anatomy

"The bandages that women used for footbinding were about 10 feet long, so it was difficult for them to wash their feet. They only washed once every two weeks, so it was very, very stinky. But when I was young I was very free, because when I was naughty my mother couldn't run fast enough with her bound feet to catch me and beat me."

"Strange to think it was an erotic thing. To us, the smell of rotting flesh would be unbearable. But back then men wrote poems about the rich smell."

"I came into this project with preconceptions like most people have, that this was a custom only done by the elite who lived lives of luxury in beautifully embroidered shoes, only to discover that this tradition transcended different classes just like any fashion statement. The women in my project all come from rural areas and are typically peasant farmers who have lived through some of the harshest times in China. I have learned so much from hearing their stories and being part of their lives. As a photographer, I am a storyteller and I hope people can have a better understanding of this tradition through looking at my work. It has been an honor to have been part of their lives."

"There's not a single other woman in Liuyicun who could fit their feet into my shoes. When my generation dies, people won't be able to see bound feet, even if they want to."

"Looking back on it, I am not sure what I was expecting. Such cruel and ugly words are used to describe bound feet. I held her naked foot in my hands and was surprised how soft to the touch her feet were. I was also taken aback because in some ways the form of her foot was quite beautiful. I think this also stems from a feeling of empathy that she had gone to such extreme lengths to be considered beautiful, desirable, marriage potential. It really resonated with me and I became even more excited about the project and eager to find more women to tell their stories."

"Certainly the "three-inch golden lotuses" were seen as the ultimate erogenous zone, with Qing dynasty pornographic books listing 48 different ways of playing with women's bound feet."

"It was a foot in name only. The misshapen mass looked more like a hoof bisected by a crack."

"Most people’s immediate reaction is how bad this custom was. I now see it as more of a means to an end. In their society it was the only way forward for women: It would garner them a better future, a better life; in their society it was considered beautiful and then later on it was considered backward. Can you imagine first of all being praised for going to such extreme measures and the torture you went through to be aesthetically pleasing only to be demonized as an adult for complying with standard practices?"

"For one of my pieces on camera, I balanced a pair of embroidered doll shoes in the palm of my hand, as I talked about Lady Huang and the origins of foot-binding. When it was over, I turned to the museum curator who had given me the shoes and made some comment about the silliness of using toy shoes. This was when I was informed that I had been holding the real thing. The miniature “doll” shoes had in fact been worn by a human. The shock of discovery was like being doused with a bucket of freezing water."

"The truth, no matter how unpalatable, is that foot-binding was experienced, perpetuated and administered by women. Though utterly rejected in China now— the last shoe factory making lotus shoes closed in 1999 —it survived for a thousand years in part because of women’s emotional investment in the practice. The lotus shoe is a reminder that the history of women did not follow a straight line from misery to progress, nor is it merely a scroll of patriarchy writ large. Shangguan, Li and Liang had few peers in Europe in their own time. But with the advent of foot-binding, their spiritual descendants were in the West. Meanwhile, for the next 1,000 years, Chinese women directed their energies and talents toward achieving a three-inch version of physical perfection."

"Fair as an Ivory Column’s tow’ring Height, Her lofty Neck advances to the Sight."

"Hir necke like to an yvorie shining tower Where through with azure veynes sweete Nectar runnes, Or like the downe of Swannes where Senesse woons, Or like delight that doth it self devore."

"Even as delicious meat is to the tast, So was his necke in touching, and surpast The white of Pelops' shoulder."

"Her necke like to a stately towre, Where Love himselfe imprisoned lies."

"Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men."

"Our mothers’ wombs the tyring-houses be Where we are drest for this short comedy:"

"A prettie rysing wombe without a weame, That shone as bright as anie siluer streame; And bare out like the bending of an hill, At whose decline a fountaine dwelleth still;A pretty rising womb without a wenn, That shine[s] as bright as any crystal gem, And bears out like the rising of a hill, At whose decline the[re] runs a fountain still,"

"To Eve's womb, from our sweet to-morrow, God shall greatly multiply sorrow."

"But thou art he that took me out of the womb: Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: Thou art my God from my mother's belly."

"Your brother and his lover have embraced: As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time That from the seedness the bare fallow brings To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry."

"Thou art he who createst the man-child in woman, who makest seed in man, who giveth life to the son in the body of his mother, who soothest him that he may not weep, a nurse [even] in the womb."

"And Venus, thou, with timely seed, Which may their after-comforts breed, Inform the gentle womb; Nor let it prove a tomb: But, ere ten moons be wasted, The birth, by Cynthia hasted. So may they both, ere day, Rise perfect every way."

"Her cheekes are like the blushing clowde That beautefies Auroraes face,"

"Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!"

"... On each side her Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, With divers-coloured fans, whose wind did seem To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, And what they undid did."

"Her cheekes like ripened lillies steept in wine, Or fair pomegranade kernels washt in milke, Or snow white threds in nets of crimson silke, Or gorgeous cloudes vpon the Sunnes decline."

"With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks;"

"Roses red, Lillies white, And the cleare damaske hue, Shall on your cheekes alight: Loue will adorne you."

"So may thy cheeks’ red outwear scarlet dye, And their white, whiteness of the Galaxy;"

"Then virtue claims from beauty beauty’s red, Which virtue gave the golden age to gild Their silver cheeks, and call’d it then their shield; Teaching them thus to use it in the fight, When shame assail’d, the red should fence the white."

"His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: ..."

"Poor Lucrece’ cheeks unto her maid seem so As winter meads when sun doth melt their snow."

"I saw Elysium and the milky way Fair-opening to the shades beneath her breast; In Venus’ lap the struggling wanton lay, And, while she strove to hide, reveal’d the rest. A mole, embrown’d with no unseemly grace, Grew near, embellishing the sacred place."

"Now, until the break of day, Through this house each fairy stray. To the best bride-bed will we, Which by us shall blessèd be; And the issue there create Ever shall be fortunate. So shall all the couples three Ever true in loving be; And the blots of Nature’s hand Shall not in their issue stand: Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar, Nor mark prodigious, such as are Despisèd in nativity, Shall upon their children be."

"Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

"Cheeks neither red nor pale, but mingled so That blushing red no guilty instance gave, Nor ashy pale the fear that false hearts have."

"Heaven, I'm in heaven And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak And I seem to find the happiness I seek When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek"

"Cheek to cheek and breast to breast Lock’d together in one nest."

"Of her choice virtues only gods should speak, Or English poets who grew up on Greek (I’d have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek)."

"Up-on the cop right of his nose he hade A werte, and ther-on stood a tuft of heres, Reed as the bristles of a sowes eres;"

"Some vicious mole of nature"

"That lovely spot which thou dost see In Celias bosome was a Bee, Who built her amorous spicy nest I’th Hyblas of her either breast, But from close Ivery Hyves, she flew To suck the Arromattick dew Which from the neighbour vale distils, Which parts those two twin-sister hils. There feasting on Ambrosiall meat, A rowling file of Balmy sweat, (As in soft murmurs, before death, Swan-like she sung,) chokt up her breath, So she in water did expire, More precious than the Phœnix fire; Yet still her shaddow there remaines Confind to those Elizian plaines; With this strict Law, that who shall lay His bold lips on that milky way, The sweet, and smart, from thence shall bring Of the Bees Honey, and her sting."

"My dear Veruca! How do you do? What a pleasure this is! You do have an interesting name, don't you? I always thought that a veruca was a sort of wart that you got on the sole of your foot!"

"Barley-corn, barley-corn, injun-meal shorts, Spunk-water, spunk-water, swaller these warts"

"Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, ..."

"Señor Don Quixote, have you observed the comeliness of my lady the duchess, that smooth complexion of hers like a burnished polished sword, those two cheeks of milk and carmine, that gay lively step with which she treads or rather seems to spurn the earth, so that one would fancy she went radiating health wherever she passed?"

"I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks;"

"Love, ... who keepest thy vigil on the soft cheek of a maiden;"

"And let not women’s weapons, water-drops, Stain my man’s cheeks! ..."

"Her Cheeks so rare a white was on, No Dazy makes comparison, (Who sees them is undone) For streaks of red were mingled there, Such as are on a Katherine Pear, (The side that’s next the Sun.)"