Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-12-10
I'll isttllantous.
Chinese Foot-Cramping,

While the badge Of the man is in the head
that of gentility in the woman is in the foot
Que of the earliest inquiries of foreigner,
when he visits that monster curioslty-shop-
1.-The fowery land us anent this point aud
anv newcomer from the West, be he ever so
modest, is sure to watch the pedcles OF the
first Chinese beauty or ugly he meets. But,
should he bring up in the Southern waters of
China, the impression Common throughout
Christendom,) that the stinted foot is uui-
yersal among Chinese woman is at once bro
ken. The Canton boatmen, who are most eX-
rert at the oar, are the earliest to hail your
approach to the shores, ard they show by their
naked foot that they find it more convenient
to suffer this member to grow to It's natural
size And generally speaking, the female
domestics of the CantoB province preferred
this freedom of nature. With truth too 1t
NAV be averred, that, among the lower cIas-
ses, the popularity of this Objectionable fash
ion is often but local. Thus, in -Chusan and
Ningpo, where resided for eighteen months,
in 1912 and 1913 | can scarcely recall sin
Gle instance of a natural-sZed foot among the
women, even the maid servants. Bat sub
scQuent residence in the North, particularly
nv travel through the interior of the Canton,
Kiangee, and Chihkiang provinces daily bro't
instances of females to whom the undlstorted
foot seemed indispensable for the sake OF live
lhood
But as it is an error to say that the cramp-
el foot is universal in China, it is no less
mistake to state. what | have seen in print,
that only parents Of the weather. sort can
afford to their daughters the luxury OF small
feet' The streets and houses, in every town
accessible to foreigners, abundantly testify how
this fashion is mimicked By all classes. Even
among the poor, who are likely to appreciate
thc value of preserving it in its natural size,
there is another mode of calculating the profit
and loss Of the bandaged foot. When their
daughters are given in marriage, " the golden
lilies" las their delicate feet are politely cali
ei} come in as a matter of no trlfing pccGnla-
~ consideration. 1t is not at all improbable
that many who have submitted to the torture
till marriage. have felt it absolutely necessary
70 unloose the bandages and set themselves
free, to assist their husbands in the garden or
N the fields, &c Yet, it is unquestionable,
that among the lowest orders too, as well as
the richer, the custom is popular and fashiona-
Die. In gangs of female beggars which have
passed me in the streets of some of their cl-
ties have seen those whose bodies were CO.
5ered with rags and vermin, but whose feet
bound as tightly and squeezed to as minute dI-
laenSIonS as you might witness in any wealthy
family. Not unusually, what to your eye seems
a loot duly bound and bandaged, is all sham,
and got up for the sake of aping respectable
~ A nurse in the family in her evolutions
Oy day, will sport quasi cramped feet but,
when suddenly called up at midnight, will ex-
pose feet Of ordinary and unmutilatcd dimen-
SON. The pretence is admirably kept up IN
some instances, by wearing short stills, with
alaA wooden feet in elegantly embroidered
II SaoeS The writer has seen the part of a Chi
nese actress Played one of whose chief attrac-
IONS was a remarkably small and elegant fc OF.
LIN IHe gait the manner were entirely feminine.
however, it turned out to be nothing but imi-
'a'on to the very feet-all performed by
youth
Dome Europeans, | see, who conceive that
o'eFe Is no species of monstroSty but what
4uSt be laid at the door of the Tartar conque-
;s' ;oIs' boldly assert that the cramped foot was
,Hfodpced by them 200 years since, when
Ney mounted the throne Of China. There is
uOt The slightest foundation, however, for such
VI assertion. The written accounts of the ma
IH,es IN tracing this custom, go much further
sacA than 200 years One author ascrbes
i@ origin tC an Infamous woman, Tankey, who
t;, s0 B. G l,l00. She was empress at the
b-S having been born with elub-feet, she,
!. ne' marvellous influence over her husband,
Nv, aS'ed ma to adopt her form Of foot as the
"' neanty. and TO enforce, by imperial