The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1897-04-10
A CHINESE REFORM.
Beginning of a Movement to Abol-
ish Foot B nding.
Horrors of an Inhumnn Practice
Tint Has Been Prevalent In
China for Centuries
The RefOrmer.


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 innoya-
tons, and the reformers expect that it
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 viii be a 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 dcformed 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 IS matrimony is con-
cerned. The men deem it a disgrace to
marry her, and an unmarried woman is
burden to herself and her relatives.
With these conditions to face the re-
formers are counting upon a hard time
of it.
ho &c hn n
torture, as the pain is incessant and eX-
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
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,
end then comes thetorture.
Marrow 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
CARVED 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 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 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
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, 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
end deadened feet, and thepain is often
times so exquisite that the child faints
away.
Even the girls who in later life must
perform the hardest kind Of manua
labor have their feet crippled. The
spectacle of women working in th'
fields on their hands and knees, be
cause their deformed feet are unable tC
support the weight of the body, has NJ
effect on parents of other children. AnC
the workers themselves bind the feet o
their girls without the slightest twing'
CT conscience.
The leader Of the reform movement il
a highly educated native of the city o
l Sniff, the chief town of the province
. of. Szechuan, one Of the richest district
. of the empire For many years he ha
been employed in an official position il
: Picking, and on his return home he foun,
his five-year-old daughter hobblnl
about ON crippled feet and crying iron
the pain. He at once removed the band
ages and declared that he would neve
consent to such torture of his childrei
or the children Of his dependents.
This was the first of the reform
movement. He called upon the riches
and most influential men in the city AM
the province, and succeeded in inducing
many of them to sign a pledge callinI
for the abolition of the foot-bindin
process. Each s'~ncr agreed to stop
in his own family and among his de
pendents