Foot binding ( simplified Chinese : 缠足 ; traditional Chinese : 纏足 ; pinyin : chánzú ), or footbinding , was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by foot binding were known as lotus feet and the shoes made for them were known as lotus shoes . In late imperial China, bound feet were considered a status symbol and a mark of feminine beauty. However, foot binding was a painful practice that limited the mobility of women and resulted in lifelong disabilities.
162-549: The prevalence and practice of foot binding varied over time and by region and social class. The practice may have originated among court dancers during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th-century China and gradually became popular among the elite during the Song dynasty , later spreading to lower social classes by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Manchu emperors attempted to ban
324-593: A Ming dynasty account that mentioned a proposal to "entice [the barbarians] to civilize their customs" by encouraging foot binding among their womenfolk. The practice was carried out only by women on girls, and it served to emphasize the distinction between male and female, an emphasis that began from an early age. Anthropologist Fred Blake argued that the practice of foot binding was a form of discipline undertaken by women themselves, and perpetuated by women on their daughters, so as to inform their daughters of their role and position in society, and to support and participate in
486-400: A 1929 survey showed that, while only 2.3% of girls born before 1910 had unbound feet, 95% of those born after were not bound. In a region south of Beijing , Dingxian , where over 99% of women once had bound feet, no new cases were found among those born after 1919. In Taiwan, the practice was also discouraged by the ruling Japanese from the beginning of Japanese rule , and from 1911 to 1915 it
648-701: A forensic examination of his partially mummified body in 2002 showed he was about 50 when he died in 1331, indicating that he was born around 1280. His 14th-century ecclesiastical biographers said that he took the vows of the Franciscan order at a very young age. The earliest record of his association with the order is a legal document he signed as a member of the Order of Friars Minor in 1296. He signed other documents in 1316, 1317 and 1318, indicating his presence in Friuli during this period. The nature of these documents also suggests
810-402: A great regard for Odoric, intervened and appointed a solemn funeral for the next day. Rumours of his travels and the posthumous miracles attributed to Odoric spread rapidly through the population. The ceremony had to be deferred more than once, and at last took place in presence of the patriarch of Aquileia and many local dignitaries. As public veneration for Odoric grew, the patriarch ordered
972-420: A husband. They also became an avenue for poorer women to marry up in some areas, such as Sichuan. In late 19th century Guangdong it was customary to bind the feet of the eldest daughter of a lower-class family who was intended to be brought up as a lady. Her younger sisters would grow up to be bond-servants or domestic slaves and be able to work in the fields, but the eldest daughter would be assumed never to have
1134-517: A narrative of his experiences and observations called the Relatio , highlighting various cultural, religious, and social peculiarities he encountered in Asia. His manuscript was copied multiple times and distributed widely across Europe, both in the original Latin and several vernacular translations including Italian, French, and German. The Relatio was an important contribution to Europe's growing awareness of
1296-426: A national weakness in the eyes of other nations. Many members of anti-foot binding groups pledged to not bind their daughters' feet nor to allow their sons to marry women with bound feet. In 1902, Empress Dowager Cixi issued an anti-foot binding edict, but it was soon rescinded. In 1912 the new Republic of China government banned foot binding, though the ban was not actively implemented, and leading intellectuals of
1458-522: A part of his journey, the companion of Odoric was Friar James of Ireland , who assisted at Odoric's funeral and subsequently received a payment of two marks from the city of Udine, recorded with the Latin notation, Socio beati Fratris Odorici, amore Dei et Odorici ('companion of the Blessed Brother Odoric, for the love of God and Odoric'). From Venice he first went to Constantinople and then crossed
1620-427: A petition to the throne commenting on the fact that China had become a joke to foreigners and that "footbinding was the primary object of such ridicule." Reformers such as Liang Qichao , influenced by Social Darwinism , also argued that it weakened the nation, since enfeebled women supposedly produced weak sons. In his "On Women's Education", Liang Qichao asserts that the root cause of national weakness inevitably lies
1782-412: A placard denouncing foot binding, saying Islam did not allow it since it constituted violating the creation of God. The process was started before the arch of the foot had a chance to develop fully, usually between the ages of four and nine. Binding usually started during the winter months since the feet were more likely to be numb and the pain would not be as extreme. First, each foot would be soaked in
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#17328510809221944-544: A reason to maintain the practice. Mechanization resulted in women who worked at home facing a crisis. Coupled with changes in politics and people's consciousness, the practice of foot binding disappeared in China forever after two generations. More specifically, the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing (after the First Opium War ) opened five cities as treaty ports where foreigners could live and trade. This led to foreign citizens residing in
2106-406: A regional dance troupe to perform for tourists in the late 20th century, though age has since forced the group to retire. In other areas, women in their 70s and 80s assisted in the rice fields (albeit in a limited capacity) even into the early 21st century. Opposition to foot binding had been raised by some Chinese writers in the 18th century. In the mid-19th century, many of the leaders of
2268-458: A sense of mastery over their bodies and pride in their beauty. Before foot binding was practised in China, admiration for small feet already existed as demonstrated by the Tang dynasty tale of Ye Xian written around 850 by Duan Chengshi . This tale of a girl who lost her shoe and then married a king who sought the owner of the shoe as only her foot was small enough to fit the shoe contains elements of
2430-515: A status symbol. As foot binding restricted the movement of a woman, one side effect of its rising popularity was the corresponding decline of the art of women's dance in China , and it became increasingly rare to hear about beauties and courtesans who were also great dancers after the Song era. The Manchus issued a number of edicts to ban the practice, first in 1636 when the Manchu leader Hong Taiji declared
2592-414: A warm mixture of herbs and animal blood. This was intended to soften the foot and aid the binding. Then the toenails were cut back as far as possible to prevent in-growth and subsequent infections, since the toes were to be pressed tightly into the sole of the foot. Cotton bandages, 3 m (10 ft) long and 5 cm (2 in) wide, were prepared by soaking them in the blood and herb mixture. To enable
2754-492: A way of encouraging chastity among women; that by restricting their movement, it would help keep men and women separate. However, historian Patricia Ebrey suggests that this story might be fictitious, and argued that the practice arose so as to emphasize the gender distinction during a period of societal change in the Song dynasty. Some Confucian moralists in fact disapproved of the erotic associations of foot binding, and unbound women were also praised. The Neo-Confucian Cheng Yi
2916-437: A week), with fresh bindings. It was generally an elder female member of the girl's family or a professional footbinder who carried out the initial breaking and ongoing binding of the feet. It was considered preferable to have someone other than the mother do it, as she might have been sympathetic to her daughter's pain and less willing to keep the bindings tight. Once a girl's foot had been crushed and bound, attempting to reverse
3078-446: A widespread or extreme practice at that time. The practice was encouraged by Mongol rulers for their Chinese subjects. The practice became increasingly common among the gentry families, later spreading to the general populace, as commoners and theatre actors alike adopted foot binding. By the Ming period the practice was no longer the preserve of the gentry and had instead come to be considered
3240-520: Is given in the Acta Sanctorum ( Bollandist ) under 14 January. The curious discussion before the papal court respecting the beatification of Odoric forms a kind of blue-book issued ex typographia rev. camerae apostolicae (Rome, 1755). Friedrich Kunstmann of Munich devoted one of his papers to Odoric's narrative ( Histor.-polit. Blätter von Phillips und Görres , vol. xxxvii. pp. 507–537). Some editions of Odoric are: Minor planet 4637 Odorico
