In the 12th century, foot binding had become much more widespread, and by the early Qing Dynasty (in the mid-17th century), every girl who wished to marry had her feet bound. The only people who didn't bind their feet were the very poor, ethnic Hakka people, and women who worked in fishing because they had needed to have normal feet in order to balance themselves on boats.

At what age did girls get their feet bound? What did the practice entail?



Girls would have their feet bound between the ages of four and six; any younger, the girls couldn't endure the pain, and by the time they were older than six their feet had already grown too large. Four to six was the ideal age because you could reason with the girls and help them deal with the pain. Foot binding would occur in a ritualistic ceremony accompanied by other traditions intending to ward of bad luck.

The procedure entailed bending the girls' toes underneath the sole, using very long ribbons to wrap their feet all the way to the ankle. Basically, the idea was to keep breaking the foot whenever it grew too large, a process that usually took between two and three years. Then the feet would be bound for the rest of the girl's life.

The girls, naturally, developed a peculiar way of walking—almost as if they had hooves. And in order to facilitate moving around, women with bound feet developed strong muscles in their hips, thighs, and buttocks, so much so that these characteristics were considered physically attractive to the Chinese men of the era.

When did foot binding go out of favor?

In the 19th century, toward the end of the Qing Dynasty, Western countries effectively colonized China and many Western people began to move to the country. This coincided with the height of foot binding, when the practice was most prevalent. So many Western women, especially the wives of Christian missionaries, became strong advocates against the practice, producing pamphlets and even opening shelters in support of afflicted women. Around the same time, Chinese intellectuals who had studied abroad in Europe and in North America returned to China and stated their support for abolishment. So by the time Pearl Buck was writing in 1923, after the Qing Dynasty had fallen, the practice had become unfashionable.

This change in fashion suddenly had a perverse side effect: a lot of girls who had had their feet bound in order to become marriageable suddenly found themselves abandoned by their husbands because foot binding was no longer fashionable. Worse, in bigger cities some people would catch women with bound feet and cut off their bindings, a humiliation because these women would never, ever show their bare feet to anyone—not even their husbands. For them, the process that began with a lot of pain and tears likewise ended with pain and tears.