This Woman Who Experienced Brutal 'Foot Binding' as A Girl - At Age 86, She Reveals What Her Feet Look Like

Oct 29, 2018

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and usually, the beholder gets that idea from their culture. Seeing another culture’s vastly different standard of beauty can be jolting and even disturbing.

The American eye is often shocked to see stretched necks from Burma, the facial tattoos of the Maori, and beauty scars from Ethiopia.

Usually these different standards of beauty are just that: different from ours. They’re not wrong, they’re simply not the same as what we’re used to seeing.

There is one type of beauty practice that can have devastating consequences for those subjected to this aesthetic pursuit.

The disturbing practice is Chinese foot binding. Zhou Guizhen is reported to be the last living woman subjected to the disfigurement of foot binding. Women were the only gender to have their feet bound.

When she was interviewed by NPR in 2007, Zhou was 86 years old. She told NPR that she regretted having her feet bound. Looking the process of foot binding, that regret is understandable.

The first step of foot binding was actually a fairly nice, relaxing process. The feet would be soaked in animal blood and herbs, the toenails trimmed, and there was a good foot massage.

That massage was the last pleasant sensation her feet ever felt.

The next step would be considered a torture method today. The toes were curled down into the sole of the foot until they broke. The broken toes were then bound tightly with either silk or cotton.

The process continued, rebreaking and tightly binding the foot to make it smaller and smaller. While their feet were healing from the latest round of breaking, women were encouraged to walk a lot to keep the feet in the desired shape.

Zhou said that, although she achieved what were called “golden lotus feet,” she still regrets having her feet bound. She can’t dance, and even finds it difficult to walk properly. However, there were few alternatives when she went through it. Women without bound feet found it hard to find a husband.

The smallest cut in a bound foot could become gangrenous. Because the binding limited blood flow, healing was hindered and women often fell gravely ill with sepsis or die.

There were several attempts over hundreds of years to outlaw foot binding, but it only became illegal in the early 20th Century. Some people still continued the practice, including Zhou’s family.

In order to trick inspectors trying to enforce the ban, Zhou’s mother would bandage her feet and put them into regular shoes, making it look like she had larger, normal feet instead of bound feet.

Have you ever seen something like this? Isn't insane what these women went through? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!