Chinese Gender Norms Turned Upside Down

Li Ruzhen (1763–1830) was a Chinese scholar and novelist in the Qing Dynasty. Objecting to the constraints of the Confucian examination system, he achieved only the lowest official rank of scholarship, but his work in linguistics earned him a reputation as an intellectual. His novel Flowers in the Mirror (Jing Hua Yuan) is a fantastic and satirical take on Chinese society during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). In this excerpt, the main characters Tang Ao and Merchant Lin have traveled from the Kingdom on Earth to the Country of Women. Their experiences there call attention to gender dynamics during the Qing Dynasty, and especially the practice of foot binding, a popular but controversial procedure in which women’s feet were crushed into a shape thought to be appealing to men.

When Tang Ao heard that they had arrived at the Country of Women, he thought that the country was populated entirely by women, and was afraid to go ashore. But Old Tuo said, “Not at all! There are men as well as women, only they call men women, and women men. The men wear the skirts and take care of the home, while the women wear hats and trousers and manage affairs outside.” . . .

“If the men dress like women, do they use cosmetics and bind their feet?” asked Tang Ao.

“Of course they do!” cried Lin, and took from his pocket a list of the merchandise he was going to sell, which consisted of huge quantities of rouge, face powder, combs and other women’s notions. “Lucky I wasn’t born in this country,” he said. “Catch me mincing around on bound feet!” . . .

Merchant Lin had been told by one of his customers that the “King’s uncle” wanted to buy some of his goods. Following instructions, he went to the “Royal Uncle’s” Residence in the Palace, and handed his list of merchandise to the gatekeeper. Soon, the gatekeeper came back and said that it was just what the “King” was looking for for his “concubines” and “maids,” and asked Lin to be shown into the inner apartments. . . .

Merchant Lin followed the guard inside, and was soon in the presence of the “King.” After making a deep bow, he saw that she was a woman of about thirty years old, with a beautiful face, fair skin and cherry-red lips. Around her there stood many palace “maids.”

The “King” spoke to Lin in a light voice[,] . . . looking at him with interest as he answered her questions.

“I wonder what she is staring at me like this for,” Merchant Lin thought to himself. “Hasn’t she ever seen a man from the Kingdom on Earth before?” . . .

In a little time, Merchant Lin was ushered to a room upstairs, where victuals of many kinds awaited him. . . . Several palace “maids” ran upstairs soon, and calling him “Your Highness” kowtowed to him and congratulated him. Before he knew what was happening, Merchant Lin was being stripped completely bare by the maids and led to a perfumed bath. Against the powerful arms of these maids, he could scarcely struggle. Soon he found himself being anointed, perfumed, powdered and rouged, and dressed in a skirt. His big feet were bound up in strips of cloth and socks, and his hair was combed into an elaborate braid over his head and decorated with pins. . . .

Merchant Lin thought he must be drunk, or dreaming, and began to tremble. He asked the maids what was happening, and was told that he had been chosen by the “King” to be the Imperial Consort, and that a propitious day would be chosen for him to enter the “King’s” chambers.

Before he could utter a word, another group of maids, all tall and strong and wearing beards, came in. One was holding a threaded needle. “We are ordered to pierce your ears,” he said, as the other four “maids” grabbed Lin by the arms and legs. The white-bearded one seized Lin’s right ear, and after rubbing the lobe a little, drove the needle through it.

“Ooh!” Merchant Lin screamed. . . .

Having finished what they came to do, the maids retreated, and a black-bearded fellow came in with a bolt of white silk. Kneeling down before him, the fellow said, “I am ordered to bind Your Highness’s feet.”

Two other maids seized Lin’s feet as the black-bearded one sat down on a low stool, and began to rip the silk into ribbons. Seizing Lin’s right foot, he set it upon his knee, and sprinkled white alum powder between the toes and the grooves of the foot. He squeezed the toes tightly together, bent them down so that the whole foot was shaped like an arch, and took a length of white silk and bound it tightly around it twice. One of the others sewed the ribbon together in small stitches. Again the silk went around the foot, and again, it was sewn up.

Merchant Lin felt as though his feet were burning, and wave after wave of pain rose to his heart. When he could stand it no longer, he let out his voice and began to cry. . . .

Before two weeks were over, Lin’s feet had begun to assume a permanently arched form, and his toes begun to rot. Daily medical ablutions were given to them, and the pain persisted. . . .

In due course, his feet lost much of their original shape. Blood and flesh were squeezed into a pulp and then little remained of his feet but dry bones and skin, shrunk, indeed, to a dainty size. Responding to daily anointing, his hair became shiny and smooth, and his body, after repeated ablutions of perfumed water, began to look very attractive indeed. His eyebrows were plucked to resemble a new moon. With blood-red lipstick and powder adorning his face, and jade and pearl adorning his coiffure and ears, Merchant Lin assumed, at last, a not unappealing appearance.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS