Although I had heard a great deal about the small feet of Chinese
women, I was greatly astonished at their appearance. Through the
kind assistance of a missionary's lady (Mrs. Balt) I was enabled to
behold one of these small feet in natura. Four of the toes were
bent under the sole of the foot, to which they were firmly pressed,
and with which they appeared to be grown together; the great toe was
alone left in its normal state. The fore-part of the foot had been
so compressed with strong broad bandages, that instead of expanding
in length and breadth, it had shot upwards and formed a large lump
at the instep, where it made part and parcel of the leg; the lower
portion of the foot was scarcely four inches long, and an inch and a
half broad. The feet are always swathed in white linen or silk,
bound round with silk bandages and stuffed into pretty little shoes,
with very high heels.
To my astonishment these deformed beings tripped about, as if in
defiance of us broad-footed creatures, with tolerable ease, the only
difference in their gait being that they waddled like geese; they
even ran up and down stairs without the aid of a stick.
The only persons exempted from this Chinese method of improving
their beauty are girls of the lowest class - that is, those who live
in boats; in families of rank they are all subject to the same fate;
while in those of the middle classes, as a general rule, it is
limited to the eldest daughter.
The worth of a bride is reckoned by the smallness of her feet.
This process of mutilation is not commenced immediately the child is
born, but is deferred until the end of the first, or sometimes even
third year, nor is the foot after the operation forced into an iron
shoe, as many have affirmed, but merely firmly compressed with
bandages.
The religion of the Chinese allows them to have a number of wives,
but in this respect they are far behind the Mahomedans. The richest
have rarely more than from six to twelve, while poor persons content
themselves with one.
I visited during my stay in Canton as many workshops of the
different artists as I could. My first visit was to the most
celebrated painters, and I must frankly own, that the vividness and
splendour of their colouring struck me exceedingly. These qualities
are generally ascribed to the rice paper on which they paint, and
which is of the greatest possible fineness, and as white as milk.
The paintings upon linen and ivory differ very little, as far as the
colouring is concerned, from those of our European artists, and the
difference is therefore the more visible in their composition, and
perspective, which, with the Chinese, are yet in a state of infancy.
This is more especially true of perspective.
