The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-15
A CHINESE REFORM.
Beginning Of a Movement to Abol"
ish Foot Binding.
Horrors Of an Inhuman Practice
That Has Been Prevalent In
China for Centuries
The RefOrmer.

The nineteenth century craze for the
emancipation Of women has at last
found its way into the darkness OF
China, and a reformation has been
started of vastly more importance to
tho woman of the Flowery Kingdom
than the bloomer question and other
like problems which have been vexing
her progressive sisters Of the western
world.
This new departure calls for the abo-
lition of foot-binding, common among
all classes of Chinese women, from the
poor creatures shaving in the rice
fields to the dainty bellies whose
fathers hold lucrative public Offices.
Everything moves with tremendous
slowness in China, particularly innovs-
tions, and the reformers expect that 1t
will take a century or more to make the
change complete
The practice has existed for 20 CEN
turtles and may have existed for 40 CEN
turtles, and naturally it will be q diff
cult matter TO root out. The greatest
problem to be overcome is the aversion
of Chinese men to marry women whose
feet are not squeezed into deformed OBJ
jects bearing little or no resemblance
to the natural human foot.
As the one ambition of the Chinese
girl and of her parents is to marry they
willingly undergo the tortures OF foot
binding to realize the matrimonial
state. A woman whose foot is any
where near the size nature intended is
an outcast SO far as metrinony is con-
cerned. The men deem it disgrace to
marry her, and an unmarried woman Is
a burden to herself and her relatives.
With these conditions to face the re-
formers are counting upon hard time
of it.
The binding process is the acme of
torture, as the pain is incessant and ex-
tends over period of many yea>s. The
little Chinese girl usually enjoys the
full freedom of her feet until she is four
or five years old. She can run about like
other children and can rest the full
weight of her body upon her feet with
out suffering exquisite torture.
Bat all this is soon stopped. for 1t is
custom, sanctioned by centuries, that a
wonan's feet must not be more than
three inches in length BY the time
girl is four or five years old her feet are
already more than three inches long,
end then comes the torture.
Narrow strips of silk nine or ten feet
long are used by the fond parent to
crush the further growth. The silk is
drawn tightly over the instep and then
carried over the four small toes and the
heel. Tho toes are drawn under the
foot and the pressure is so great that
the sole is almost drawn into a semi
circle.
The large toe is particularly difficult
to subdue, and separate bands Of the
silk are drawn over the member and
carried under the. heel, squeezing it
down with double pressure. Unyield-
ing shoes, made ironlike in strength,
are crowded upon the feet, and the
happy days Of the little girl are over.
The shoes are removed at night, but
the bandages renain night and day.
For the first few months the child is
urable to move about except upon her
hands and knees The circulation of
the blood in the feet has been choked
and the pressure of the body and the
exercise of walking force the blood
through the strangled veins. causing
the most intense agony. This pain is
nothing. however, tothat suffered when
it is necessary to change the bandages
every fortnight for fresh ones. The
sudden loosening Of the bands allows
the blood to shoot into the benumbed
and deadened feet, and the pain is often
times so exquisite that the child faints
away.
perform the hardest kind of manual
labor have their feet crippled. The
spectacle of women working in the |
fields on their hands and knees, be- |
cause their deformed feet are unable to |
the weight of the body, has no |
effect on parents of other children. And |
the workers themselves bind the feet of |
their girls without the slightest twinge |
Ct conscience.
The leader of the reform movement is |
a highly educated native Of the city OF /
Sniff, the chief town Of the province |
of Szechuan, one Of the richest districts |
Of the empire. For many years he has |
been employed In an official position in
Peking. and on his return home he found |
his ive-year-old daughter hobbling /
about on crippled feet and crying from /
the pain. He at once removed the band
ages and declared that he would never
consent TO such torture of his children
Or the children Of his dependents.
This was the first Of the reform /,
He called upon the richest
and most Influential men in the city and /
The province, and succeeded in inducing
many of them to sign a pledge calling
for the abolition OF the foot-binding
process. Each signer agreed TO stop il
n his own family and among his de-
perdents.
Royalty has not yet expressed its
opinion on the subject. but il is be-
;eved that the old dovager empress. a
far-seeirg woman will use her inhu-
soce in favor of the reform.-Chicago
Tribune.