FOOTBINDING AND WAISTTIGHTENING.
An extraordinary fatuity has seized a number of European ladies in Shanghai who have formed a Society to try and reclaim the heathen Chinee From the barbarous custom of binding the Teet of women to make them look beautiful. The heathen however has as usual been too smart for them and a Chinese gentleman, one Luk, of Shanghai has written on the subject, quite turning the tables on the -wouldbe reformers. He says:—"What is the use of binding the feet? This question is answered by saying that its purpose is the same as " waisttightening" amongst the European ladies. Do you tighten the waist for comfort ? No. Is it to make cne look taller or shorter ? No. Then what is it for? It is for beauty. It is to catch the eyes of men. So is foot-biding. They are both for the benefit of men. Foot-binding does not do as much harm as waist-tighten-ing. The former only crushus the metatarsal bones (very painful), which cannot be so injuiious to the body as the latter, which displaces the vital organs, so that they cannot perform their proper functions. I have heard of people who have met their deaths by waist-tightening, but not foot-binding.
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Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 3, Issue 144, 4 September 1895, Page 4
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204FOOTBINDING AND WAISTTIGHTENING. Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 3, Issue 144, 4 September 1895, Page 4
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