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Few Han Chinese complied with the edicts, and Kangxi eventually abandoned the effort in 1668. By the 19th century, it was estimated that 40–50% of Chinese women had bound feet. Among upper class Han Chinese women, the figure was almost 100%. [5] Bound feet became a mark of beauty and were also a prerequisite for finding a husband.
A comparison between a woman with normal feet (left) and a woman with bound feet in 1902. Foot binding was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century. In Chinese society, bound feet were considered beautiful and erotic.
The process of altering one's foot often was urged on young girls and took years to fully finish. The damage to women's feet was irreversible and affected mobility. [7] There was a fair amount of backlash to this tradition by missionaries and Chinese reformists. However, women continued to wear lotus shoes until around the 1950s. [3]
The two girls experience the painful process of foot binding at the same time. Foot-binding was the tradition of binding a young daughter's feet by wrapping cloth around their feet tightly and forcing them to walk until their bones broke and were easier to mold and change, then tightening the bindings.
Similar to the aforementioned feet binding, waist binding was common practice; men were attracted to women who swayed when they walked due to improper hip growth. [21] In the later Tang dynasty, fuller figures were more popular due to associations with good fortune and wealth.
Since then, Manchu women wore the high, stilt-like platform shoes. [2] When the Manchu conquered China in the Qing dynasty, they forbade Manchu women from binding their feet like the Han Chinese women. [4] It is sometimes suggested that the Manchu platforms shoes were used to imitate the gait of the Han Chinese women with bound feet. [2]
The Tian Zu Hui (Natural Foot Society), was a Chinese organization against foot binding, founded in 1895. It was the first secular mass organization against foot binding in China. It was founded by ten women of different nationalities under the leadership of Alicia Little in Shanghai in 1895.
As for the historical development of Chinese patriarchy, women's status was highest in the Tang dynasty, when women played sports (polo) and were generally freer in fashion and conduct. Between the Tang and Song dynasties, a fad for little feet arose, and from the Song dynasty onwards foot binding became more and more common for the elite.