Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-03-31
THE FEET OF CHINESE WOMEN.

Their snallness Costs Considerable
Pain and Inconvenience.
From La Nature.
The small foot of the Chinese woman,
which the celestials call by a name sig
nifying golden lily" has always excited
the curiosity of Europeans. I have no in
tention of passing in review all the mo-
t:ves that have been adduced in order to
explein why the Chinese have for ages past
mutilated the feet of women, since one is
just as unlikely as the other.
1t Is not until about the age Of four or
five years that they begin to produce this
distortion. The result is gradually obtained
by the use Of tighter and tighter bandages
that produce in the organ a double move
ment Of antero-posterior fexion upon it
self and of the rotation Of the last four
toes and their metatarsal bone around the
first metatarsal.
The effect of this first movement Is to
break the foot into two parts-one of them
anterior. comprising the toes and their
n.etatarsa', the other posterior and COM
prtsing the calcaneum. The scaphoid BONE
which in this work plays the part of a
hfrge, Is entirely put out of joint 1t Is
always more or less displaced and raises
the skin of the foot, which. at this level.
sometimes ulcerates. After the foot has
attained a sufficient degree of atrophy,
young Chinese woman has not yet finished
suffering. She has to keep her feet con-
stantly bardaged in order to be able to
walk. ana even then long walk Is impos-
sible. The atrophy of the foot brings about
an atrophy OF the leg. which Is reduced to
the state of a skeleton, the muscles dis
appearing and hardly anything remaining
but the skin and bone. This atrophy Of the
leg contributes in c great measure toward
increasing the trouble of walking and
balancing.
The Chinese woman can walk only with
a shoe made to fit the form of her foot
This is provided with fiat heel, which
alone serves as point of support for
the entire body. The point Of the foot
does not touch the ground. and the women
walk somewhat like club-footed persons
They are rot very steady upon their feet
and when they become aged have to use
cane. TT ey walk with their arms slight
iy extended and performing the office Of a
Rack and TIE breast slightly forward, they
seem to be endeavoring to preserve their
center of gravity. When their heels are
close together: the slightest push may up
get them. A foot is so much the more ap-
Freciated In proportion as It Is smaller.
1t may not be generally known that all
Chinese women do not have deformed
the south than in the north. and IN cities
than in the rural districts. The Manchoo
women are. not authorized to bandage their
feet; and on this subject there are very
formal imperial orders
Some of the missionary societies, and
especially some OF the female missionaries
have for some time past been waging
war against this so-ralled barharous Gus
tom They even addressed Tsoung IL
jones. beseeching that minister to trans
init their request to the emperor; hut he
answered them that the Son of Heaven
Eave his subjects the right to do. as they
pleased. The Chinese regard a Reformed
foot as thing Of beauty. What would
Queen Victoria say were she to receive a
petition signed by numerous celestfals ask
ing her to forbid the English damsels to
wear corSets?