The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-03-18
REFORMATION IN CHINA.
Efforts Being Made to Abolish the
Cruel Foot Binding.

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
the 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 innOva-
tons, and the reformers expect that it
change complete.
The practice has existed for 20 CEN
turtles and may have existed for 40 CEN
turtles, and naturally it viii be 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
iects 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 fortunes of foot
binding to realize the matrimonial
state. A woman whose foot is any
I'll, h. -, ;,,+ 4 4 =
an outcast so far as matrimony is con-
,erned. The men deem it disgrace to
marry her, and an unmarried woman is
L 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 eN-
tends over period of many years. 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.
But all this is soon stopped, for it is
custom. sanctioned by centuries, that a
woman'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,
and 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. The toes are drawn under the,
foot and the pressure is so great that
the sole is almost drawn into semi
circle.
The large toe is particularly difficult
to subdue, and separate bands of the
silk are drawn over the member ard
carried under the heel, squeezing i
down with double pressure. UHyieid-
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 remain night and day.
For the first few months the child is
unable to move about except upon her
hands and knees. The circulation of
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
1Cthing, however, to that 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
ard deadened feet and the pain is often
times so exquisite that the child faints
away.
Even the girls who in later life must
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
support 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 She 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
Picking, and on his return home he found
his five-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
movement. 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-bindino
process. Each signer agreed to stop il
in his own family and among his de-
| pendents.
The leader of the reform is named
| Chon, and he is conspicuous through
out the empire because of his learning
As a man of letters his opinion carries
great weight particularly among thc
| ignorant, whose veneration for knowl-
edge and education is intense. Proc
lamations couched in the vernacular OF
the various provinces, have been spread