3402-516: Is meant to emphasize the sacred link between sons and their parents. Furthermore, it is argued that Confucianism institutionalized the family system in which women are called upon to sacrifice themselves for the good of the family, a system that fostered such practice. Historian Dorothy Ko proposed that foot binding may be an expression of the Confucian ideals of civility and culture in the form of correct attire or bodily adornment, and that foot binding
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#17328510809223564-601: Is not clear whether it is recorded in the correct chronological order. After visiting Champa, an ancient kingdom in Vietnam, Odoric says that he travelled to the islands of Nicobar and then on to Ceylon . After Ceylon, Odoric writes about 'Dondin', an island associated with the Andaman Islands by some historians while others believe it to be entirely fictional. Next he travelled to Guangzhou (which he knew as "Chin-Kalan" or "Mahachin"). From Guangzhou, he travelled overland to
3726-587: Is of Pan Yunu , a favourite consort of the Southern Qi Emperor Xiao Baojuan . In the story, Pan Yunu, renowned for having delicate feet, performed a dance barefoot on a floor decorated with the design of a golden lotus. The Emperor, expressing admiration, said that "lotus springs from her every step!" ( bù bù shēng lián 歩歩生蓮 ), a reference to the Buddhist legend of Padmavati, under whose feet lotus springs forth. This story may have given rise to
3888-649: The Old History and the New History . Written from the northern viewpoint, these chronicles organized the history around the Five Dynasties (the north), presenting the Ten Kingdoms (the south) as illegitimate, self-absorbed and indulgent. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period turned away from the international cultural mood of the Tang dynasty and appears as a transition towards the solidified national culture of
4050-499: The jiedushi , the regional military governors. The An Lushan (755–763) and Huang Chao rebellions weakened the imperial government, and by the early 10th century the jiedushi commanded de facto independence from its authority. In the last decades of the Tang dynasty, they were not even appointed by the central court anymore, but developed hereditary systems, from father to son or from patron to protégé. They had their own armies rivaling
4212-469: The Anti-footbinding Society near Canton to combat the practice, and anti-foot binding societies appeared across the country, with membership for the movement claimed to reach 300,000. The anti-foot binding movement stressed pragmatic and patriotic reasons rather than feminist ones, arguing that abolition of foot binding would lead to better health and more efficient labour. Kang Youwei submitted
4374-573: The Central Plain , and more than a dozen concurrent dynastic states, collectively known as the Ten Kingdoms, were established elsewhere, mainly in South China . It was a prolonged period of multiple political divisions in Chinese imperial history. Traditionally, the era is seen as beginning with the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907 and reaching its climax with the founding of the Song dynasty in 960. In
4536-577: The First Council of Lyon , Pope Innocent IV organized the first missions to the Great Khan Tartary in 1245, entrusted to the Franciscans, as were subsequent Papal missions over the next century. By 1260, the fear of another Mongol invasion had subsided and during the next 100 years there were numerous contacts between Europe and China focused on trade opportunities and religious conversion. Travel
4698-767: The Later Han fell to the Han Chinese-led Later Zhou in 951. With the protection of the powerful Liao dynasty, the Northern Han maintained nominal independence until the Song dynasty wrested it from the Khitans in 979. The smallest of the southern states, Jingnan (924–963), was founded by Gao Jichang , a former general of Liang. It was based in Jiangling and held two other districts southwest of present-day Wuhan in Hubei . Gao
4860-685: The Later Zhou founder Guo Wei fought in Li Keyong's army and Guo served under Liu Zhiyuan. The father of Song founder Zhao Kuangyin served in the armies of Later Tang, Later Han, and Later Zhou. Zhao, also a professional soldier, rose through the ranks of the Later Zhou before seizing the throne in the Chenqiao Mutiny in 960, which ended the era of the Five Dynasties. The Qing historian Wang Fuzhi (1619–1692) wrote that this period could be compared to
5022-562: The Malabar coast , stopping at Kodungallur and Quilon . From there, he proceeded around the southern tip of India and up along the southeast coast , where he visited the shrine of Thomas the Apostle , which tradition places near Chennai . From India, Odoric sailed in a junk to northern Sumatra, Java, and Borneo where he became the first European to make a recorded visit to the island. At this point, his journey becomes somewhat confusing and it
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5184-560: The Manchus' conquest in 1644, as it was then practised only by Han women. During the Qing dynasty, attempts were made by the Manchus to ban the practice but failed, and it has been argued the attempts at banning may have in fact led to a spread of the practice among Han Chinese in the 17th and 18th centuries. Shepherd 2018 provides a critical review of the evidence cited for the notion that foot binding
5346-540: The May Fourth Movement saw foot binding as a major symbol of China's backwardness. Provincial leaders, such as Yan Xishan in Shanxi, engaged in their own sustained campaign against foot binding with foot inspectors and fines for those who continued the practice, while regional governments of the later Nanjing regime also enforced the ban. The campaign against foot binding was successful in some regions. In one province,
5508-416: The Song dynasty . Throughout the period, there was marked cultural and economic growth, rather than decline. Several Northern dynasties originated in the northeast, and centralisation of the north led to a migration of provincial elites into the capital, particularly northeasterners, creating a new metropolitan culture. After the unification of China by the Song dynasty, the culture, arts and literature of
5670-529: The Taiping Rebellion were men of Hakka background whose women did not bind their feet, and they outlawed foot binding in areas under their control. However the rebellion failed and Christian missionaries, who had provided education for girls and actively discouraged what they considered a barbaric practice that had deleterious social effect on women, then played a part in changing elite opinion on foot binding through education, pamphleteering and lobbying of
5832-522: The "palace armies" and amassed huge wealth, as testified by their sumptuous tombs. Due to the decline of Tang central authority after the An Lushan Rebellion, there was a growing tendency to superimpose large regional administrations over the old districts and prefectures that had been used since the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). These administrations, known as circuit commissions, would become the boundaries of
5994-429: The "varied landscape" of China was inspired by Taoism . It emphasized the sacredness of mountains as places between heaven and earth and depicted the natural world as a source of harmony. In later tradition, the Five Dynasties is viewed as a period of judicial abuse and excessive punishment. This view reflects both actual problems with the administration of justice and the bias of Confucian historians, who disapproved of
6156-451: The An Lushan rebellion. With their administration under local military control, these provinces never submitted tax revenues, and governorships lapsed into hereditary succession. They engaged in occasional war with the central government, or against each other, and Youzhou seemed to conduct its own foreign policy. This meant that the culture of these northeastern provinces started diverging from
6318-515: The Black Sea to Trebizond. From Trebizond he traveled southeast along the caravan route to Erzerum, Tabriz, and Soltania. It is likely that he spent time at the Franciscan monasteries established in these cities. From Soltania his travels become somewhat confused. He seems to have wandered through Persia and Mesopotamia, visiting Kashan , Yazd , Persepolis , and Baghdad . From Baghdad he traveled along
6480-523: The European story of Cinderella and is thought to be one of its antecedents. For many, the bound feet were an enhancement to a woman's beauty and made her movement more dainty, and a woman with perfect lotus feet was likely to make a more prestigious marriage. Even while not much was written on the subject of foot binding prior to the latter half of the 19th century, the writings that were done on this topic, particularly by educated men, frequently alluded to
