Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1881 — A Chinese Lady’s Foot. [ARTICLE]

A Chinese Lady’s Foot.

if ; Who, asks an exchange, has not expressed some curiosity with regard So the appearance of the little- feet of Chihese todies? We have, and although impressed that their naked deformity could be little or nothing short of disgusting, we nevettheless should be glad to have an opportunity .for Inspection. A naval oorrespundent favored * the publishers of The Scientific Amercan with photograpluc views of the “golden lily,” as th 6 .Chinese lady calls her compressed and distorted foot. They*show the foot in bandaged and bare condition*. The correspondent writes that: “It to an error to suppose, as mauy do, that it to only the upper-ten among the daughters of China that indulge in the Tuxary of ’golden Lillies,’ as It is extremely common among every class, even to the very poorest—nota-

bly the poor sewingjvromen, one sees in every Chinese oity and town, who San barely manage to hobble irem uouse to house seeking work. The pain endured while under the operation is so severe and continuous that the poor girls never sleep for long periods without the aid of strong narcotics, and then only but fitfulij ; and it Is from this constant suffering that the peculiar sullen or solid look so often seen on fthe woman’s face is derived.” Theprocesaby which the foot to reduced in sized to related by Miss Norwood, an American missionary resident at Swaton, and to substantially as follows: The binding of the feet has begun until the child has learned the walk. The bandages are especially manufactured, and are about two inches wide and

two yards long for the first year, five yards long for the subsequent years. The end of the strip to laid on the inside of the instep, then carried over the toes, under the foot sod round the heel, the toes being thus drawn toward and over the sole, while a bulge to produced on the instep aDd a deep indentation in the sol§. ‘ Successive layers of bandages are used, until the strip is all used, and the end is then sewed tightly down. The foot to so squeezed upward that in walking only the end of the great toe touches the ground. After a month the foot Is put n hot water to soak some time; then the bandage to carefully unwound, much dead cuticle coming off with It. Frequently, too, one or two toes may drop off, in which case, the woman feels afterward repaid by having smaller and more delicate feet. Each time the bandage is taken off the foot is kneaded to make the joints flexible, and is then bound up again as as possible with a fresh bandage, which is drawn up more tightly. During.the first year the pain to so intense that the sufferer can do nothing, and for about two years the foot aches continually, and to the seat of a pain which is like the pricking of sharp needles. With continues rigorous binding the foot in two years becomes dead and ceases to ache, and the whole leg, from the knee becomes shrunk, so as to be little more than skin and bone. The origin of this strange fashion is a complete mystery, at least to western civilization.