Foot-binding Origin, Mongols and More
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1. My biological great grandmother’s ‘three-inch golden lily’ 三寸金蓮
2. My foot against hers. Paper note ‘Madame Hong belonging’
3. The owner, the first wife of my great grandfather Hong Yinan 洪以南
4. Madame Hong, Chairwoman of 'Foot-binding Abolition Society' founded in 1911 Taipei Taiwan. (red marks Mr &Mrs Hong Yinan)
Foot-binding Origin and Mongols
A short trip to Moscow in 2012 somehow changed my perception about the Mongols (the Khans) - The flat moon-faced Genghis Khan the Mongol I had always known from my education in Taiwan became Charles Bronson look-alike the Tatars. (in fact, after several talks of the Tatars invasions by different tour guides, I finally plucked up the courage and asked " Aren't Khans known as Mongols in modern history?" "Yes, we (Russians, or in that part of the world) call them Tatars".
The man on horse is The Tatars Genghis Khan . (2012)
Khan invasion lasted centuries in Russia History
About a king from Samarkand (a city of Uzbekistan) who helped Moscow citizens fought Tatars and the wall that survived the destruction. Moscow citizens resilient and heroic spirits believed to have been preserved in this wall which consequently kept Moscow being destroyed by Hilter's bombing centuries later. History and Destruction made Moscow a city desperate for dreams and hopes to come true. (2012)
About a king from Samarkand (a city of Uzbekistan) who helped Moscow citizens fought Tatars and the wall that survived the destruction. Moscow citizens resilient and heroic spirits believed to have been preserved in this wall which consequently kept Moscow being destroyed by Hilter's bombing centuries later. History and Destruction made Moscow a city desperate for dreams and hopes to come true. (2012)
Just about that time, on a Facebook post, Dimon Liu from USA (daughter of Dr Liu, pronounced in Cantonese, Liao 廖 in Pinyin) told me foot-binding origin which I had no idea of at the time. Dr Liu was one of the founders of Republic of China and colleague of Dr Sun Yat-sen. (Both of Cantonese Hakka origin and in medical profession).
"The origin of foot-binding was told by Prof Yu Ying-Shih 余英時, probably the most renowned living historian in the Chinese speaking world" Dimon told me recently when I asked again...
"Kidnapping of women was a well known Mongol practice during their forays into settled communities..."
It originated from Han Chinese family fear of their women being kidnapped by the 'Barbarians' (I am thinking the Five Barbarians 五胡亂華 and certainly in this case the Mongols from our original conversation) - breaking women's feet and making them unable to function is a strategy to deter barbarians' kidnapping.
"How does binding a woman's foot prevent the barbarian from kidnapping women. Surely the effect of binding a woman's feet would be to make her more likely to be kidnapped because she couldn't run away?" -
Barbarians/Mongols are nomads, while the Chinese were binding women's feet, Mongol women were riding horses, walking great distance, fighting battles, tending herds, making cheese and much manual labors. Women who can't do these things were spared from being kidnapped by the Mongols who were nomads.
Foot-binding was not common until people forgot the original reason for it, and became a "status" symbol for wealth and luxury. Dimon added.
My humble attempt to respond to some inconsistent information I came across, based on the more commonly beliefs:
1. foot-binding existed in Song dynasty and probably before based on existing documents and literature
2. There are more foot-binding in Yuan dynasty (The Mongol empire) than Song.
3. By late Ming and Qing dynasty the practice belonged to the elite Chinese family and became a status symbol.
Song Dynasty bound feet and Ming/Qing's are NOT the same first by shape, second by size!
Several sources provided descriptions of Song Dynasty's dancers bound feet as 'tiptoe' in the same style of ballet dancers. Their feet were strapped to create 'upturned v' shape toes but NOT the commonly documented crushed toe bones and NOT the 3-inches shoes we see today. In fact, in Song dynasty, bound feet were typically longer than 3-inches!
The Mongols practice of kidnapping women could well dictate a crushed-toes torturous custom among Chinese families to keep their woman safe at home during Mongol invasions. And as it continued into late Ming/Qing, the custom developed into a fashion and status.
'Foot-binding Abolition Society Taipei'
臺北解纏會 1911
In 1911, 'Abolition Society' was founded in Taipei, chairwoman-elect was my great grandmother 陳宇卿, founding members included my great grandfather 洪以南, a number of local gentry and businessmen. Helped by supports from Japanese officials.
History of Abolition Society in Taiwan
Source 洪以南 陳宇卿 vs.1911年臺北解纏會
Original piece by 洪銘聰
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| 1900 Natural Feet Association guidelines |
In December 1899, Dr. Huang Yujie 黃玉階, a doctor of Chinese medicine at Dadaocheng cooperated with local gentry and businessmen, initiated the Natural Foot Society' 天足會, and filed an application with the Taipei authorities. It arose some interest at the time but went unnoticed after a number of years due to Taiwanese deep-rooted concept of a status symbol. Until in 1911 the establishment of Abolition Society Taipei. The launch created an anti-footbinding wave and subsequent movements had a lot of influence on other parts of Taiwan.
It is not until 1915, however, Japanese intervened with force that ended the continuation of foot-binding custom in Taiwan.
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