Where in the world? China This ancient tradition started in the 10 century, until 1911 when it was banned by the Chinese republic. Now if this was performed the mothers would get charged with child abuse. This was practiced by young women and girls as young as the age of five. Binding of the foot resulted in life long disabilities for many of the women who partook in this tradition. Some feet were even broken or fractured in order to get the desired result of a smaller foot. There are many different reasons why people think that this tradition was practiced. They thought it was fashionable and a distinction to have bound feet to the point where some were even "nonfunctional feet." The smaller the women’s foot, the more wealthy they seemed. During the first year of this process, girls would have 4 of their toes broken and knit together making sure their feet looked smaller. They would have to walk on their heels so they would not have pain. Another different opinion on why these girls had bound feet was that their husbands wanted to keep them from having any life outside the home. Their bound feet kept them from being mobile. Some women were even killed or sent away if they did not have their feet bound because it showed that they were not capable of marriage. Various opinions have been stated as to why they did this, some say fashion, others say it was for their husbands. Either way, they suffered tremendous pain and it is sad to see pictures and videos of it.
This tradition seem ridiculous to me. Why would anyone break their own foot and alter its appearance knowing very well that the results would be extremely painful and most likely affect them the rest of their lives. Most of these cultural performances you post on your blog are extremely strange to hear for the average American. I guess if we thought they were normal, they really wouldn't be traditions.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I fail to see any form of logic in this tradition. It's interesting, I'm not going to lie, but completely idiotic. I actually laughed as I read the article. I'm laughing right now as I write this and think back to the article. I would love to see you post more about the weird traditions found in this world, no matter how stupid or clever they are. Good post!
ReplyDeleteHi Big T, it has been 11 years where you been
DeleteI think that this post it crazy! It's very interesting to read but I can't imagine doing that and for husbands making their wife’s do that so they know she cant walk is so wrong. I love the post. You should keep on doing post about strange traditions in the world.
ReplyDeleteThat is absolutely terrible! To think that women during this time would have to suffer through tremendous pains just to keep their feet smaller. And as I can see, a lot of the time this just severely deformed many of the Chinese women’s feet. How selfish of a husband to do this to their wife, just so that they wouldn’t be able to leave the house because of their immobility. And even if it was just for fashion, who would want extremely small feet? That would sadly just look funny on a person. I feel so sorry for all the pain that many women during this certain period in China, were forced to go through. On the other hand, great post! Sad, but very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI think this Chinese tradition is terrible. I just don't understand how women could have done such a thing just to please their husbands or look more fashionable. The amount of pain they went through could not have been worth it.
ReplyDeleteThis so-called "tradition" is crazy! That is totally unnecessary! I don't see why they would want the women's feet that shape just for those reasons. Why did smaller feet mean they could be wealthier? I have small feet...how small in shoe sizes is their feet? That’s just so gross and crazy I don’t even want to believe that’s a real tradition, it’s awful!
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