A Bygone Feminine Allure

By INESA PLESKACHEUSKAYA

It is still possible, though rare, to see elderly Chinese ladies with impossibly small feet, walking with a slightly staggering gait, AND the help of at least one stick. These nonagenarian women, remnants of the millennial tradition of foot binding unique to China, become fewer every day. There will be no trace of the long standing custom that still prevailed during their childhood.

As legend has it, the first woman to bind her feet into the desired half-moon shape was Yao Niang, beloved wife of Emperor Li Yu of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Li Yu ordered a stage to be built in the shape of a lotus, on which Yao Niang danced entrancingly for him on her bound feet.

Certain historians dispute this as the first instance of foot binding, insisting that it came into practice during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In any event, Chinese women followed the tradition of foot binding for more than two thousand years.

It started among ladies of noble birth, and soon spread to all areas of feudal society, evolving from a fad to a cruel necessity. Small feet were regarded as the most intimate and sexually charged aspect of a woman’s body, and the ultimate symbol of feminine allure. A girl with properly bound feet had the best marriage prospects, and prostitutes similarly crippled attracted wealthier clients.

A classical seven-character phrase describes the “golden lotus” (jinlian) -- ideally 10 cm long -- as “slim, small, sharp, curved, fragrant, soft, symmetric.” In medieval China, wealthy men drank their wine from jinlian bei, glasses in the shape of “golden lotus” shoes.

Many researchers, however, say that binding women’s feet was not in the pursuit of beauty but a means to ensure wives stayed at home and communicated with no-one but their husbands. If this was indeed the case it certainly worked, as bound feet are a sure way of confining mobility. Confucianism, with its stress on order within the family unit and, of course, chastity, also added to its popularity.

To Chinese men, the way women with bound feet walked, keeping their balance by rhythmically swinging their hips, was utterly erotic. The pelvic anomalies (constriction and permanent exertion of the entire muscular system) that walking this way caused also titillated male sexual pleasures.

So, how did women grow their “golden lotuses?” When a girl was four years old, her four minor toes were bent downwards and firmly bound in a wedge shape, on which the child would be obliged to walk. This continued, changing the bandages from time to time, until the bones broke and the foot stopped growing. Forming “golden lotuses” any earlier carried the risk of traumatizing a girl with pain and preventing her from walking at all, and starting any later, when the foot was practically already formed, negated the effect of binding it. It was thus at this early and impressionable age that Chinese girls became inured to agony and sacrifice in the interests of physical beauty. After four to five years the sharp pain subsided to a dull ache that stayed with them for life.

Movements for women’s equality each have their own national specifics. In China protests against foot binding first occurred during decline of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and grew during the first years of the Republican era (1911-1949). But it was a tradition difficult to abandon. During the first years after New China was proclaimed it was still practiced in the countryside. It is possible to meet rural-dwelling ladies of 70 with “golden lotuses” today.

The epitome of feminine beauty -- a slim girl with long tapering fingers and soft palms, fine eyebrows, an oval face and a small rosebud mouth – was complete with “golden lotuses.” Ladies of noble birth shaved the hair an inch or so back from the forehead to visually lengthen their face into an oval.

The remaining hair was arranged in intricate coiffures with the help of pins. Such hair-styles were compared to noble flowers or to “the dragon frolicking in the clouds.”

In order to look their best, women coated their faces with rice powder, painted their cheeks with rouge and colored their lips a shade of “ripe cherry. ”

Chinese beauties also used floral water and fragrant soap, and took care to sit besides censers, thus imbuing their clothes with the aroma of incense.

As regards deportment, a woman’s facial expression was expected to be impassive and her movements reserved and elegant. Exposing the teeth when laughing was considered a sign of bad breeding.

The Chinese are great philosophers when it comes to the deep connection between body and soul. They believe that a beautiful woman is not simply the one that possesses “golden lotuses” but who can converse on cultural pursuits such as painting and poetry. The Chinese believed (and still do) that one of the most important feminine attributes is charm, envisaged as the magic power of beauty lurking beneath a veneer of obedience.

The writer Li Yu held that the secret of female wiles lies “in making age disappear, plain looks beautiful, and the mundane amazing”. He said that a woman’s ability to be charming and fascinating “emanated from Heaven”, an intuitive talent that could not be inherited. He insisted that this elusive and fine quality does not, like physical beauty, disappear after a number of years, and that those possessed of it are beautiful for life.

In multinational China, concepts of beauty differ widely among its various ethnic minorities. In the 17th century, the Manchus, founders of the Qing Dynasty (who incidentally did not bind their women’s feet) were captivated by the beauty of Han women, and for the next two centuries made them their wives and concubines. It was only in the second half of the 19th century that the compelling beauty of a Manchu woman overpowered Emperor Xianfeng. Ci Xi’s oval face, combined with her tall stature and resounding voice set her apart from the other concubines in his harem. Having progressed from concubine to Empress, “Little Orchid” (her birth name) ruled this huge country for decades in splendor envied by monarchs of the world. The Empress remained youthful and attractive until the latter years of her life.

Visitors to Tibet are deeply impressed with the beauty of local women, with their olive complexions, queenly bearing and glossy black hair tied in black and red threads. But aroma-sensitive European men would find it hard to be charmed by the distinctive aroma of rank melted butter emitted by ladies on the roof of the world. Harsh natural conditions inevitably dictate methods of Tibetan beauty care. Rarefied air, constant winds and burning sun engender dryness that obliges women to oil their faces with butter and sprinkle earth on top to protect their skin from the ravages of the climate.

Girls of the Li minority living on subtropical Hainan Island have a tradition of tattooing their bodies. Legend attributes this custom to one instance of a chieftain abusing a beautiful girl, since which females of the tribe have tattooed their bodies, necks and legs to disguise their beauty and thus escape the same fate. Today, such body decorations such as this would doubtless be considered the height of chic in London or New York.

After 1949, Chinese communist women renounced their femininity. They traded dresses for Mao Zedong trouser suits, splendid coiffures for short practical bobs, and threw away the bourgeois fripperies of powder, rouge and lipstick. At that time women single-mindedly dedicated themselves to the construction of socialism.

Among the great changes it wrought, Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening-up policy in 1978 reawakened women’s desire for glamor. Today, the cosmetics industry is flourishing, and beauty shops are everywhere. Plastic surgery is also in vogue, the most popular operations being creation of the double-lid eye, nose enhancement, breast enlargement, wrinkle reduction and liposuction. Those that consult plastic surgeons are mainly in the 20-40 age bracket, but there are also reports of clients of 60 and over. Most parents are supportive of their daughters’ desire for surgically assisted beauty, believing that good looks increase the chances of prestigious employment and a good marriage.

Many Westerners mistakenly think that all Chinese look the same, but may not realize that many Chinese are of the same opinion about us. During one conference, a Chinese person greeted me twice within 15 minutes. He explained this confusion as if it were obvious: “You Europeans are just like two peas, you all look the same. ” Faces in China are as diverse as anywhere in the world. And do you know what my mother’s comment was on coming to China for the first time? “There are so many beautiful people in this country!”