Splendid slippers
Another thing he brought home was a pair of embroidered Chinese slippers which fascinated me. They were tiny and I could not believe that anyone other than a very small child could have worn them. My feet were far too big – I couldn’t fit even my toes into them, but yet my father insisted that they had indeed been intended for women, whose feet had been bound so that they could wear these beautiful doll-sized shoes.
In later years, I discovered more about foot-binding and learnt what a cruel tradition it was. Small feet were considered beautiful, not least because they caused the women to sway as they walked in a sensual way. It was believed that tottering along on tiny feet also made the thigh and pelvic muscles tight and so the smaller the feet, the stronger the muscles would become.
The ‘golden lily’ feet, the most prized of all, were just three inches long, sometimes less. Four–inch feet were called silver lilies and bound feet larger than that were known as ‘iron lilies’. Having such prized feet meant that a family could marry off a daughter to a wealthy man. If they could also provide a rich dowry, the social elevation of their daughter was almost assured.
It was the ambition of all poverty-stricken parents that their daughters should rise to live a life of luxury. A pretty daughter would have her toes, apart from the big toe, folded under the foot and bound. This usually took place when the little girl was five or six years old, when the bones were still soft enough to be manipulated. The binding would be undertaken by her mother and grandmother or sometimes an official foot-binder. It was an excruciatingly painful process. The child would be forced to walk on her bound feet to crush the toes. If this did not break them, stones would be bound into the bandages.
Binding was necessary to stop the bones growing. The bandages would be changed every couple of days and gradually the bindings would become tighter. Often the flesh would be lacerated with sharp objects so that it would rot away, helping to make the feet even smaller. After two years, the required size and shape would have been achieved, but the feet would continue to be bound for life and the pain was unrelenting.
Many girls died from infections caused by the procedure. It was considered that a bound-foot woman, having undergone such agony, would be obedient and uncomplaining in her marriage.
The practice of foot-binding was not completely abandoned until 1949, though it continued in some extremely remote areas until 1957. Believed to have begun in aristocratic families in the 10th century, it was gradually adopted by poorer people as a means of freeing their families from poverty.
A prospective suitor, and particularly the potential mother-in-law, would look at the slippers the girl had embroidered. The first thing to consider was the size. The smaller the slipper, the more attractive the proposition. Another consideration was the embroidery. Bound-foot girls spent many hours embroidering slippers, taking inspiration from Nature. The finest embroidery on the most beautiful material of the tiniest shoe was almost a guarantee of marriage. A plain girl with tiny feet would be a more desirable acquisition than a pretty girl with larger feet.
I don’t know what happened to the little shoes my father brought home. In a sense I’m glad they disappeared. They were so pretty but yet were a symbol of such pain and repression.
Beverley Jackson (1928-2020) was an American writer who gave lectures across the world on Chinese culture and fashion. Her book, ‘Splendid Slippers’, gives a comprehensive account of the practice and history of foot- binding and the creation of exquisitely embroidered shoes.
