Chinese Foot Binding

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Chinese Foot Binding

• Beauty? Or A Fashion Statement Gone Wrong

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Origin of Foot Binding

• In the early 10th century, Emperor Li Yu of the
  Southern Tang dynasty in China order one of his
  slave girls to bind her feet in silk ribbons and
  dance on a platform littered with golden lotus
  flowers.
• At first, foot binding was something practiced
  only by those within the royal court but soon
  women of all social classes were eager to have
  dainty, "beautiful" and desirable feet.

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How The Feet Were Bounded

• Young girls would get the feet bounded around
  the ages between four to six
• The girls feet were soaked into special potion.
• Their mothers or grandmothers would take long
  lengths of cloth and bind the feet so that the
  toes would bend under and the bones in the foot
  would break.
• Process took about ten years
• Infection would follow
• Then the terrible smell

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This picture was taken in 1918
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Excruciating Details
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More Excruciating Details
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Examples of Shoes
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Foot Binding Facts

• Foot binding was seen as a sign of beauty and
  attractiveness.
• Men in China in that era would not marry a woman
  who did not have bound feet.
• Once a girl was of marriageable age, prospective
  mother-in-laws lifted up the woman's dress and
  discovered "clown feet," she would not allow her
  son to speak to that woman again.
• The mother in law discovering that would be the
  most embarrassing thing that can happen to you.
• The foot binding process was done to make sure
  the foot never grew past four inches.

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More Facts

• Foot binding kept women weak, out of power, and
  dominated by her husband.
• The process was done so early the girls had no
  ruling.
• The girls were uneducated and thought that foot
  binding was necessary.
• Women were an object to men.
• In 1911 after the revolution of Sun Yat-Sen, foot
  binding officially ended .
• Some families still continued.

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To Be Beautiful, Is PainfulOr Is It?

• Throughout history in all cultures a common
  ultimate goal is to achieve beauty.
• We pierce and tattoo our bodies. Wear high heels
  and tight boosters. Denature ourselves with
  plastic surgery.

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Works Cited

• Http//www.sfmuseeum.org/chin/feetbinding.htlm
• http//users.rcn.com/frances.interport/feetbinding
  .html
• http//www.kidzworld.com/site/p2142.htm