Business Communication : The three-inch golden lotus in China

Foot binding: the three-inch golden lotus in China

China is a country which enriches with various cultures. The Chinese culture in China has been known as the oldest culture in the world. I would like to share the foot binding culture among others cultures in China because I find this is pretty interesting and unique.

Foot binding (the three-inch golden lotus) is the custom and consider as a must to all the young girls in the past China. This custom was practiced for about one thousand years from the 10^th century until the early 20^th century. The practice first comes among upper-class court dancers in the early Tang dynasty in Imperial China (10th or 11th century), but slowly spread and gradually became common among all but the lowest of classes.

Foot binding began for every young girl at an early age (2 to 6 years old). The young girls apply painful tight binding to the feet so that this can prevent further growth. Their feet became deformed and never growing beyond 4-6 inches (10-15 cm).The four smaller toes on a girl's foot would break within a year of the initial binding; only the big toe remained integrated. A well developed arch was the essential feature of a perfect "lotus foot". The ideal outcome was a 3-inch foot, called a golden lotus. A 4 inch (10 cm) foot, called a silver lotus, was considered acceptable.

This picture shows the compare of foot size between the three-inch lotus foot and normal human foot size.

Reasons for foot binding

Women have done many things for beauty throughout the course of history. In the history of China, women were willing to scarify for their beauty. The elder in the family (grandmother or mother) will force their children go for foot binding. Why? This is because they believe men found that three-inch lotus foot look attractive and therefore this became the way for Chinese women to show their beauty and prove that they were worthy of a husband. At that time, bound foot were a status symbol, that the only way can brought a girl marry to the wealthy. A woman can look more feminine and petite with foot binding, because they have to walk slowly followed small step by step.

The process of foot binding

The foot binding process started before the arch of foot had chance to grow fully which is usually between the age of 2 to 5 years old. The young girls will do foot binding during winter seasons because their foot were numb and less painful. Firstly, they soaked their foot into warm water or herbs to soften the foot skin. Then, they broke the four toes nails since the toes will be pressed downwards to the sole of foot to prevent further growing. The bandage was tightened every day and the girl's feet were put into progressively smaller and smaller sized shoes. The entire process usually took about two years at the end of which the feet were essentially dead and utterly useless. The feet had to be washed and manicured on a daily basis to avoid toe nails could cut into the flesh that would result in infections. The bones will remain broken at the initial level of foot binding. As they grew older, the bones will begin to heal completely.

Footwear

The three-inch lotus shoes are handmade and the only footwear for the foot binding girls. The size is the one quarter of the normal foot size and tiny enough to fit in the hand plump.