Foot-binding was a long-standing corrupt custom in ancient China and was used to pose cruelty to countless women. But do you know where in China was the first place ever that abandoned the practice?
The answer lies in Zhenjiang Chongshi Girls’ Middle School, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. With 135 years of history, the school was the birthplace of the Chinese women’s Temperance Movement and played a critical role in Chinese women’s movements.
In order to create the perfect “three-inch golden lily feet” (an ancient nickname of women’s bound feet), when girls were seven or eight years old, cloth strips about two inches wide and one foot long were used to wrap around their feet, so that they would be shaped like bamboo shoots - the smaller the more beautiful. Unless toenails needed to be trimmed, the binding cloth would remain fastened for periods of ten and a half days. When untying the foot cloth, little-footed women couldn’t make a step.
A female missionary in China, Archibald Little, questioned the foot-binding custom at that time. She once wrote that these little girls were leaning heavily on a walking stick higher than themselves, or lying on the backs of adults, or sitting and crying sadly.
The origin of abolishing the foot-binding movement
In 1884, it was the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (Qing Dynasty). On Easter, March 6th, the church in the United States assigned Hory C. Robinsen to establish a girls’ middle school in Yinshanmen Christian Church in Zhenjiang. The school was named Zhenjiang Private Girls’ School, also known as Zhenjiang Church School. Because it was located on a hill named Windmill Hill, the school was thus called “Windmill Hill Private Girls’ School”. Later, it was changed to a special female middle school, and Hory C. Robinsen was appointed as its principal.
In 1887, Robinsen initiated the Chinese Women’s Temperance Society, which advocated for abstinence from alcohol, prevention of drug abuse, the abolition of foot-binding, and prohibition of gambling, etc. The movement demanded that the new advocations started from girls in the school and women nearby. In view of this corrupt foot-binding custom, Robinsen established the Natural Feet Society. Later, this organization was accepted everywhere. Finally, in 1928, the government of the Republic of China issued a ban on foot-binding. After a long dispute between two opposite groups, the foot-binding custom that lasted for a thousand years was largely eradicated.
Expansion of the Girls’ Middle School
In 1920, the American church decided to expand Chongshi Girls’ Middle School. In the church, Miss Olivet made a will to give her inheritance to the school and expand the school building. In the same year, a teaching building of two stories with 40 classrooms and 16 auditoriums was under construction. On December 17th of the following year, the work was completed. The building was demolished in 1982 due to termite infestation.
On March 26, 1924, a two-story building of 45 dormitories, an administrative building and three teachers’ buildings were completed. So far, the school and the church's women and children’s hospital had eight large and small buildings, costing 400,000 US dollars, and covering 40 mu (6.58 acres). It was a group of western-style buildings on Windmill Hill.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the trend of abolishing women’s foot-binding was on the rise, especially after Zhenjiang took the lead in launching women’s abstention movements. All over the country, anti-foot-binding associations were set up one after another, calling for and publicizing the natural feet movement. Churches in China spared no effort to free women’s feet.
- Translated by Charlie Li
裹足是中国古代由来已久的陋习，对于万千女性的摧残是残忍的，但是您知道我国最早开始废足运动的先河是在何处？
今天笔者就带您走进——镇江崇实女子中学。江苏省镇江市，拥有一所135年历史的女子中学—崇实女子中学，这里正是中国女性节制运动的发源地，也是在中国妇女运动中占了举足轻重的地位
为打造出完美的“三寸金莲”，女孩在七八岁时，用宽约二寸、长约一丈的布条缠在脚上，使脚变成粽子形状，以小为美。除非为了修剪，裹脚布十天半月才会松开一次。离开了裹脚布，小脚女人寸步难行。
来华女传教士阿绮波德·立德质疑当时这种缠足行为，她写道：可怜啊，这些小女孩重重地靠在一根比自己还要高的拐棍上，或是趴在大人的背上，或者坐着，悲伤地哭泣。
废除裹足运动的缘起
1884年，是清朝光绪十年，3月6日复活节，美国基督教会派诺冰心(Hory C.Robinsen)在镇江银山门基督教堂创立女子中学，取名为镇江私立女子学堂，亦称镇江教会学堂，因所在山头定名风车山，学校为“风车山私立女子学校”。后改为祟实女中，诺冰心任校长。
