Chinese Erotic Art by Michel Beurdeley

An excerpt from the book Chinese Erotic Art by Michel Beurdeley and others, a large collection of Chinese art, an excerpt on foot fetishism.

CHINESE EROTIC ART. By Michel Beurdeley, Kristofer Schipper, Chang Fu-Jui, and Jacques Pimpaneau. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1969.

About the book: A large and somewhat expensive collection of the art of love in China as described by Chinese authors, particularly those of the late ming Period. The luscious illustrations are from paintings of the great masters of the early 16th century, and also included are love poems, excerpts from erotic novels, Taoism and sexuality, foot fetishism, and more.

From the book: [On FOOT FETISHISM]--The term "Golden Lotus" was reserved for the smallest foot, 7.5 centimeters (3") at the most. If it was 10 centimeters (4") it could only be a "Silver Lotus." The "Iron Lotus" is scarcely worthy of mention.

More than any other thing Chinese women feared criticism made without their knowledge about their feet, should they not conform to established criteria. The greatest humiliation was if a young husband expressed disapproval on his wedding night. The young woman would never dare to show her face in public again. Insults such as "Demon with large feet," "Goose foot," and so on, would be poured on the head of the hapless girl. What man in his senses would marry such a girl: "Her figure is all right, but her huge feet are ridiculous. . . ."

The foot is a pretext for endless play between lovers. A small foot appearing below a skirt doubles a woman's charm and exalts her feminity. In bed, slipping out from under the blankets, it increases a man's ardor. What voluptuousness to be kicked by a woman in pretended anger, or to touch the foot surreptitiously and to rub it with one's palm! These are the delights of amorous lovers, to which the sexual scent brings an extra spice--"the scent of the odorous bed," as Fang Hsun notes.

To the initiate or aesthete the sight of a woman washing her feet is so charged with poetry that it is like the sudden blossoming of flowers in a garden. It is also very pleasant to watch her fastening on her shoes, cleaning them, trying them on, undoing the laces, or playing with a balloon with the tips of her foot under the flowering trees.

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