Has it ever occured to you
Why Do Chinese Ladies Bind
Their Feet?
Throughout the civilized world there has always been a marked distinction between the “upper” or well-to-do classes and those who are compelled to toil on the land and in the towns. In the Far East, a number of curious customs reflect this distinction. The most famous one, perhaps, is that of binding the feet of Chinese ladies. This has been the fashion ever since the sixth centun', but is now slowly dying out as western ideas are gradually being adopted.
As soon as a baby-girl is a few weeks old, the fond mother binds her tiny feet lest they should grow large and unsightly. But among the working classes it would not be possible to maintain “crippled girls,” for they are needed to work in the fields and in the house.
There is a parallel fashion in Southern China, where both men and women cultivate long finger nails. The custom precludes manual labour, for the nails, sometimes over four inches long, must be preserved from injury in elaborate casings of gold and silver.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19300604.2.67
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Southland Times, Issue 21100, 4 June 1930, Page 6
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186Has it ever occured to you Southland Times, Issue 21100, 4 June 1930, Page 6
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