1887年，这位学校创办者、首任校长、美国人诺冰心(Hory C.Robinsen)首创中国妇女节制会，宣传戒酒、拒毒、放足、禁赌等等，要求从校中女生及附近妇女做起，针对这个缠足陋习，诺冰心建立了天足会。后来这个组织风行各地。最终在1928年，民国政府颁布戒缠足令，放足与缠足势力又经过了长时间的较量，这延绵千年的缠足陋习才基本根除。
女子中学的扩建
1920年，美国基督教会决定扩建崇实女中，教会中奥莉维特女士(Miss Olivet)立下遗嘱：将遗产赠予崇实女中，扩建校舍。同年施工，一幢2层40间16个教室及礼堂的教学楼于次年12月17日竣工(1982年因白蚁成患而拆除)。
1924年，3月26日建成2层45间的宿舍楼、行政楼、3幢教师楼。至此，崇实女中和教会妇幼医院所建大小楼房共8幢，耗资40万美元，占地40亩，在风车山上，形成一组西式建筑楼。
在清末民初，戒除女子缠足之风不断兴起，特别是镇江率先发起妇女节制运动后，全国各地戒缠足会纷纷成立，号召和宣传放足，在华教会更是不遗余力。
钩沉｜镇江崇实女子中学：中国女性废除“三寸金莲”的发源地
Foot-binding was a long-standing corrupt custom in ancient China and was used to pose cruelty to countless women. But do you know where in China was the first place ever that abandoned the practice?
The answer lies in Zhenjiang Chongshi Girls’ Middle School, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. With 135 years of history, the school was the birthplace of the Chinese women’s Temperance Movement and played a critical role in Chinese women’s movements.
In order to create the perfect “three-inch golden lily feet” (an ancient nickname of women’s bound feet), when girls were seven or eight years old, cloth strips about two inches wide and one foot long were used to wrap around their feet, so that they would be shaped like bamboo shoots - the smaller the more beautiful. Unless toenails needed to be trimmed, the binding cloth would remain fastened for periods of ten and a half days. When untying the foot cloth, little-footed women couldn’t make a step.
A female missionary in China, Archibald Little, questioned the foot-binding custom at that time. She once wrote that these little girls were leaning heavily on a walking stick higher than themselves, or lying on the backs of adults, or sitting and crying sadly.
The origin of abolishing the foot-binding movement
In 1884, it was the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (Qing Dynasty). On Easter, March 6th, the church in the United States assigned Hory C. Robinsen to establish a girls’ middle school in Yinshanmen Christian Church in Zhenjiang. The school was named Zhenjiang Private Girls’ School, also known as Zhenjiang Church School. Because it was located on a hill named Windmill Hill, the school was thus called “Windmill Hill Private Girls’ School”. Later, it was changed to a special female middle school, and Hory C. Robinsen was appointed as its principal.
In 1887, Robinsen initiated the Chinese Women’s Temperance Society, which advocated for abstinence from alcohol, prevention of drug abuse, the abolition of foot-binding, and prohibition of gambling, etc. The movement demanded that the new advocations started from girls in the school and women nearby. In view of this corrupt foot-binding custom, Robinsen established the Natural Feet Society. Later, this organization was accepted everywhere. Finally, in 1928, the government of the Republic of China issued a ban on foot-binding. After a long dispute between two opposite groups, the foot-binding custom that lasted for a thousand years was largely eradicated.
Expansion of the Girls’ Middle School
In 1920, the American church decided to expand Chongshi Girls’ Middle School. In the church, Miss Olivet made a will to give her inheritance to the school and expand the school building. In the same year, a teaching building of two stories with 40 classrooms and 16 auditoriums was under construction. On December 17th of the following year, the work was completed. The building was demolished in 1982 due to termite infestation.
On March 26, 1924, a two-story building of 45 dormitories, an administrative building and three teachers’ buildings were completed. So far, the school and the church's women and children’s hospital had eight large and small buildings, costing 400,000 US dollars, and covering 40 mu (6.58 acres). It was a group of western-style buildings on Windmill Hill.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the trend of abolishing women’s foot-binding was on the rise, especially after Zhenjiang took the lead in launching women’s abstention movements. All over the country, anti-foot-binding associations were set up one after another, calling for and publicizing the natural feet movement. Churches in China spared no effort to free women’s feet.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Zhenjiang Chongshi Girls’ Middle School: The First Place Ever That Abandoned Women’s Foot-Binding
