Manchurian Books

The feet are always swathed in white linen or silk,
bound round with silk bandages and stuffed into pretty little shoes,
with very high heels.
To my astonishment these deformed beings tripped about, as if in
defiance of us broad-footed creatures, with tolerable ease, the only
difference in their gait being that they waddled like geese; they
even ran up and down stairs without the aid of a stick.
The only persons exempted from this Chinese method of improving
their beauty are girls of the lowest class--that is, those who live
in boats; in families of rank they are all subject to the same fate;
while in those of the middle classes, as a general rule, it is
limited to the eldest daughter.
The worth of a bride is reckoned by the smallness of her feet.
This process of mutilation is not commenced immediately the child is
born, but is deferred until the end of the first, or sometimes even
third year, nor is the foot after the operation forced into an iron
shoe, as many have affirmed, but merely firmly compressed with
bandages.


Pages:
266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290