Ancient Chinese Foot Binding

Woman in living in China during the Song Dynasty believed that they would appear more graceful and beautiful if they had small feet. They used foot binding, a long and painful process of breaking and moving bones, to deform their feet until they were tiny. Foot binding perceived the role of women in Chinese society and Confucian moral values. This practice affected the lives of many women in ways that are unimaginably painful (Bound). One Chinese legend speaks of a time when Lady Huang of the Song Dynasty started this practice and continued it because her prince loved her little feet. He was proud of her ability to dance and walk gracefully. Soon, others took up the idea of foot binding, and copied her idea of delicate feet. The first evidence found of foot binding is from Lady Huang’s tomb. She lived in the Song Dynasty, which was from around 960-1279 AD. In the tomb, the woman’s feet were bound and wearing five and a half inch long shoes (Bound). Another legend states that the first time foot binding was used was when a young concubine bound her feet tightly to be used in a dance routine for the emperor at that time (Ellis-Christensen). By the twelfth century, the practice was greatly used among the upper class, particularly the Han Chinese. During the Qing Dynasty in the mid-seventeenth century, every girl who wished to be married into a wealthy family had to have her feet bound, in order to have a good life (Schiavenza). The reason for this is because men wanted their wives to be delicate.
When a girl reached the age of 4-6 years old, her mother would perform foot binding on her. If she was any younger, she would not be able to endure the pain; but, if she were any older, her foot would be too grown to work with this process (Schiavenza). First, her mother would soak the child’s foot in a mix of herbs and blood, to soften it up. Then, she would bend and pull back the girl’s toes, (except her big toe), under her foot toward the arch until her toes