The Liberation Of Women's Bodies In Modern China - Research Paper Example

The Liberation Of Women's Bodies In Modern China Introduction Foot binding was a practice that existed for more than thousand years in China to ensure the beauty of the young women until it was outlawed in 1912. The tiny, curved feet were once considered the ultimate standard of feminine beauty in China and therefore about 3 billion Chinese women practiced foot binding. Foot binding has often been identified as extremely painful and a long process which makes the women undergoes severe pain all through their life. It causes deformity and is often viewed as a cruel practice of mutilating young women’s feet. Once it was the symbol of wealth and marriage eligibility as such the women were forced to bind their feet even if they disliked it. Attitude towards foot binding varied in accordance with family status. While great families favored foot binding, lesser families often followed them in imitation (Hong 2013, p.48). The historical evidences show that the foot binding as a custom flourished in between the 10th and the 20th centuries and many women practiced it even after it was outlawed in 1912 thinking that it would bring good suitors for their daughters. Mothers impressed upon their daughters that the mark of a woman’s attraction reside more in her character more revealed in the bind of her feet than in the face of physique with which nature had endowed her (Blake 683). A very significant thing to note that ‘Her selection in marriage was the task of her prospective mother-in –law, whose criterion for a good daughter-in-law was the discipline that the bound foot represented’ (Pruitt 22). This throws light on the fact the young women during this period were denied the right to think feely and independently and were under chains. Aesthetic appreciation of the small foot was the major driving force for the practice of foot binding in China; foot binding was also promoted to sustain male erotic interest and was regarded as an effective tool to maintain gender distinctions and to ethnically differentiate civilized Chinese from northern barbarians (Mackie 1996, p.1002). The proposed study is conducted on the grounds that foot binding was very common among the Chinese people for a long time and it was once regarded as a symbol of beauty. But it is evident that the foot binding caused for everlasting pain for the women folk and they were merely treated as a tool for sex, disregarding their individuality and potentiality as a working class. The study also evaluates the economic and anthropologic impacts of foot binding on Chinese women and their identity in such a social scenario. History of Foot Binding Analyzing the history of the foot binding in China it is evident that it began as a practice influenced by numerous folk lore and legends. The website of the BBC makes it clear when it writes: ‘The general consensus is that the roots of foot binding lie in the Sung dynasty (960-1279 AD) in China, although there are numerous folk lore and legends surrounding its actual origin. One of these dates back to the Shang dynasty (1700-1027 BC.)’ (BBC). BBC identifies various reasons for the origin of foot binding in China. One of the stories attributed to the origin of foot binding is related with a fox who is believed to be appeared in the guise of Shang Empress and tried to hide its paws; another claims that the Empress was club-footed and asked the Emperor to make foot binding mandatory for all girls so that her own feet would be the model of beauty in the court (BBC). The website adds that there is one story associated with Sung dynasty prince named Li Yu who has fascination towards the tiny feet of one of his concubines and her dancing and as such his other wives too practiced dancing with foot binding, and later it became a custom (BBC). Later, the history of China has witnessed the spreading of foot binding and by the end of the 12th century that it became uncontrolled and severe. The following dynasties after Sung dynasty or the Yuan dynasty were the ardent supporters of foot binding. As such, this tradition spread from the palace to all over the parts of the country where the wealthy lords were the first pursuers of it. The Mongols who succeeded the Yuan dynasty took decisive roles in spreading this tradition. But it became popular among the rich during the reign of the Ming Emperor and later it gradually spread among all the social classes and became associated with marriage and status. The available historical evidences show that during the 17th century the tradition of foot binding began to decline. This occurred when the Manchu barbarians seized control of the Ming dynasty and replaced it with Qing dynasty (1644-1911 AD). The Manchus abhorred all Han Chinese traditions; above all, their attire and adornment, including foot-binding and imposed death penalties on those who breached the fashion code (BBC). They imposed strict rules on the dress code of men and women. Therefore, the men were instructed to shave their heads and women to unbind their feet. It has been measured that by 1835, foot binding was prevalent among 50 to 80 percent of women in China even though it was less common among lowest classes who needed to work in the fields or workshops (Mackie 1996, p.1001). But when the Ministry of Rites submitted a ‘memorial’, the emperor Kanxgi was forced to remove the ban after four years. The first anti-foot binding society was founded in 1874 by local missionaries for their converts (Mackie 1001). The website of the BBC reports that the first anti-foot binding society was formed in Shanghai in 1895 which raised its voice against this painful process that curtail the education of women. Another significant contribution of the society was that it did not consider foot binding as a prerequisite for marriage. But these movements could not actually put an end to foot binding until 1911 when the Manchu dynasty was overpowered by Sun Yat Sen's revolution and later established the New Republic of China. The Republican revolutionary government’s 1912 ban on foot binding has