Chapter 201: The Boss is Magnanimous! (2 / 2)
Supporting foot binding? What a joke! Before the scandal with Prince Fu came to light, they didn’t even know what foot binding was!
Besides, the practice was so cruel and harmful! How could they possibly like it? Their aesthetic tastes were perfectly normal!
At this point, whether they truly disliked it or secretly liked it but dared not admit it, the entire city united to defend its reputation.
Over a hundred wealthy households publicly declared their stance: They would absolutely never bind their daughters’ feet, and their sons would neither marry nor take concubines with bound feet. If anyone broke this pact, they would pay a fine, with the money distributed to impoverished women.
Countless Yangzhou scholars also sprang into action, organizing literary gatherings where they composed poems, songs, and essays. Their core message was either to condemn the ideology of foot binding or to scorn the practice itself. As for those like Prince Fu who coerced women into binding their feet, they became the targets of relentless criticism, resulting in timeless works that ensured Prince Fu’s infamy for generations.
Because of this movement, for the next thousand years, Yangzhou firmly rejected foot binding. In fact, the city came to revere women with large feet, associating big feet with good fortune and blessings.
As the second-largest city after the capital and the cultural hub of Jiangsu, Yangzhou’s reaction had an immeasurable impact on scholars and intellectuals across the nation.
The Donglin School was the first to respond. They harshly condemned foot binding on moral grounds, using skillful rhetoric to elevate the argument: “To bind one person is to harm one family; to bind one family is to harm one city; to bind one city is to harm the entire nation. It defies human reason and spreads harm for a thousand years.”
The Changzhou School, not to be outdone, approached the issue from a practical perspective, arguing: “Bound feet make women weak and frail, prone to illness. It pollutes the body above and corrupts the offspring below. A mother without bound feet produces strong descendants, while a mother with bound feet weakens her lineage. A nation filled with frail citizens will have weak officials and incompetent soldiers, tempting neighboring countries to invade. Therefore, foot binding is the cause of national ruin!”