My Interesting Files

Damn! That’s gross! I can’t imagine that wearing those show can be comfortable!
BioTecKs last blog post..Miracles Still Exist, For Now!

I love the japanese culture and food but I could never understand their fetish with small feet! gross!

trenchs last blog post..Who will replace Gil Grissom in CSI?

I’ve heard of this before but these pictures show how horrific it really is - great post!

Lady Bananas last blog post..Links for 2008-08-06 [del.icio.us]

Her toes!

claras last blog post..Knottingpedia - Celtic squares

I’ve read about binding feet but this confirms just how horrendous it must have been. Dreadful. Poor thing.

Dianes last blog post..Parlez-vous français?

they are actually not japanese but originiated in China and they are not called Geishas. Geishas refer to Japanese women “entertainers”. This however, is the Chinese Royal Family. The smaller your foot was the higher in the hierachy you belong- because it is harder to walk and you have more people serving you. They have small danity shoes that was believed that true woman of wealth could wear because farmers and normal people could not afford to do that- they need to their foot to work, run errands and feed their families. With that explained- it doesnt seem so bizzare now huh?

Yes those are the horrors of the Chinese traditional feet binding. I must say though, the title of your post is misleading. Geisha is a Japanese profession, and what you’re showing in those pictures is a Chinese lady, and a strictly Chinese custom.
Geisha and China, just don’t fit in the same sentence
The Japanese Geisha had their own uncomfortable footwear, but they didn’t bind their feet. And their footwear, you can see here:

http://www.japan-zone.com/culture/footwear.shtml

Back in the day, beginning from the Song period (10th century and onwards) the status of Chinese women dropped, as the society was ruled by Confucian (and later Neo-Confucian) concepts.
The woman was supposed to stay at home, and be loyal to her husband, his sons and family. The lack of mobility (social and physical) of women at the Imperial period is clearly shown by this tradition, which started out as a fashion.

The smaller the feet were, the sexier the woman was considered.
In later times- such as Ming (14th century till 17th) a woman that did not have those kind of feet, could not get married. And in such a traditional, Confucian society as China was back then, marriage is the most important step in a woman’s lifetime.

Foot binding was done to little girls, about 3 or 4 years of age. While their bones were still developing. The binding stopped the bones from growing, and the foot remained the same size…although, as you can see- completely distorted.
It is a lifetime of pain, to walk on these feet. Each step is painful, and as you can understand, extremely difficult to walk.

It should be interesting to note, that Manchurian rulers of China, during the Qing (the final dynasty), did not allow Manchurian women to bind their feet. They found it humiliating. And later on, in the late 19th century, as China would take on more of the western ideals- Foot binding, would turn into one of the symbols of ignorance and intellectual and social rigidity. And during the 20th century, a symbol of humiliation and feudalism.

Fashion becoming a symbol of status and society. It is something familiar to all of us, in Europe as well.
For example the corset- quite a horrible thing to do to a woman’s body as well. Slowly suffocating…
High heel shoes, are also such a thing, in my opinion.
Body image? Well that one is quite obvious- the everlasting quest for the “perfect body”, being thin…Plenty of women, having some kind of eating disorder as a result.

I could go on…

Im a chinese decent born in Indonesia. I remember my mom told me about this foot binding but never seen the pic. This pic really has opened my eyes how horrible it is. And information from Xiaojie is really informative!