The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-21
THAT SMALL FOOT TO 90
Frank q. Carpenter

The Chinese Women Are Taking on
the Bandages and Adopting Loose
ShOes-Tlte Empress Dowager Sends
Out an E@.et, and a Big-FHoot Move
ment Has Been Inaugurated-No
Golden L lies Permitted in Girls
s<L.oois-Nh hat the Anti-Eootbind-
ing Societies Are Doing-Tfae Thou
sand Fathers S-sn the Pledge
Modern Trousers Versus the Ancient
1o..ns-GrIs' Schools and Other
" o1I,Ans Rights QuestIons-N-H
the 1 lgtaii 90 400:
Copyright, 1919. by Frank G. Carpen-
teri
NANKING.
The new woman promises to be a
live Inquire in tAe iUture OF .hina. To-
Gay sic Is pIAct4caiiy a slave IN tle
hauuS OF neT nusDalu Ur lather, Win
lew rights thai men are boA.iu to re-
spect. She Is d cripple, noppiins aDodt
On DOUnu Iest- Ii she Is r4ch anu nigh
class, she Is not allowed to 60 On .ne
81 lee.S, and Il poor she wOrhS IN the
tieius anu does ali sor.s OF druosery.
The average Chinese Slrl is uneaucat-
ed ana ut one woman in a admired
can reau and write. The new emma
is To be tut OF girls schools, its girls
teet are to be allowed their nat
ural growth and its womcn are to
take their part in the work Of the
world. Girls are already employed IN
the telephone offices OF t~iongAons and
Shanghai. They are teaching every
where in the kindergartens and pfi-
mar schools, and medical colleges
rave been established to tit them iOr
trained nurses and doctors. The Vice
roy OF Wuchang has a school in which
the boys and girls study together, and
the same is true of Tuan Fang, the
oorn Of Ku,Gino nfbaTa r CaO-
eral large girls schools in Picking, and
one Of the Manchu princesSes, a mem
Der of the imperial family, has es-
tablished a girls school in Mongolia.
All the missionary establishments are
now teaching girls and the demand for
educated women as wives is far great
er than the supply.
The Anti FOotbinding Movement.
he sentiment against binding the
feet is very rapidly growing. The
great empress GoWager sent out an
edict shortly before her death de-
,nouncing the custom, and advising all
the girls and women OF the empire to
DO away with 1t. Chang Chi Tung has
written an article on the subject, and
before he died l. Hung Chang advised
that the custom be discontinued. Many
o. the viceroys and governors have
sent out proclanations favoring the
abolition Of fo~otbinding, and a umb
Of societies have been started n the
different provinces In favor Of the nat
ural foot for all women. In all the
girls schools the government regl-
lationS provide that the pupils must
come with their feet unbound, and a
system of gymnastic exerc ses has
been Instituted which are impossible
ToT a crippled-foot pupil. In talking
last night with one of the high off,
Gals of Nankine. 1 was told that foot
binding would soon disappear, and
that the sentiment against it is rap
idly growing. The man I refer TO was
educated in the United States. Said
he:
Il have two daughters, and one is
nineteen years Did. Neither have
bound feet. The same Is true OF many
well-to-do girls in my city, and espe-
Claily so with the children Of hig
ofic ais all over the empire. The edict
of the empress dowager had a won-
derful effect. It has made the big
foot respectable, and the ordinary Chi
nese parent will give up the custom as
soon as he finds his daughters can get
husbands without it."
] talked last night with a Chinese
official. who IS worth ten million dol-
lars or more. He tells me that none
Of his women are binding their feet.
and believes that the practice will
gradually disappear.
II B~ig-Footed Manchu.
AS 1t is now foot-b nding is confined
to the Chinese. The Manchus, who
are the reigring family Of his en-
pire, have never bound their feet. and
the great empress dOwager and all
the court ladies Of Picking have feet
which are less p:nchad than those Of
the average American belle. They wear
shoes Of silk and satin beautifully en-
broidered, and when they go visiting,
ave gorgeous slippers with heels in
the center of the sole about two inches
high. The average Chinese woman
has naturally a beautiful foot, and the
same is true Of the Manchu. It Is
smaller than that Of the Caucasian,
and the instep Is usually such that