'Lotus Feet' by Jillian Currie

At the Northampton shoe museum and art gallery, i found an exhibit on 'bound foot' shoes. I took an interest to them as they were abnormally small and it made me curious as to who wore them, and how they were worn. 

A look into the history of China’s footwear culture revealed a sinister procedure to achieve the highly appealing ‘lotus feet’. Although a lotus is an aquatic flower, and in Buddhism represents a symbol of fortune and achieving enlightenment, the shocking truth behind Chinese tradition is far from this light hearted imagery. 

Tiny feet were seen as beautiful and highly attractive to men during the 10^th and 11^th century, and to have small feet showed a woman was worthy enough for a husband. To achieve the favourable size, girls starting around the age of four had to endure the process of foot binding.

The procedure starts with a gentle approach, a foot massage, a soak in warm water, toe nails clipped and filed, but this isn’t your average pedicure. To ensure the size of the foot was reduced, toes were then curled under the foot and pressed down upon with great force until each toe had broken. The toes were then held tightly against the sole of the foot whilst great pressure pushed down on the arch until it broke as well. A binding cloth was then wrapped agonisingly tight around the foot in a figure of eight movement, pulling the ball of the foot and the heel together, so the broken foot was folded at the arch, pressing the toes underneath.

Each day the cloth was removed and re-bound, and the feet had to be checked for any infections. If caught, an infection could soften the bone and the toes would end up falling off altogether! The ‘perfect’ foot size was called the ‘golden lotus’ and was around seven centimetres in length.

I also found another exhibit featuring a selection of bound foot shoes, and had the amazing opportunity to look 'behind the scenes' in the museum's storeroom, where i was told about the history of these shoes, and also found another pair. I would like to thank the staff for the experience, and their time and effort. I learnt something new and i hope readers of this blog enjoy this post on a rather dark subject!