A dying custom
01.01.2008
THE practice of crippling the feet of little girls in China is happily being discontinued. It did obtain universal acceptance amongst the Chinese with the exception of Buddhist nuns, Hakkas and the river population of Canton. In our district almost every girl you see has compressed feet.
The compressing is done while the girl is still a child, before the bones have grown hard. No foot is considered quite fashionable which exceeds three inches in length. Many ladies' shoes in China measure only 2 and one half inches! The prevalence of such a practice amongst a people who are essentially kind even to strangers and who love their children passionately is difficult to understand. But immemorial traditions die hard in any country.
With the general awakening of China the prejudice against natural feet in women is fast disappearing. Foot binding is no longer practised by the official classes anywhere. Although the common people still adhere to the custom its total extinction is only a matter of time.
In this connection the daughters of China owe much to the infiltration of Christian principles. Foot binding is reprobated by the Catholic Church and strongly discouraged by missionaries of every denomination. The majority of Christian schools will not receive any girl whose feet are bound.
Rev E Maguire
