Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Prime Minister Dou’s face darkened. “Minister Zheng, speak your mind plainly.”

The Minister lowered his gaze slightly and spoke slowly, “Your intentions are good, but you’ve overlooked human nature. If this were made an additional merit, might some local officials, in pursuit of achievement, forcibly bind women’s feet, let them fester, and then ‘unbind’ them for the sake of claiming credit?”

Prime Minister Dou’s face grew even more severe, and he remained silent.

He, of course, understood that any policy, no matter how well-intentioned, might be distorted or exploited after implementation. But this was an issue meant to be addressed during the smaller court meetings through discussion among ministers.

To put it bluntly, this was just a draft, a preliminary version. Every decree undergoes extensive deliberation before being finalized.

The Minister of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, however, belonged to a different faction. It had become routine for members of that faction to find faults in Prime Minister Dou’s proposals, openly and covertly criticizing him. This time, it was simply the Minister’s turn.

Still, the Minister dared to raise the issue because the concern was valid.

Implementing decrees wasn’t as simple as the court issuing an edict and local officials executing it with robotic precision.

Prime Minister Dou had no way to refute the criticism—he couldn’t exactly say, I planned to address this in the smaller court meetings.

While that reasoning was sound, saying it aloud would make him seem inattentive to the matter at hand.

Swallowing this bitter pill, Prime Minister Dou forced a smile and asked, “Does Minister Zheng have a better idea?”

The Minister of the Imperial Ancestral Temple pondered briefly and said, “First, we should send officials to disseminate the dangers of foot-binding through official notices, so the public won’t blindly pursue the practice. Then, we should stipulate that women with bound feet are prohibited from marriage or concubinage, and finally, allow local governments to inspect households…”

Before he could finish, an official from Prime Minister Dou’s faction stepped forward, countering sharply: “Minister Zheng, you’re making a similar mistake. Deception and coercion have always been common problems in local governance. If we permit household inspections, what if some officials use it to extort the people? Those who don’t offer bribes could be accused of binding their daughters’ feet. They and their families could then be publicly condemned as monsters who harm their own daughters.”

Minister Zheng: “…”

It felt like he had just been called a monster himself.

A third-party official stepped forward. “Your Majesty, this minister believes Prime Minister Dou’s proposal has merit, and Minister Zheng’s words are not without wisdom. However, both sides must proceed cautiously. Perhaps we should first publicize the harms of foot-binding and then discuss measures to prevent local officials from undermining the decree…”

Standing to the side, Xu Yanmiao was just shy of propping his chin on his hand.

After two years, he was used to this kind of debate. Every policy was argued over at length—sometimes solutions emerged from the disputes, and sometimes the matter had to be postponed.

Still, the idea of publicizing the harms of foot-binding…

[Sigh, too bad this suggestion can’t be implemented.]

[Otherwise, I’d really want to say that the best way to make people understand the harm is through real examples. But those girls have already suffered enough—it wouldn’t be right to exploit their pain further.]

[Why not bind Prince Fu’s feet and use him as an example to showcase the harm caused by foot-binding…]

[It’d be best to parade him in a bustling metropolis, somewhere that serves as a central hub or major thoroughfare.]

The emperor seated on the golden dais: “!”

Absolutely not! That’s too extreme. Although the Third Prince’s interest in foot-binding is somewhat reckless, it hasn’t caused any serious consequences. After all, he’s always been an obedient child…

[But what if I claim he’s trying to seize the throne…]

“Bang!”

Xu Yanmiao looked up in confusion.

He saw the emperor on the golden dais slam his hand on the armrest of the dragon throne. The sound was so thunderous that, exaggeratedly speaking, the very doors of the hall seemed to tremble, sending a fine layer of dust cascading down.

“I have an idea…”

Binding feet was out of the question, but Xu Yanmiao had inspired him.

—Since this vassal prince harbored improper ambitions, perhaps breaking both his legs would resolve the matter.

The emperor pondered coldly.

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Author’s Note:

To begin, first address the right foot, then the left. Start by freeing the big toe, locating the remaining four toes. Bend the sole downward at an angle, applying pressure until a cracking sound signals the breaking of bones. Untie the foot-binding cloth, wrap the four toes tightly, and rebind them. The cloth binds the toes while burning the sole; it then covers the instep. Grip the heel firmly and rewrap the toes with another layer of cloth. Pull the cloth across the instep and backward, forcibly curling the four toes under the sole. Essentially, it’s a process of pulling back and forth.

Next, the grandmother would use needle and thread to wind the cloth hundreds of times. The foot’s arch would then be folded downward, requiring constant walking to reinforce the process. During every subsequent cloth change, the “pus-filled flesh” would inevitably be torn away forcibly.

This was the traditional Northern rural method of foot-binding. Only by rotting the flesh and damaging the bones could the desired shape be forcibly achieved. The physical pain caused by foot-binding in ancient times was no less—and perhaps even more excruciating—than modern surgical procedures. Today’s surgeries benefit from anesthetics and medication to alleviate pain, whereas foot-binding involved brutally breaking and deforming bones and flesh without any relief, leading to infection, pus, and decay.

—Excerpt from “An Analysis of Foot-Binding Depictions in Ancient Chinese Literature”

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“Destroying the essence of life under the guise of beauty, taking what is harmful and claiming it to be beneficial, is the epitome of corruption and decadence. If the effort wasted on foot-binding were redirected toward education—dedicating ten years to teaching and literacy—how could the talents and intelligence of women possibly be inferior to those of men?”

—Excerpt from “Warnings for a Flourishing Era”

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