Skip Over These Foot-Binding Cloth Rhetorics

Xuefeng

November 26, 2022

Chanyuan Celestials (Lifechanyuan members) should be the clearest-minded individuals in the world, living with the greatest clarity, peace, and steadfastness.

Through firsthand experience in the Second Home lifestyle, we have gained clear insight into which theories and social activities are right and which are wrong—even to the point of being harmful or criminal.

We understand that marriage and family life are not only a disaster for society but also the primary sources of personal distress and suffering. Without marriage and family, people would live more freely, and society would become more blessed and harmonious. Therefore, all the grand rhetoric about how to maintain a harmonious family or achieve marital happiness is nothing more than “foot-binding rhetoric.”

What is “foot-binding rhetoric”? It is the advocacy and glorification of outdated, oppressive traditions—like foot-binding itself. Foot-binding involved tightly wrapping women’s feet with cloth to prevent them from growing, causing extreme deformities in their toes and feet. This cruel and perverse custom is said to have originated when the Southern Tang Emperor Li Yu ordered one of his concubines to bind her feet. The practice then spread, and young girls as young as five or six began binding their feet to keep them small. The wrappings remained in place for a lifetime, giving rise to the saying: “An old lady’s foot-binding cloth—long and stinking.”

Today, if someone were to praise or defend foot-binding, it would be a blatant endorsement of the physical and psychological suffering inflicted on women—a deeply inhumane act. Likewise, throughout history and across cultures, countless men and women have suffered under the institution of marriage and family. Marriage and family are akin to the foot-binding cloth of feudal Chinese society. Defending and glorifying them is no different from endorsing foot-binding—and is arguably even worse, because while foot-binding harmed only women, marriage and family harm not just women but also men and children.

Here are some modern-day examples of “foot-binding rhetoric”:

Any theories or advice on how to amass wealth. Any encouragement to pursue "success" in the conventional sense. Any teachings that glorify the state or promote national sovereignty and interests. Any guidance on how to manipulate relationships for personal gain. All articles, films, and rallying cries that glorify war are foot-binding propaganda. Any glorification of violence in any form. Any preaching that urges people to compete for superiority over others. Any praise for luxury goods, jewelry, extravagant cars, mansions, or lavish lifestyles. Any rhetoric that fuels vanity and inflates desires.

With the rise of the internet, especially the explosion of social media, we are bombarded daily by an overwhelming flood of information. If we are not vigilant, we may easily be swept into the whirlpool of the era by the endless waves of “foot-binding rhetoric.” Therefore, whenever we come across such rhetoric, propaganda, enticements, or advocacy, do not engage—just skip over them.