6642-587: The Far East started to circulate in Europe. There is no evidence that Odoric had any diplomatic responsibilities when he undertook his journey. He was motivated to evangelize and perhaps satisfy his own curiosity. In the opening chapter of his chronicle, he states "according to my wish, I crossed the sea and visited the countries of the unbelievers in order to win some harvest of souls." Sometime after 1318, Odoric left Venice to begin his multi-year journey across Asia. In
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6804-489: The Far East. Odoric's account was a primary source for the account of Mandeville's Travels . Many of the incredible reports about Asia in Mandeville have proven to be versions of Odoric's eyewitness descriptions. After his death, Odoric became an object of popular devotion and was beatified in 1755. Little is known about the life of Odoric and many details are confused by the mythology that evolved after his death. He
6966-541: The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms regimes was Northern Han , which held out until Song conquered it in 979. For the next several centuries, although the Song controlled much of South China, they coexisted alongside the Liao dynasty, Jin dynasty, and various other regimes in China's north, until finally all of them were unified under the Yuan dynasty . Towards the end of the Tang dynasty, the imperial government granted increased powers to
7128-688: The Later Liang regime. Thus began the Shatuo Later Tang—the first in a long line of conquest dynasties . After reuniting much of northern China, in 924 Cunxu received the submission of Shaanxi's Qi kingdom, and in 925 Cunxu conquered the Former Shu , a regime that had been set up in Sichuan . The Later Tang had a few years of relative calm, followed by unrest. In 934, Sichuan again asserted independence. In 936, Shi Jingtang rebelled against Li Congke ,
7290-521: The Later Zhou. After the death of Guo Wei in 954, his adopted son Chai Rong succeeded the throne and began a policy of expansion and reunification. One month after Chai Rong took the throne, Liu Chong, Emperor of Northern Han , allied with Liao dynasty to launch an assault on Later Zhou. Against the advice of Minister Feng Dao, Chai Rong decided to lead his army against the incursion. When Chai Rong engaged Liu Chong at Gao Ping (in modern Jincheng), two of Chai's generals, Fan Aineng and He Hui, fled from
7452-405: The Liao came to regard the emperor as a proxy ruler for China. In 943, the Khitans declared war and within three years seized the capital, Kaifeng , marking the end of Later Jin. But while they had conquered vast regions of China, the Khitans were unable or unwilling to control those regions and retreated from them early in the next year. To fill the power vacuum, the jiedushi Liu Zhiyuan entered
7614-507: The Liao in an attempt to recover territories ceded during the Later Jin. After many victories, he succumbed to illness. In 960, the general Zhao Kuangyin staged a coup and took the throne for himself, founding the Northern Song dynasty . This is the official end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During the next two decades, Zhao Kuangyin and his successor Zhao Kuangyi defeated
7776-567: The Manchus, Mongols and Tibetans, did not bind their feet. Some non-Han ethnic groups did. Foot binding was practised by the Hui Muslims in Gansu Province. The Dungan Muslims , descendants of Hui from northwestern China who fled to central Asia, were also practising foot binding up to 1948. In southern China, in Canton ( Guangzhou ), 19th-century Scottish scholar James Legge noted a mosque that had
7938-565: The Papal Court at Avignon, where he wanted to report on the affairs of the church in the far East, and request recruits for the missions in Cathay. However, he fell ill in Pisa and returned home to Friuli where he died on January 14, 1331. The friars of the convent were about to bury him the same day privately, but when this became known in the city, Conrad Bernardiggi, the chief magistrate of Udine, who had
8100-577: The Persian Gulf, and at Hormuz embarked for India. Odoric landed on the Indian coast at Tana where Thomas of Tolentino and his three Franciscan companions had recently been martyred for " blaspheming " Muhammad before the local magistrate or qadi . Their remains had been interred by Jordan of Severac , a Dominican missionary. Odoric relates that he recovered these relics and carried them with him on his further travels. From Tana, he travelled down
8262-576: The Qing court, as no other culture in the world practised the custom of foot binding. The earliest-known Western anti-foot binding society was formed in Amoy ( Xiamen ) in 1874. 60–70 Christian women in Xiamen attended a meeting presided over by a missionary, John MacGowan, and formed the Natural Foot Society ( Tianzu Hui (天足会) , literally Heavenly Foot Society ). MacGowan held the view that foot binding
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#17328510809228424-461: The South, gave the South room to innovate free of tight administrative controls. The dominant northern officials had been unwilling to serve in the South during the Tang, and so southerners were recruited by the Tang to serve in a local capacity under the "Southern Selection" supplemental system. These southern officials became the administrative core of the Ten Kingdoms and later dominated the bureaucracy by
8586-518: The Southern kingdoms were able to embark on trade, land reclamation, and infrastructure projects, laying the groundwork for the Song Dynasty economic boom. This economic shift to the south also led to a vast southward migration. According to Nicholas Tackett, the three provinces of Hebei (Chengde, Youzhou, Weibo) were able to maintain much greater autonomy from the central government in the aftermath of
8748-439: The Southern states were incorporated into the new regime. The Song dynasty adopted a distinctively Southern Chinese cultural outlook. The preserved cultural traditions of Southern Tang, Wu Yue and Later Shu were used to rebuild the cultural landscape of the north. Southern libraries were transported north, Southeastern architecture was promoted in the new capital, and Southeastern Buddhist icons, clergy and relics were concentrated in
8910-509: The Tang dynasty by Wang Jian, who held his court in Chengdu . The kingdom held most of present-day Sichuan , western Hubei , and parts of southern Gansu and Shaanxi . Wang was named military governor of western Sichuan by the Tang court in 891. The kingdom fell when his son surrendered in the face of an advance by the Later Tang in 925. The Later Shu (935–965) is essentially a resurrection of
9072-486: The accounts seem intended to rouse like-minded Chinese and foreign opinion to abolish the custom, and sometimes the accounts imply condescension or contempt for China. Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period ( Chinese : 五代十國 ) was an era of political upheaval and division in Imperial China from 907 to 979. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in
9234-559: The agency and cultural influence of women. Some scholars such as Laurel Bossen and Hill Gates reject the notion that bound feet in China were considered more beautiful, or that it was a means of male control over women, a sign of class status, or a chance for women to marry well (in general, bound women did not improve their class position by marriage). Foot binding is believed to have spread from elite women to civilian women and there were large differences in each region. The body and labor of unmarried daughters belonged to their parents, thereby
9396-441: The archipelago is not free from errors, but they are the errors of an eye-witness. Regarding China, his mention of Guangzhou by the name of Censcolam or Censcalam (Chin-Kalan), and his descriptions of the custom of fishing with tame cormorants , of the habit of letting the fingernails grow extravagantly, and of the compression of women's feet , are peculiar to him among the travellers of that age; Marco Polo omits them all. Odoric
9558-470: The area, where many proselytized as Christian missionaries. These foreigners condemned many long-standing Chinese cultural practices like foot binding as "uncivilized" — marking the beginning of the end for the centuries-long practice. It has been argued that while the practice started out as a fashion, it persisted because it became an expression of Han identity after the Mongols invaded China in 1279, and later
9720-465: The battlefield along with their troops. At this critical moment, Chai Rong risked his life to break through the defense and crushed Liu's forces. After this campaign, Chai Rong consolidated his power. Between 956 and 958, forces of Later Zhou conquered much of Southern Tang , the most powerful regime in southern China, which ceded all the territory north of the Yangtze in defeat. In 959, Chai Rong attacked
9882-417: The beginning of the binding, many of the foot bones would remain broken, often for years. However as the girl grew older the bones would begin to heal. Even after the foot bones had healed, they were prone to rebreaking repeatedly, especially when the girl was in her teenage years and her feet were still soft. Bones in the girls' feet would often be deliberately broken again to further change the size or shape of
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#173285108092210044-400: The binding cloth were then sewn so that the girl could not loosen it. The girl's broken feet required a great deal of care and attention and they would be unbound regularly. Each time the feet were unbound they were washed, the toes checked for injury, and the nails trimmed. When unbound, the broken feet were also kneaded to soften them and the soles of the girl's feet were often beaten to make
10206-412: The binding next to her feet and between her toes to cause injury and introduce infection deliberately. Disease inevitably followed infection, meaning that death from septic shock could result from foot binding, and a surviving girl was more at risk of medical problems as she grew older. It is thought that as many as 10% of girls may have died from gangrene and other infections owing to foot binding. At
10368-466: The body of the friar to be moved into a stone tomb, commissioned and paid for by the community of Udine and sculpted by a Venetian artist, Filippo de Sanctis. Odoric was placed in the church of San Francesco and the chapel dedicated to him was frescoed in the fifteenth century with episodes of his journey and his miracles. The tomb was removed due to the Venetian suppressions (1769) and after some wanderings it
10530-479: The bound feet were also considered the most intimate part of a woman's body. In erotic art of the Qing period where the genitalia may be shown, the bound feet were never depicted uncovered. Howard Levy, however, suggests that the barely revealed bound foot may also only function as an initial tease. An effect of the bound feet was the lotus gait, the tiny steps and swaying walk of a woman whose feet had been bound. Women with such deformed feet avoided placing weight on
10692-490: The boundaries between work and kinship for women were blurred. They argued that foot binding was an instrumental means to reserve women to handwork, and can be seen as a way by mothers to tie their daughters down, train them in handwork, and keep them close at hand. This argument has been challenged by Shepherd 2018, who shows there was no connection between handicraft industries and the proportion of women bound in Hebei. Foot binding
10854-439: The capital is said to have executed suspects without inquiry. The Tang code of 737 was the basic statutory law for this period, together supplemental edicts and collections. The Later Liang promulgated a code in 909. This code was blamed for delays in the administration of justice and said to be excessively harsh with respect to economic crimes. The Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Zhou also produced recompilations. The Later Han
11016-411: The capital. Many of the elites in post-Tang China, including the future emperors of the Song dynasty, came from this region. The administrations of the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty shared a pattern of being disproportionately drawn from the families of military governors in northern and northwestern China ( Hebei , Shanxi , Shaanxi ), their personal staff, and the bureaucrats who served in
11178-476: The capitals of the Five dynasties. These families had risen to prominence due to the unraveling of central authority after the An Lushan Rebellion, despite lacking esteemed ancestry. The historian Deng Xiaonan argued that many of these military families, including the Song imperial family , were of mixed Han Chinese-Turkic- Kumo Xi ancestry. The term "Five Dynasties" was coined by Song dynasty historians and reflects
11340-517: The case for his beatification. A comprehensive study of all versions and their histories has not yet been done. The narrative was first printed at Pesaro in 1513, in what Apostolo Zeno (1668–1750) calls lingua inculta e rozza . Giovanni Battista Ramusio first includes Odoric's narrative in the second volume of the second edition (1574) (Italian version), in which are given two versions, differing curiously from one another, but without any prefatory matter or explanation. Another (Latin) version
11502-403: The control of the central government. In common with other periods of fragmentation, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period resulted in a division between northern and southern China . The greater stability of the Ten Kingdoms, especially the longevity of Wuyue and Southern Han, would contribute to the development of distinct regional identities within China. The distinction was reinforced by
11664-542: The copies do not have a name so, by convention, scholars use the title Relatio . The work was read widely in Europe and manuscript copies can be found in libraries across the continent. The oldest surviving text is preserved in Assisi and three more copies nearly as old can be found in the Vatican library. The events narrated by Odoric after his return to Italy may have been transcribed several times. The most widespread version
11826-431: The decentralization and militarization that characterized this period. While Tang procedure called for delaying executions until appeals were exhausted, this was not generally the case in the Five Dynasties. Other abuses included the use of severe torture. The Later Han was the most notorious dynasty in this regard. Suspects could be tortured to death with long knives and nails. The military officer in charge of security of
11988-458: The earlier Warring States period of ancient China, remarking that none of the rulers could be described as " Son of Heaven ". The Five Dynasties' rulers, despite claiming the status of emperor , sometimes dealt with each other on terms of diplomatic equality out of pragmatic concern. This concept of "sharing the Mandate of Heaven" as "sibling states" was the result of the brief balance of power. After
12150-647: The earliest extant discourse on the practice of foot binding, scholar Zhang Bangji [ zh ] wrote that a bound foot should be arch shaped and small. He observed that "women's foot binding began in recent times; it was not mentioned in any books from previous eras." In the 13th century, scholar Che Ruoshui [ zh ] wrote the first known criticism of the practice: "Little girls not yet four or five years old, who have done nothing wrong, nevertheless are made to suffer unlimited pain to bind [their feet] small. I do not know what use this is." The earliest archeological evidence for foot binding dates to
12312-524: The eighteenth year of the Song dynasty , when Qian Shu surrendered to the expanding dynasty. The Min (909–945) was founded by Wang Shenzhi, who named himself the Prince of Min with its capital at Changle (present-day Fuzhou ). One of Shenzhi's sons proclaimed the independent state of Yin in the northeast of Min territory. The Southern Tang took that territory after the Min asked for help. Despite declaring loyalty to
12474-450: The emperor's authority. Li Keyong was the jiedushi for the Hedong circuit in present Shanxi, forming a polity called Jin (晉). His son Li Cunxu and Liu Shouguang fiercely fought the regime forces to conquer northern China; Li Cunxu succeeded. He defeated Liu Shouguang (who had proclaimed a Yan Empire in 911) in 915, and declared himself emperor in 923; within a few months, he brought down
12636-551: The end of 1329 or the beginning of 1330. After a journey of more than ten years, he had travelled approximately 50,000 kilometers. Shortly after his return Odoric was at his Order's house attached to the Friary of St. Anthony at Padua , and it was there in May 1330 that he related the story of his travels, which was taken down in simple Latin by Friar William of Solagna. From Padua he is thought to have proceeded to Pisa in order to take ship for
12798-653: The era's name. Some historians, such as Bo Yang , count eleven, including Yan and Qi but not the Northern Han , viewing it as simply a continuation of Later Han. This era also coincided with the founding of the Liao dynasty in the north, and the Dali Kingdom in the southwest. Other regimes during this period include Zhao , Yiwu Circuit, Dingnan Circuit , Wuping Circuit, Qingyuan Circuit , Yin , Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom , Guiyi Circuit and Xiliangfu . The Yang Wu (902–937)
12960-466: The erotic nature and appeal of bound feet in their poetry. The desirability varies with the size of the feet—the perfect bound feet and the most desirable (called ' golden lotuses ' ) would be around 3 Chinese inches (around 10 cm or 4 in) or smaller, while those larger were called ' silver lotuses ' (4 Chinese inches—around 13 cm or 5.1 in) or ' iron lotuses ' (5 Chinese inches—around 17 cm or 6.7 in—or larger, and thus
13122-422: The feet. This was especially the case with the girl's toes, which were broken several times since small toes were especially desirable. Older women were more likely to break hips and other bones in falls, since they could not balance properly on their feet, and were less able to rise to their feet from a sitting position. Other issues that may have arisen from foot binding included paralysis and muscular atrophy . By
13284-415: The folds. Most of the women receiving treatment did not go out often and were disabled. If the infection in the feet and toes entered the bones, it could cause them to soften, which could result in toes dropping off. This was seen as a benefit because the feet could then be bound even more tightly. Girls whose toes were more fleshy would sometimes have shards of glass or pieces of broken tiles inserted within
13446-556: The following 19 years, Song gradually subdued the remaining states in South China, but the Liao dynasty still remained in China's north (eventually succeeded by the Jin dynasty ), and the Western Xia was eventually established in China's northwest. Many states had been de facto independent long before 907 as the late Tang dynasty's control over its numerous fanzhen officials waned, but
13608-688: The form of Qingyuan Jiedushi and Wuping Jiedushi [ zh ] for many years after. With this, Southern Tang became the undisputedly most powerful regime in southern China. However, it was unable to defeat incursions by the Later Zhou between 956 and 958, and ceded all of its land north of the Yangtze River . The Song dynasty, established in 960, was determined to reunify China. Jingnan and Wuping Jiedushi were swept away in 963, Later Shu in 965, Southern Han in 971, and Southern Tang in 975. Finally, Wuyue and Qingyuan Jiedushi gave up their land to Northern Song in 978, bringing all of southern China under
13770-474: The founding of the new Qing dynasty, then in 1638, and another in 1664 by the Kangxi Emperor. Few Han Chinese complied with the edicts, and Kangxi eventually abandoned the effort in 1668. By the 19th century, it was estimated that 40–50% of Chinese women had bound feet. Among upper class Han Chinese women, the figure was almost 100%. Bound feet became a mark of beauty and were also a prerequisite for finding
13932-476: The four toes under but did not distort the heel or taper the ankle. Some working women in Jiangsu made a pretence of binding while keeping their feet natural. Not all women were always bound—some women once bound remained bound throughout their lives, some were only briefly bound and some were bound until marriage. Foot binding was most common among women whose work involved domestic crafts and those in urban areas; it
14094-582: The fourth emperor of the Later Tang. Shi Jingtang, a Shatuo jiedushi from Taiyuan , was aided by the Khitan -led Liao dynasty in his rebellion. In return for their aid, Shi Jingtang promised annual tribute and the Sixteen Prefectures (modern northern Hebei and Beijing ) to the Khitans. The rebellion succeeded, and Shi Jingtang became emperor in this same year. Not long after the founding of Later Jin,
14256-411: The front of the foot and tended to walk predominantly on their heels. Walking on bound feet necessitated bending the knees slightly and swaying to maintain proper movement and balance, a dainty walk that was also considered to be erotically attractive to some men. Some men found the smell of the bound feet attractive and some also apparently believed that bound feet would cause layers of folds to develop in
14418-461: The girl's toenails would be peeled back and removed altogether. The tightness of the binding meant that the circulation in the feet was faulty, and the circulation to the toes was almost cut off, so injuries to the toes were unlikely to heal and were likely to gradually worsen and lead to infected toes and rotting flesh. The necrosis of the flesh would initially give off a foul odour. Later the smell may have come from various microorganisms that colonized
14580-551: The great port of "Zayton" (possibly Quanzhou ) where there were two houses of his order. In one of these, he deposited the remains of the martyrs of Thane. A letter from the bishop, Andrea da Perugia, dated 1326, confirms their reception. From Fuzhou Odoric struck across the mountains into Zhejiang and visited Hangzhou ("Cansay"). It was at the time one of the great cities of the world and Odoric —like Marco Polo , Marignolli , and Ibn Battuta —gives details of its splendors. He mentions Hangzhou as "greater city than any other in
14742-529: The imperial capital in 947 and proclaimed the advent of the Later Han , establishing a third successive Shatuo reign. This was the shortest of the five dynasties. Following a coup in 951, General Guo Wei , a Han Chinese , was enthroned, thus beginning the Later Zhou . However, Liu Chong , a member of the Later Han imperial family, established a rival Northern Han regime in Taiyuan and requested Khitan aid to defeat
14904-412: The introduction to his travel journal, Odoric says that he went as a missionary and never alludes to any other capacity such as an ambassador or emissary. No records have been found to indicate whether he was sent by some ecclesiastical authority or simply received permission to undertake a journey of his own choosing. There is little chronological information regarding the exact sequence and duration of
15066-453: The joints and broken bones more flexible. The feet were also soaked in a concoction that caused necrotic flesh to fall off. Immediately after this procedure, the girl's broken toes were folded back under and the feet were rebound. The bindings were pulled even tighter each time the girl's feet were rebound. This unbinding and rebinding ritual was repeated as often as possible (for the rich at least once daily, for poor peasants two or three times
15228-463: The key event was their recognition as sovereign by foreign powers. After the Tang collapsed, several warlords of the Central Plain crowned themselves emperor. During the 70-year period, there was near-constant warfare between the emerging kingdoms and the alliances they formed. All had the ultimate goal of controlling the Central Plain and establishing themselves as the Tang's successor. The last of
15390-444: The kingdom of Prester John (possibly Mongolia ), and then 'Kansan' (possibly Shaanxi ). Some commentators have suggested that he may have been the first European to have reached Tibet, but a number of modern scholars have contested this interpretation. Beyond here, the friar likely proceeded through Kashmir, Afghanistan, Persia, Armenia and Trebizond, where may have caught a ship home to Venice. Odoric reached home sometime around
15552-568: The lack of education for women. Qichao connected education for women and foot binding: "As long as foot binding remains in practice, women's education can never flourish." Qichao was also disappointed that foreigners had opened the first schools as he thought that the Chinese should be teaching Chinese women. At the turn of the 20th century, early feminists , such as Qiu Jin , called for the end of foot binding. In 1906, Zhao Zhiqian wrote in Beijing Women's News to blame women with bound feet for being
15714-600: The last new case of foot binding reported in 1957. By the 21st century, only a few elderly women in China still had bound feet. In 1999, the last shoe factory making lotus shoes, the Zhiqian Shoe Factory in Harbin , closed. Foot binding was practised in various forms and its prevalence varied in different regions. A less severe form in Sichuan, called "cucumber foot" ( huángguā jiǎo 黃瓜腳 ) due to its slender shape, folded
15876-503: The late Qing dynasty . The first European to mention foot binding was the Italian missionary Odoric of Pordenone in the 14th century, during the Yuan dynasty. However no other foreign visitors to Yuan China mentioned the practice, including Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo (who nevertheless noted the dainty walk of Chinese women, who took very small steps), perhaps an indication that it was not
16038-526: The later Southern regimes; many circuit commissioners became the emperors or kings of these states. The historian Hugh Clark proposed a three-stage model of broad political trends during this time period. The first stage (880–910) consists of the period between the Huang Chao Rebellion and the formal end of the Tang dynasty, which saw chaotic fighting between warlords who controlled approximately one or two prefectures each. The second stage (910–950) saw
16200-407: The leadership of Liu Yan seized the territory. In the waning years of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the region was ruled by Zhou Xingfeng . In 963, the region was annexed by Song dynasty. Though considered one of the ten kingdoms, the Northern Han was based in the traditional Shatuo stronghold of Shanxi . It was founded by Liu Min ( 劉旻 ), formerly known as Liu Chong ( 劉崇 ), after
16362-460: The least desirable for marriage). Therefore people had greater expectations for foot binding brides. The belief that foot binding made women more desirable to men is widely used as an explanation for the spread and persistence of foot binding. Some also considered bound feet to be intensely erotic. Some men preferred never to see a woman's bound feet, so they were always concealed within tiny 'lotus shoes' and wrappings. According to Robert van Gulik ,
16524-479: The mid-Song. North China South China During the Tang dynasty, the warlord Zhu Wen was originally a member of Huang Chao 's rebel army, he took on a crucial role in suppressing the Huang Chao Rebellion. For this function, he was awarded the Xuanwu Jiedushi title. Within a few years, he had consolidated his power by destroying neighbours and forcing the move of the imperial capital to Luoyang , which
16686-684: The middle of the sole, or they have a small central tapered pedestal. Many Han Chinese in the Inner City of Beijing did not bind their feet either, and it was reported in the mid-1800s that around 50–60% of non-banner women had unbound feet. Han immigrant women to the Northeast came under Manchu influence and abandoned foot binding. Bound feet nevertheless became a significant differentiating marker between Han women and Manchu or other banner women. The Hakka people were unusual among Han Chinese in not practising foot binding. Most non-Han Chinese people, such as
16848-461: The more extreme examples of Western women's fashion such as corsetry ), seclusion (sometimes evaluated as morally superior to the gender mingling in the West), perversion (the practice imposed by men with sexual perversions), inexplicable deformation, child abuse and extreme cultural traditionalism. In the late 20th century some feminists introduced positive overtones, reporting that it gave some women
17010-463: The most powerful of the southern states. Wuyue was known for its learning and culture. It was founded by Qian Liu , who set up his capital at Xifu (modern-day Hangzhou ). It was based mostly in modern Zhejiang province but also held parts of southern Jiangsu . Qian Liu was named the Prince of Yue by the Tang emperor in 902; the Prince of Wu was added in 904. After the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907, he declared himself king of Wuyue. Wuyue survived until
17172-400: The need to work. Women, their families and their husbands took great pride in tiny feet, with the ideal length, called the 'Golden Lotus', being about three Chinese inches ( 寸 ) long—around 11 cm (4.3 in). This pride was reflected in the elegantly embroidered silk slippers and wrappings girls and women wore to cover their feet. Handmade shoes served to exhibit the embroidery skill of
17334-569: The neighboring Wuyue , the Southern Tang finished its conquest of Min in 945. The Southern Han (917–971) was founded in Guangzhou by Liu Yan . His brother, Liu Yin , was named regional governor by the Tang court. The kingdom included Guangdong , Guangxi , and Hainan . It was finally conquered by the Song dynasty. The Ma Chu (927–951) was founded by Ma Yin with the capital at Changsha . The kingdom held Hunan and northeastern Guangxi . Ma
17496-453: The neo-Confucian way of being civilized. Foot binding is an oppressive practice against women who were victims of a sexist culture. It is also widely seen as a form of violence against women. Bound feet rendered women dependent on their families, particularly the men, as they became largely restricted to their homes. Thus, the practice ensured that women were much more reliant on their husbands. The early Chinese feminist Qiu Jin , who underwent
17658-420: The new capital so as to reintegrate these traditions into the imperial culture. This was distinct from the five Northern dynasties, who never supported extended monastic lineage networks but instead typically sought to restrict them and draw on their economic and military resources. Although short, the period saw cultural innovations in different areas. Pottery saw the appearance of "white ceramics"/ In painting,
17820-411: The new era. The end of the practice of foot binding is seen as a significant event in the process of female emancipation in China, and a major event in the history of Chinese feminism . In the late 20th century, some feminists have pushed back against the prevailing Western critiques of foot binding, arguing that the presumption that foot binding was done solely for the sexual pleasure of men denies
17982-443: The other remaining regimes in South China, conquering Northern Han in 979, starting the Song dynasty era in 982. Unlike the dynasties of northern China, which succeeded one another in rapid succession, the regimes of South China were generally concurrent, each controlling a specific geographical area. These were known as "The Ten Kingdoms" (in fact, some claimed the title of Emperor, such as Former Shu and Later Shu ). Each court
18144-437: The painful process of unbinding her own bound feet, attacked foot binding and other traditional practices. She argued that women, by retaining their small bound feet, made themselves subservient by imprisoning themselves indoors. She believed that women should emancipate themselves from oppression, that girls could ensure their independence through education, and that they should develop new mental and physical qualities fitting for
18306-425: The particular gait that bound feet necessitated, adapted their own form of platform shoes to cause them to walk in a similar swaying manner. These Manchu platform shoes were known as "flower bowl" shoes ( Chinese : 花盆鞋 ; pinyin : Huāpénxié ) or "horse-hoof" shoes ( Chinese : 馬蹄鞋 ; pinyin : Mǎtíxié ); they have a platform generally made of wood 5–20 cm (2–6 in) in height and fitted to
18468-411: The practice began to die out, following the efforts of anti-foot binding campaigns. Additionally, upper-class and urban women dropped the practice sooner than poorer rural women. By 2007, only a handful of elderly Chinese women whose feet had been bound were still alive. There are a number of stories about the origin of foot binding before its establishment during the Song dynasty . One of these accounts
18630-425: The practice in the 17th century but failed. In some areas, foot binding raised marriage prospects. It has been estimated that by the 19th century 40–50% of all Chinese women may have had bound feet, rising to almost 100% among upper-class Han Chinese women. While Christian missionaries and Chinese reformers challenged the practice in the late 19th century, it was not until the early 20th century that
18792-453: The prestige and the high-level social and institutional relationships he maintained. Odoric's journey had been preceded by a period of Papal diplomatic missions that began nearly a century earlier when Mongols had entered Europe in the Mongol invasion of Europe . Between 1237 and 1238 they pillaged most of Russia, and by 1241 they had devastated Poland and Hungary. Then they suddenly retreated. At
18954-493: The previous Shu state that had fallen a decade earlier to the Later Tang . Because the Later Tang was in decline and Li Cunxu was killed in a revolt, Meng Zhixiang found the opportunity to reassert Shu's independence. Like the Former Shu, the capital was at Chengdu and it basically controlled the same territory as its predecessor. The kingdom was ruled well until forced to succumb to Song armies in 965. The Southern Tang (937–975)
19116-419: The process by unbinding was painful, and the shape could not be reversed without a woman undergoing the same pain again. The timing and degree of foot binding varied among communities. The most common problem with bound feet was infection . Despite the amount of care taken in regularly trimming the toenails, they would often in-grow, becoming infected and causing injuries to the toes. Sometimes, for this reason,
19278-449: The reunification of China by the Song dynasty, the Song embarked on a special effort to denounce such arrangements. The Southern regimes generally had more stable and effective government during this period. Even the rulers of the Southern states were almost all military leaders from the North with their key officers and elite forces also hailing from the North since the bulk of the Tang army
19440-519: The seclusion of women and the cult of widow chastity , it also contributed to the development of foot binding. According to Robert van Gulik , the prominent Song Confucian scholar Zhu Xi stressed the inferiority of women as well as the need to keep men and women strictly separate. It was claimed by Lin Yutang among others, probably based on an oral tradition, that Zhu Xi also promoted foot binding in Fujian as
19602-578: The sexes . This missionary-led opposition had stronger impacts than earlier Han or Manchu opposition. Western missionaries established the first schools for girls, and encouraged women to end the practice of foot binding. Christian missionaries did not conceal their shock and disgust either when explaining the process of foot binding to Western peers and their descriptions shocked their audience back home. Reform-minded Chinese intellectuals began to consider foot binding to be an aspect of their culture that needed to be eliminated. In 1883, Kang Youwei founded
19764-432: The shape of the crescent moon. She then performed a dance on the points of her bound feet on the lotus. Yao Niang's dance was said to be so graceful that others sought to imitate her. The binding of feet was then replicated by other upper-class women and the practice spread. Some of the earliest possible references to foot binding appear around 1100, when a couple of poems seemed to allude to the practice. Soon after 1148, in
