Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/67

Rh Those feet which have been bound from childhood have an ideal length of three inches, but many are much larger. This involves enormous suffering to the child, but small feet are a source of pride to all who possess them, and large feet a source of shame.

A foot that is long and narrow is much disliked and is called huang kua 黃瓜 chüeh, cucumber foot. The reasons assigned for the continuation of this custom are as follows:

(1) It the custom and that is enough for most people.

(2) It is nice looking. These small feet are also called the hsiang kou 香鉤 or incense hook with which to hook the affections of the men; and the men generally desire that the feet should be so.

(3) It is impossible to find a husband unless the girl's feet are bound.

(4) It keeps the women from bad company and from remaining away from home.

In Ssŭch'uan some women make a speciality of both footbinding and hair dressing, others make a speciality of one only.

When the Ch'ing dynasty conquered the Chinese Empire the shaving of the head was made compulsory, the barber being sent forth with an official warrant to seize and shave all the refractory and rebellious; and the barber bears to this day the name of tai chao 待詔 or carry-passport man. Till quite recently the itinerant barber's stand consisted in a low stool for sitting on, and a high stool on which the hands could be rested: on the other side was a small boiler for heating water, and above was a short mast on which there were two iron hooks, from one of which a sword used to be suspended while on the other the head of the rebellious was hung after execution. From the top of this mast the flag used to be displayed.

Popular opinion has it that there were certain exceptions to the rule of head shaving; these were as follows: 男從女不從 Nan ts‘ung nü pu ts‘ung; the men had to conform but the women did not need to do so. Thus we have the Chinese