often been considered as a milestone in the modern women liberation movements (Smith 329). The Method of Foot Binding The process of foot binding involved wearing small tight socks and shoes aimed to have a drastic contortion of the foot to make it physically smaller. Beginning at about age six to eight, the female child's four smaller toes were bent under the foot, the sole was forced to the heel, and then the foot was wrapped in a tight bandage day and night in order to mold a bowed and pointed four-inch-long appendage (Mackie 1000); perhaps 10 percent of girls did not survive the treatment (Fairbank, 1992). The available evidences show that there existed approximately 48 ways of foot binding which ultimately aimed at the following; A foot should be ideally no longer than three inches. The cleft between the heel and the sole should be 2-3 inches deep. The foot should appear as an extension of the leg rather than a stand for the body (BBC). The foot binding normally begins when the child learns to walk and do certain things for herself. The rich bind their children’ feet from the sixth or seventh year; but the poor do not begin until they are twelve or even older (Chambers and Chambers 192). Poor parents would get back their daughter (if they can) whom they had already sold as slave and would bind her feet and marry her as a lady. But the pain of binding the feet after grown up was really intolerable. They used strong white long bandages for this purpose. Miss Fielde describes the process as, ‘The end of the strip is laid on the inside of the foot at the instep, then carried over the top of the toes and under the foot, drawing the four toes with it down upon the sole; thence it is passed over the foot and around the heel; and this stretch the toes and the heel are drawn together, leaving a bulge on the instep and a deep indentation in the sole, under the instep.’ This course is gone over successive layers of bandage, until the strip of cloth is all used, and the final end is sown tight down’ (Chambers and Chambers 192). The description clearly draws out the complexity as well as the severe pain that one has to undergo during and after the process. As it was the part of the custom during those days, even some rituals were conducted before the commencement this painful process. The foot-binding ritual traditionally begins with the clipping of the toenails and the soaking of the feet either in hot water or in a concoction of ingredients ranging from various herbs and nuts to less desirable substances such as urine and warm animal blood (BBC). These substances are used to soften the bone and tissue before manipulation. All the toes on the foot, save for the big one, are broken and folded under the sole, and then the toes are bound in place with a 10'x2" silk or cotton bandage. These wrappings are removed every two days to allow the washing and meticulous manicuring of the toenails to avoid infection (BBC). Mackie writes, ‘Bound feet were malodorous, and treated women were crippled and largely housebound’ (Mackie1000). This makes clear that the foot-bound women were leading, in a way, a secluded life, that is, they were devoid of the real nectar of life. ‘The practice effloresced along three dimensions over several centuries. First, it spread from the imperial palace, to court circles, to the larger upper classes, and then to the middle and lower classes; eventually the higher the social status, the smaller the foot. Second, it became more exaggerated over time; a practice supposedly originating among dancers eventually made dance a forgotten art. Third, it radiated from the imperial capitals to the rest of the empire’ (Mackie 1001). Thus it proves that foot binding as a tradition began among the wealthy class and later spread whole social class. Women as Scapegoat Innumerable debates were conducted in China regarding the foot binding and its several physical as well as mental hazards. Even the so called elite class that once supported the foot binding will certainly agree with its severe impacts on women. Women during that time were simply regarded as an instrument to gratify the sexual desire of men. Chinese men regarded bound feet as a sign of modesty, universally associated it with ‘higher status love and sex,’ and considered bounded feet as a sexual fetish which was conducive to better intercourse (Mackie 1996, p.1001). This physical disability forced her to be confined within the four walls of the family and as such she was denied the right to work and earn along with men. Blake here underlines the suffering of the foot-bound women when he aptly narrates it thus; ‘Although largely filtered through male voices during the period when foot-binding was under attack, testimonies of foot-bound women attempted to find words for the kind of pain experienced in binding-burning, throbbing feet swallowing the body in fire-from severe traumas that created months, even years, of oozing sores, bandages stiff with dried pus and blood, and sloughed-off gobs of flesh’ (Blake 682). Blake also adds that ‘These accounts tell of girls losing appetites and sleep, running away, hiding, surreptitiously attempting to loosen their bandages, and enduring beatings while trying to comply with their mother's demands’ (Blake 682). The women during that time suffered all these things to get a male counterpart. Therefore, is proposes the fact that women were really the scapegoat of a foolish tradition that provided them an endless suffering all through their life. The great tragedy of this unrefined tradition was that women, when once formed, a ‘golden lily’ can never resume its original shape; and when uncovered, it is so unsightly that women object to taking off their bandages even before the members of their family…many of them were blind, and the Chinese themselves declare that foot-binding causes blindness (Chambers and Chambers 192). Bound Feet-Symbol of Submission or Beauty? A close overview of the foot binding throws light to the poor status of women who were subjected to a male chauvinist society. The young men, during that time were ready to marry only the