l family and the family she marriedinto.22 The appearance of a bound feet, to Chinese men, was aesthetically pleasing, whilebig natural feet showed signs of poverty and being raised poorly. Big feet limited awomans chances for a good marriage.23 Footbinding was where a three year old girlwrapped her feet in binding in order to bend the toes under, break the bones, and forcethe back of the foot together. This process gave result to tiny three inch feet, shapedlike a golden lotus or a moon crescent.24 A basin of warm water and strips of heavywhite cotton began the process of footbinding. The feet were then soaked in water wherethey were next binded with thick wet bandages. When the binding ended, pain emergedfrom the feet caused them to feel as if the feet shrunk into thousands of small insects. This was not a one-day process, however; footbinding took many years of carefulwrapping.25 The toe bones had to be broken slowly, until they were curved gently aroundthe sole of the foot and where the toe could touch the heel.26 Footbinding disabled thenormal routine and lives of women. The feet were so compressed with pressure, thatwomen did not walk, but rather they limped with excruciating pain, leaning on walls or onother people for support and balance. The feet became so bad that women could notphysically move freely or without another person and consequently they could doanything really meaningful with their lives.27 In wealthy families, servants took care ofpersonal needs and carried the women when the feet were too weak for walking. Besidefrom the daily torture and soreness, problems like ulceration, paralysis, and gangrenedeveloped. In extreme cases, about ten percent of Chinese girls died in the initial processof footbinding.28 The rise of communism in China challenged traditional beliefs about the role ofwomen. It was thought that Communism would bring an equal amount of work to allpeople and equal benefits.29 In 1921, The Chinese C...