19926-399: The size of the feet to be reduced, the toes on each foot were curled under, then pressed with great force downwards and squeezed into the sole of the foot until the toes broke. The bandages were repeatedly wound in a figure-eight movement, starting at the inside of the foot at the instep, then carried over the toes, under the foot and around the heel, the broken toes being pressed tightly into
20088-400: The sole of the foot. The foot was drawn down straight with the leg and the arch of the foot forcibly broken. At each pass around the foot, the binding cloth was tightened, pulling the ball of the foot and the heel together, causing the broken foot to fold at the arch, pressing the toes beneath the sole. The binding was pulled so tightly that the girl could not move her toes at all and the ends of
20250-400: The southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou, where not all daughters of the wealthy had bound feet. Foot binding limited the mobility of girls, so they became engaged in handwork from childhood. It is thought that the necessity for female labour in the fields owing to a longer growing season in the South and the impracticability of bound feet working in wet rice fields limited
20412-493: The southern regions had prospered in the late Tang. Guangdong and Fujian were the sites of important port cities trading exotic goods, the middle Yangtze and Sichuan were centers of tea and porcelain production, and the Yangtze delta was a center of extremely high agricultural production and an entrepot for the other regions. The regions were economically interdependent. Sui and Tang's policies, while paying little attention to developing
20574-505: The spread of the practice in the countryside of the South. However some farming women bound their daughter's feet, but "the process began later than in elite families, and feet were bound more loosely among the poor." Manchu women, as well as Mongol and Chinese women in the Eight Banners , did not bind their feet. The most a Manchu woman might do was to wrap the feet tightly to give them a slender appearance. The Manchus, wanting to emulate
20736-407: The stops on his travel. His narrative and other evidence only tells us that he was in western India soon after 1321 (pretty certainly in 1322) and that he spent three years in China between the opening of 1323 and the close of 1328. Along the way he provided brief descriptive notes for each of the places he visited, highlighting various cultural, religious, and social peculiarities. During at least
20898-545: The terms 'golden lotus' or 'lotus feet' used to describe bound feet; there is no evidence, however, that Consort Pan ever bound her feet. The general view is that the practice is likely to have originated during the reign of the 10th-century Emperor Li Yu of the Southern Tang , just before the Song dynasty. Li Yu created a 1.8-meter-tall (6 ft) golden lotus decorated with precious stones and pearls and asked his concubine Yao Niang (窅娘) to bind her feet in white silk into
21060-481: The text as they saw fit. Some simply attempted to improve on the original Latin grammar while others added details or entirely new sections. In one German manuscript, for example, comparisons that Odoric frequently made between Chinese cities and Italian ones were replaced by comparisons with German cities. In France, comparisons were made to French cities and rivers. In other versions stories of miracles attributed to Odoric after his death were added in an effort to bolster
21222-399: The tombs of Huang Sheng, who died in 1243 at the age of 17, and Madame Zhou, who died in 1274. Each woman's remains showed feet bound with gauze strips measuring 1.8 m (6 ft) in length. Zhou's skeleton, particularly well preserved, showed that her feet fit into the narrow, pointed slippers that were buried with her. The style of bound feet found in Song dynasty tombs, where the big toe
21384-411: The turn of the century foot binding had been exposed in photographs, X-rays and detailed textual descriptions. These scientific investigations detailed how foot binding deformed the leg, covered the skin with cracks and sores and altered the posture. There are many interpretations to the practice of foot binding. The interpretive models used include fashion (with the Chinese customs somewhat comparable to
21546-445: The vagina, and that the thighs would become sensuously heavier and the vagina tighter. The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud considered foot binding to be a "perversion that corresponds to foot fetishism ", and that it appeased male castration anxiety . During the Song dynasty , the status of women declined. A common argument is that it was the result of the revival of Confucianism as neo-Confucianism and that, in addition to promoting
21708-404: The various warlords stabilize and gain enough legitimacy to proclaim new dynasties. The third stage (950–979) saw the forceful reunification of China by the Later Zhou dynasty and its successor the Song dynasty, and the demilitarisation of the provinces. Southern China, divided into several independent dynastic kingdoms, was more stable than the North which saw constant regime change. Consequently,
21870-568: The view that the successive regimes based in Kaifeng , controlled the Central Plain and possessed the Mandate of Heaven . The first of the Five Dynasties was founded by Zhu Wen , the rebel defector turned warlord who ultimately ended the Tang dynasty. The rest of the Five Dynasties as well as the Song dynasty all emerged from a military organization originally led by Shatuo Turks whose commanders replaced each other in frequent coup d'état . The Later Tang
22032-650: The wearer as well. These shoes also served as support, as some women with bound feet might not have been able to walk without the support of their shoes and would have been severely limited in their mobility. Contrary to missionary writings, many women with bound feet were able to walk and work in the fields, albeit with greater limitations than their non-bound counterparts. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there were dancers with bound feet as well as circus performers who stood on prancing or running horses. Women with bound feet in one village in Yunnan Province formed
22194-661: The world, being 100 miles around, with everywhere within inhabited; often a house has 10 or 12 families. The city has twelve gates and at each gate at about eight miles are cities larger than Venice or Padua ". Passing northward by Nanjing and crossing the Yangzi , Odoric embarked on the Grand Canal and travelled to the imperial city of the Great Khan (probably Yesün Temür Khan ) at Khanbaliq (within present-day Beijing ). He remained there for three years, probably from 1324 to 1327. He
22356-490: Was a center of artistic excellence. The period is noted for the vitality of its poetry and for its economic prosperity. Commerce grew so quickly that there was a shortage of metallic currency. This was partly addressed by the creation of bank drafts, or "flying money" ( feiqian ), as well as by certificates of deposit. Wood block printing became common during this period, 500 years before Johannes Gutenberg 's press. The Ten Kingdoms were: Only ten are traditionally listed, hence
22518-700: Was a serious problem that called into doubt the whole of Chinese civilization; he felt that "the nefarious civilization interferes with Divine Nature." Members of the Heavenly Foot Society vowed not to bind their daughters' feet. In 1895, Christian women in Shanghai led by Alicia Little , also formed a Natural Foot Society . It was also championed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Movement founded in 1883 and advocated by missionaries including Timothy Richard , who thought that Christianity could promote equality between
22680-416: Was also more common in northern China, where it was widely practised by women of all social classes, but less so in parts of southern China such as Guangdong and Guangxi , where it was largely a practice of women in the provincial capitals or among the gentry. Feet were bound to their smallest in the northern provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi, but the binding was less extreme and less common in
22842-462: Was an expression of "Han identity" and rejects this interpretation. The bound foot has played a prominent part in many media works, both Chinese and non-Chinese, modern and traditional. These depictions are sometimes based on observation or research and sometimes on rumors or supposition. Sometimes, as in the case of Pearl Buck 's The Good Earth (1931), the accounts are relatively neutral or empirical, implying respect for Chinese culture. Sometimes,
23004-604: Was attached, no doubt, to one of the churches founded by the Franciscan Archbishop John of Monte Corvino , at this time in extreme old age. He also visited Yangzhou where Marco Polo had served as governor for three years. After three years in Khanbaliq, Odoric elected to travel back to Europe, possibly in response to the emperor's request for more missionaries. His return journey is less clearly described. Traveling overland across Asia, he passed through what he called