tiny footed women, and those who were not ready for foot binding had to confront with the hard realities of life. Such girls were either left unmarried or to drag their life till they meet the tragic end. At the time of the Manchu conquest, a Han Chinese woman’s bound foot-the emblem of women’s oppression to twentieth-century reformers-was instead associated with loyalism, resistance, and even ethnic identity (Mann 106). The words of Djao establishes it when he says, ‘Women’s bound feet in imperial China is often held up as the symbol of their submission and oppression, and indeed it was’ (Djao 181). Attané also proposes the same viewpoint when referring to the male domination in China during the past thousand years. According to Attané, ‘Women’s submission to male domination reached its paroxysm with the practice of foot binding, which lasted for more than a 1,000 years until it was banned after the 1911 revolution.’ Attané has also presented the Confucian point of view that the Confucians favored this usage because it restricted women’s movements and prevented them from wandering far from home. Bound feet thus became a symbol of female modesty (Attané). Hong, in this respect, observes that foot binding in china is related to Chinese women’s conceptions on physical exercise and (Hong 2013, p.289). Thus it proves that foot binding is really a submission of the Chinese women to male chauvinism and at the same time was once considered as a symbol of beauty. Anthropological and Economic Perspectives Analyzing the foot binding based on the Anthropological and economic perspectives, one can agree with the view point of Fred. C. Blake when he observed that the practice of foot binding was enforced through the symbolic meanings it took on in being passed from mother to daughter by imbuing the female body with a constant reminder of mindful sacrifice and duty (Blake 680). In an economic context, Blake interprets foot binding as a mechanism for defining the relationship between the female body and the labor economy (Blake). The physical limitations of the foot binding forced women to confront their domestic duties and prevented them from having economic contribution by engaging in an autonomous job. Neo-Confucian thought was long on its demand that females become virtuous and industrious while bending to the will of male authority, but it was short on how this process of "becoming her body" should be accomplished (Blake 680). Through the bending, twisting, and compressing of the feet, a girl's sense of managing space was radically modified and a mother delivered her daughter into a world where "becoming one's body" led to moral and spiritual self-improvement (Blake 680). The foot binding reminds a person about the endurance and resistance of women and the lack of their economic stability due to the physical deformity. An experimental study conducted by Cummings (p.1678) among participants above 70 showed that there is “significant increase in bound-foot deformities with age, with 38% of women aged 80 years and over with bound-foot deformities, and 18% of women aged 70 and over with bound-foot deformities.” Conclusion The paper is proposed to conclude by stating that the foot binding was really an evil practice that provided severe pain for the Chinese women all through their life. This symbolizes the male chauvinist society that regarded women only as tool for satisfying their physical pleasures disregarding the mental, physical and psychological hazards of women folk. The historical origin of the foot binding is related with folk myths which later became a tradition. It prevailed in China for more than thousand years and was closely associated with marriage and the women whose feet were not bound would not get suitors. The process of foot binding was so complicated and women had to undergo severe pain all through their life. It even caused for making some blind or other severe physical deformities that truly made their life disgusting. It has also been observed that over the centuries, foot binding has resulted in ‘severe lifelong disability for many millions of women’ in China (Cummings p.1679). The foot binding made the women downtrodden and they were forced to lead a life under the male chauvinist society. The women were valued only on the basis of their body and their cultural and individual qualities were fully disregarded. The women were confined in their own houses and they could not move freely due to their physical disability. Therefore, their economic side was also weak and had to depend on the male folk for satisfying their financial issues. To sum it up, one can state that foot binding was purely a foolish tradition that made the women undergo the physical as well as mental agonies all through their life. Works Cited Attané, Isabelle. The Demographic Masculinization of China: Hoping for a Son. Springer: Science & Business Media, 2013. Print. BBC. Chinese Foot Binding. bbc.co.uk. Web. Dec.3, 2014. . Blake, Fred C. "Foot-binding in Neo-Confucian China and the Appropriation of Female Labor." Signs (1994): 676-712. Print. Chambers, William., and Robert Chambers. Chambers's Journal. Michigan: Orr and Smith, 1880. Print. Cummings, Steven R., Xu Ling, and Katie Stone. "Consequences of foot binding among older women in Beijing, China." American journal of public health 87.10 (1997): 1677-1679. Djao, Wei. Being Chinese: Voices from the Diaspora. Illustrated Edn. University of Arizona Press, 2003. Print. Fairbank, John. Chirza: A New History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992. Print. Hong, Fan. Footbinding Feminism and Freedom: The Liberation of Women's Bodies in Modern China. Vol. 1. Routledge, 2013. Mackie, Gerry. “Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account.”American Sociological Review 61.6 (1996): 999-1017. Print. Mann, Susan L. Gender and Sexuality in Modern Chinese History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print. Smith, Bonnie G. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History: 4 Volume Set. Illustrated Edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Read More