How Did Foot Binding Influence Chinese Culture

Foot binding started in the Tenth Century after a favourite concubine of the emperor was seen dancing with her feet bound and other concubines mimicked her, wishing to gain favour with emperor. Not long after, foot binding spread to all of the royal court, and then most of China. Originally, bound feet were a sign of social status as only those who did not need their feet to work and had money bound their feet, however small feet were later adopted as a sign of beauty. Tiny feet and the gait that came from having bound feet was considered extremely beautiful and sexual and the smaller your foot was the easier it would be to marry up into wealth and escape poverty. Every women who wished to marry had their feet bound as it made them more attractive to men.

Foot binding influenced Chinese culture in many ways and on many levels: community, nationally and globally. It demonstrated male power, as having a household of women with bound feet who couldn't walk alone turned them into decorative and reproductive objects. It was also a way of impending the movement of women. Foot binding …show more content…
Foot binding caused constant pain in the women's feet as it broke their arches and toes, which they would be then forced to walk on. Binding your feet made your feet deformed, which came attached with many health risks such as infection, swollen feet, paralysis, pus filled feet and occasionally muscular atrophy. These things combined left a woman unable to walk, really at all, for about a year before the feet got used to the pain. However, bound feet made girls marriageable which could improve living standards, as it allowed girls to marry up into wealth and out of poverty. It also made inner thigh and pelvic muscles stronger (due to the swaying and tottering gait at which they walked to avoid falling over) however this had no real positive impact on the girls' lives, except for being attractive to