23166-839: Was based in the North. The founders of Wu and Former Shu were 'rogues' from Huainan and Xuchang respectively, the founder of Min was a minor government staffer from Huainan, the founder of Wuyue was a 'rogue' from Hangzhou , the founder of Chu was (according to one source) a carpenter from Xuchang, the founder of Jingnan was a slave from Shanzhou and the founder of Southern Han was a southern tribal chief. The Southern kingdoms were founded by men of low social status who rose up through superior military ability, who were later scorned as "bandits" by future scholars. However, once established, these rulers took great pains to portray themselves as promoters of culture and economic development so as to legitimize their rule; many wooed former Tang courtiers to help administer their states. The economies of each of
23328-433: Was bent upwards, appears to be different from the norm of later eras—an ideal known as the 'three-inch golden lotus'—may be a later development in the 16th century. At the end of the Song dynasty , men would drink from a special shoe, the heel of which contained a small cup. During the Yuan dynasty some would also drink directly from the shoe itself. This practice was called 'toast to the golden lotus' and lasted until
23490-581: Was born at Villanova , a hamlet now belonging to the town of Pordenone in Friuli . One tradition says that he was the son of a soldier fighting for Ottokar II of Bohemia , who seized control of Pordenone in the early 1270s. For this reason he has sometimes been called "the Bohemian". Another tradition says that Odoric was the son of a prominent local family but recent historians tend to discount this version. Estimates of his birth year have ranged from 1265 to 1285 but
23652-430: Was common when women could do light industry , but where women were required to do heavy farm work they often did not bind their feet because it hindered physical work. These scholars argued that the coming of the mechanized industry at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, such as the introduction of industrial textile processes, resulted in a loss of light handwork for women, removing
23814-416: Was established in modern-day Jiangsu , Anhui , and Jiangxi . It was founded by Yang Xingmi , who became a Tang dynasty military governor in 892. The capital was initially at Guangling (present-day Yangzhou ) and later moved to Jinling (present-day Nanjing ). The kingdom fell in 937 when it was taken from within by the founder of the Southern Tang . The Wuyue was the longest-lived (907–978) and among
23976-471: Was facilitated by a united and peaceful Mongolian empire under the Yuan dynasty. Mongolian polytheism was tolerant of the Christian religion and welcomed foreign divinities into its pantheon. Niccolò, Matteo, and Marco Polo made two voyages in 1260 and 1271, and in 1294 the missionary John of Monte Corvino made a similar journey for Pope Nicholas IV . As a result of these and other travelers, information about
24138-423: Was formally absorbed into the Song dynasty. Although more stable than northern China as a whole, southern China was also torn apart by warfare. Wu quarreled with its neighbours, a trend that continued as Wu was replaced with Southern Tang. In the 940s Min and Chu underwent internal crises which Southern Tang handily took advantage of, destroying Min in 945 and Chu in 951. Remnants of Min and Chu, however, survived in
24300-446: Was founded by Li Cunxu , the son of Shatuo leader Li Keyong , who was the main military rival to Zhu Wen in the late Tang. The Later Jin founder Shi Jingtang was the son of a Shatuo commander in Li Keyong's army and became the son-in-law of the Later Tang general and emperor Li Siyuan , who was himself an adopted son of Li Keyong. The Later Han founder Liu Zhiyuan was a Shatuo officer under Li Siyuan and Shi Jintang. The father of
24462-503: Was gradually made illegal. The practice lingered on in some regions in China. In 1928, a census in rural Shanxi found that 18% of women had bound feet, while in some remote rural areas, such as Yunnan Province, it continued to be practiced until the 1950s. In most parts of China the practice had virtually disappeared by 1949. The practice was also stigmatized in Communist China, and the last vestiges of foot binding were stamped out, with
24624-428: Was in power too briefly to make a mark on the legal system. Odoric of Pordenone Odoric of Pordenone (c. 1280–14 January 1331) was a Franciscan friar and missionary explorer from Friuli in northeast Italy. He journeyed through India, Sumatra, Java, and China, where he spent three years in the imperial capital of Khanbaliq (now Beijing). After more than ten years of travel, he returned home and dictated
24786-506: Was in the service of the Later Liang (the successor of the Tang in North China). Gao's successors claimed the title of King of Nanping after the fall of the Later Liang in 924. It was a small and weak kingdom, and thus tried to maintain good relations with each of the Five Dynasties. The kingdom fell to advancing armies of the Song in 963. Former Shu (907–925) was founded after the fall of
24948-524: Was made by William of Solagna who states in an introduction that he took down the dictation of Odoric while they were in Bologna in May 1330. Other compilations of the narrative were prepared in Latin or Italian and some of them were very dissimilar. Another contemporary version was made by Heinrich of Glatz (Silesia) who said he copied the text from a version he accessed in the papal library at Avignon (likely in 1331). Each subsequent compiler or copyist modified
25110-468: Was named regional military governor by the Tang court in 896, and named himself the Prince of Chu with the fall of the Tang in 907. This status as the Prince of Chu was confirmed by the Southern Tang in 927. The Southern Tang absorbed the state in 951 and moved the royal family to its capital in Nanjing , although Southern Tang rule of the region was temporary, as the next year former Chu military officers under
25272-827: Was one who not only visited many countries, but wrote about them so that he could share his knowledge with others. Moved by the many miracles that were wrought at the tomb of Odoric, Pope Benedict XIV , in the year 1755, approved the veneration which had been paid to Blessed Odoric. In the year 1881 the city of Pordenone erected a magnificent memorial to its distinguished son. The original manuscript of Odoric's narrative has been lost, but researchers have traced at least 117 copies, seventy-nine of them in Latin, twenty-three in Italian, eight in French, five in German, one in Castilian, and one in Welsh. Most of
25434-419: Was placed in the church of San Maria del Carmine, where it is still to be found. Popular acclamation made Oderic an object of devotion, the municipality erected a noble shrine for his body, and his fame as saint and traveller had spread far and wide before the middle of the century, but it was not until four centuries later (1755) that the papal authority formally sanctioned his beatification . A bust of Odoric
25596-430: Was said to be against foot binding and his family and descendants did not bind their feet. Modern Confucian scholars such as Tu Weiming also dispute any causal link between neo-Confucianism and foot binding, as Confucian doctrine prohibits mutilation of the body as people should not "injure even the hair and skin of the body received from mother and father". It is argued that such injunction applies less to women, rather it
25758-480: Was seen as a necessary part of being feminine as well as being civilized. Foot binding was often classified in Chinese encyclopedia as clothing or a form of bodily embellishment rather than mutilation. One from 1591, for example, placed foot binding in a section on "Female Adornments" that included hairdos, powders, and ear piercings. According to Ko, the perception of foot binding as a civilized practice may be evinced from
25920-402: Was set up at Pordenone in 1881. There are a few passages in the book that stamp Odoric as a genuine and original traveller. He is the first European, after Marco Polo, who distinctly mentions the name of Sumatra . The cannibalism and community of wives which he attributes to certain people of that island do certainly belong to it, or to islands closely adjoining. His description of sago in
26082-410: Was the successor state of Wu as Li Bian (Emperor Liezu) took the state over from within in 937. Expanding from the original domains of Wu , it eventually took over Yin, Min, and Chu, holding present-day southern Anhui, southern Jiangsu, much of Jiangxi, Hunan, and eastern Hubei at its height. The kingdom became nominally subordinate to the expanding Song in 961 and was invaded outright in 975, when it
26244-441: Was within his region of influence. In 904, he executed Emperor Zhaozong of Tang and made Zhaozong's 13-year-old son Emperor Ai of Tang a subordinate ruler. Three years later, he induced the boy emperor to abdicate in his favour. He then proclaimed himself emperor, thus beginning the Later Liang . In the final years of the Tang dynasty, rival warlords declared independence in the provinces they governed—not all of which recognized
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