BOUND FEET! Chinese tradition basic info needed. 10 points!?

Question

So here are the following questions.
Most I can get myself but like just wanted to ask on here aswell. :)


Describe the tradition of bound feet. (done)
When did it start?
Does the tradition continue? (answer needed)
What group tried to abolish the tradition (Answer needed.)

Please [&&] thankyuu.

-Saba

Answer 1

tradition does not continue. people realize that its a horrible tradition and they have stopped. my grandma did not have bound feet. there was real group that tried to abolish the tradition. its more like trends kinda fade out.. just like ugg or crocs were soo in and now they're kinda like ohh they were soo last season. its just that society has gotten ove rhte fact that people were to have bound feet. and plus, white culture started to take over the country and girls started to have more freedom.

Answer 2

The origins of bound feet are not very clear. It was said to have started in Tang Dynasty or even earlier in the Five Dynasties, Xia or Shang Dynasty.



There was a legend in Shang Dynasty that Emperor Zhou was madly infatuated with Concubine Daji. She was originally a fox spirit but transformed into a human form. Alas, her feet had not transformed completely. To hide the fact, she bound her feet and told the emperor that small feet were pretty. Since then, many court ladies followed.



The origin that it started in Five Dynasties was Concubine Ruiniang dearly loved by Emperor Li Houzhu. Ruiniang was pretty as well as good at dancing and singing. Emperor Li ordered a six feet high stage adorned with beautiful decorations to be made for her. He requested that she bound her feet into a crescent shape and dance on it. It made her dancing even more lovely. Soon, many ladies followed her ways to be more elegant and graceful.



Many attempts were made to abolish the tradition, even by one of the Qing Emperor, Qianlong. He did not succeed as the tradition was deep-rooted. Even sever penalties did not help to eradicate this custom. Bound feet became more widespread.



It was not until Xinghai Revolution, post Qing Dynasty in the earlier 20th century where this undesirable tradition was labelled as "bad" and then abolished. There were even signs on the streets that said ' Women under 25 with bound feet are not allowed on the road" or ' Do not marry women with bound feet". Gradually, this 'beauty' regime went out of favour. This movement was said to be started by Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei and the rest, patriots who were eager for China to modernize.

Answer 3

Foot binding was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the early 20th century.



The practice of foot binding continued into the 20th century, when both Chinese and Western missionaries called for reform; at this point, a true anti foot-binding movement emerged.



A great deal has been written about the evils of footbinding. The credit for starting a movement against the practice belongs to the late Mrs. Archibald Little, who, in the year 1895, started the Tien Tsu Hui or Natural Foot Society. Much was done in the way of rousing public opinion and the reform was eventually taken up by the Chinese themselves. Nothing is more convincing of the advent of the new China than the discontinuance of the barbarous practice of footbinding.



Educated Chinese began to realise that this aspect of their culture did not reflect well upon them in the eyes of foreigners; social Darwinists argued that it weakened the nation, since enfeebled women supposedly produced weak sons; and feminists attacked the practice because it caused women to suffer. At the turn of the 20th century, well-born women such as Kwan Siew-Wah, a pioneer feminist, advocated for the end of foot-binding. Kwan herself refused the foot-binding imposed on her in childhood, so that she could grow normal feet.



There had been earlier but unsuccessful attempts to stop the practice of foot-binding, various emperors issuing unsuccessful edicts against it. The Empress Dowager Cixi (a Manchu) issued such an edict following the Boxer Rebellion in order to appease foreigners, but it was rescinded a short time later. In 1911, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the new Republic of China government banned foot binding. Women were told to unwrap their feet lest they be killed.



When the Communists took power in 1949, they were able to maintain the strict prohibition on foot-binding, which is still in effect today.



Note: In Taiwan, foot-binding was banned by the Japanese administration in 1915.

Answer 4

Haha, I heard it differently but it still makes me laugh every time. I heard 7 as Ai Bang Mai Fah Kin Ni :)

Answer 5

In fact, there are no bound feet anymore in China.



The bound feet are popular in Qing

Answer 6

everything is yours...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feet-binding

:P

Answer 7

all the info's here:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_binding