The practice of foot binding, tightly wrapping the feet of young girls in order to reshape them and prevent them from growing too large, began sometime during the ninth or 10th century in China. Small feet on women were considered attractive in Han Chinese culture, and, over time, the practice grew increasingly extreme. In fact, by the 16th century, the foot-binding process broke the bones in young girls’ feet. The goal was to produce “lotus feet,” with the ideal feet being no longer than 4 inches. Women with “lotus feet” were able to only manage small steps and would sway as they walked, something considered alluring by Chinese men.
By the end of the 19th century, foot binding was deeply embedded as a cultural norm. Nearly half of all women in China and almost all upper-class Han women had their feet bound. Though a painful, debilitating and abusive practice, having “lotus feet” was essential to securing a good marriage.
Yet, in the space of one generation, foot binding disappeared.
The successful campaign against foot binding was jointly led by Western missionaries and native Chinese Christians. John Macgowan, a Belfast-born missionary with the London Missionary Society, was a key figure. In 1875, he called a meeting of Chinese Christian women to oppose foot binding. Nine of these women agreed not to bind their daughters’ feet, not to allow their sons to marry women with bound feet and to undergo the painful process of unbinding their own. This was the beginning of the Quit-Foot-Binding Society, the first anti-foot-binding society in China.
Macgowan also convinced Chinese intellectuals, including the Buddhist reformer Kang Youwei, to oppose foot binding. In 1885, Kang founded the Foot Emancipation Society. In 1898, he wrote a memorandum to the Emperor urging him to abolish foot binding, arguing that it made China an object of international ridicule.