, other women in
the imperial period were envious and then also bound their feet in hopes of finding a better position Jackson, p.12. It was also followed by the poorest
outside the palaces. Then, there was a belief that a girl with the feet bound would be accepted well in the afterlife.
Footbinding was apparently the commonest form of sexual fetish for men. Fairbank said that these bound feet were erogenous areas p.70. In addition,
Jackson stated that by “just thinking of the feet or calling them by one of their special, erotically related names was adequate stimulus for many men to achieve
full arousal” p. 109. Therefore, the bound feet are sexually more important than face or body shape. The smell of the feet was also stimulating.
Many men were excited by the smell of the unwashed, perspiring feet. Licking unbound feet, biting them, or taking the entire little foot into the
mouth were among sexually stimulating activities some men enjoyed. And
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20 for others there was a sexual satisfaction in the sound made when the feet
were manipulated between the hands. Jackson, p.110-11 Footbinding was also aimed to preserve the female chastity. Fairbank
stated that it was like a guarantee. By having the feet bound, women were kept within the household so that they could not go far away from the household p.
70. Meanwhile, Jackson said that it was a tenet of Confucianism that the woman should not be heard outside her own home p. 16.
Jackson quoted from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by P’u Sung- hing as known as Liu-hsien translated by Herbert A. Giles 1880 the reasons why
this tradition could remain for a thousand years p. 18-21. The reasons were as follows.
1. If a girl’s feet are not bound, people say she is not like a woman but like a man
and they laugh at her, call her names, and her parents are ashamed of her. 2.
Girls are like flowers. It is very important that their feet be bound short so that they will walk beautifully, with mincing steps, swaying gracefully, thus
showing they are persons of respectability. People praise them. 3.
One of good family does not wish to marry a woman with long feet. 4.
One who has large feet will live in misery. She will do the rough work, does not sit in a sedan chair, and does not eat the best food. She is also wetted by
the rain, tanned by the sun, blown upon by the wind. 5.
Those with unbound feet are low and mean. 6.
Girls are like gold, like gems. They should stay in their own house. If they do not bind their feet, they go here and there with unfitting associates. They have
no good name. They are like gems that are rejected.
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21 7.
Parents are covetous. They think small feet are pleasing and will command a high price for a bride.
The practice of footbinding had already been banned by Manchus in the beginning of Qing Dynasty 1644-1911. They had threatened practitioners with
severe penalties. Fairbank stated “The Manchu emperors many times inveighed against it in hortatory edicts, but to no avail.” p. 69. The scholars, both Chinese
and Western also disagreed with the practice of footbinding. Though the women had to obey the Confucian women’s rule, they did not have to bind their feet so
that they would be kept safely in the household. Then, anti-footbinding movements showed up at the beginning of the twentieth century. Jackson noted
that after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the Republic of China’s government under the leader Sun Yat Sen increased the pressured to prohibit the
practice of footbinding. That was the end of the footbinding era in China.
5. Sociological Review of Chinese Women’s Secret Writing
