Former Chinese custom of binding the feet of young girls
Foot binding
A Chinese woman showing her foot, image by Lai Afong, c. 1870s
Traditional Chinese
纏足
Simplified Chinese
缠足
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
chánzú
Wade–Giles
ch'an2-tsu2
IPA
[ʈʂʰǎn.tsǔ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization
chìhn-jūk
Jyutping
cin4-zuk1
IPA
[tsʰiːn˩.tsok̚˥]
Alternative (Min) Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
裹腳
Simplified Chinese
裹脚
Transcriptions
Foot binding (simplified Chinese: 缠足; traditional Chinese: 纏足; pinyin: chánzú), or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by footbinding were known as lotus feet and the shoes made for them were known as lotus shoes. In late imperial China, bound feet were considered a status symbol and a mark of feminine beauty. However, footbinding was a painful practice that limited the mobility of women and resulted in lifelong disabilities.
The prevalence and practice of footbinding varied over time and by region and social class.[1] The practice may have originated among court dancers during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th-century China and gradually became popular among the elite during the Song dynasty. Footbinding eventually spread to lower social classes by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Manchu emperors attempted to ban the practice in the 17th century but failed.[2] In some areas, footbinding raised marriage prospects. It has been estimated that by the 19th century 40–50% of all Chinese women may have had bound feet, rising to almost 100% in upper-class Han Chinese women.[3]
In the late 19th century, Christian missionaries and Chinese reformers challenged the practice but it was not until the early 20th century that the practice began to die out, following the efforts of anti-footbinding campaigns. Additionally, upper-class and urban women dropped the practice of footbinding sooner than poorer rural women.[4] By 2007, only a small handful of elderly Chinese women whose feet had been bound were still alive.
^Shepherd, John R. (2018). Footbinding as Fashion. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295744407.
^Cite error: The named reference bbc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Lim, Louisa (19 March 2007). "Painful Memories for China's Footbinding Survivors". Morning Edition. National Public Radio.
^Hershatter, Gail (2019). Women and China's Revolutions. Rowman and Littlefield. p. 68.
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