Digital History Scrapbook #6 - China

Trevor Jones 

1/12/15

Per. 7 

Links:

Footbinding:  http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-peculiar-history-of-foot-binding-in-china/279718/  

Plastic Surgery: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_surgery

Public Appeal Enhancement Throughout History

In our day to day lives, people all around us use methods to enhance their sex appeal, due to sheer lack of confidence. We've seen it in the form of plastic surgery related methods, and others such as footbinding, which was used mostly by upper class chinese women. This personal  need for self-improvement was first seen in the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt around 3000-2500 BC. This was the earliest form of 'plastic surgery' seen in the history of mankind, which dealt with the reconstruction of body parts. Treatment for the plastic repair of a broken nose are first mentioned in the Edwin Smith Papyrus, a transcription of an Ancient Egyptian medical text, the oldest known surgical treatise. This started the idea of plastic surgery which was used in multiple civilizations and evolved into what it is today. Today, men and women use plastic surgery to reconstruct or enhance almost any part of the body in order to improve their outward appearance. People mostly do this because they feel that society is judgmental and does not approve of their appearance. Similar to this was a Chinese practice done originally by upper class women, to show a sign of elegance and eventually was the 'norm' for any middle class chinese woman. This practice started in the 10th century and by the 12th century, all middle class girls by the age of four and six who wished to marry would have their feet bound. This process entailed bending the girls' toes underneath the sole, using very long ribbons to wrap their feet all the way to the ankle, and would continue breaking the girls foot until it stopped growing and remained this way for the rest of the girls life. In the 19th century towards the end of the Qing dynasty, this practice dies out and the women with bound feet suddenly found it harder to find a mate. These two practices have many similarities, but the outcome of each is somewhat different.   

 http://www.plasticsurgeryinfocanada.com/plastic-surgery-toronto/

These practices have the same general idea and that is to make your physical appearance more attractive. However, plastic surgery is more of a category, rather than a practice like footbinding, which includes reconstructive surgery, cosmetic surgery, psychological disorders and many more. Plastic surgery has been around a lot longer than footbinding, most likely because the level of pain is much less than that of footbinding, and it is much more useful. Footbinding is a practice used by ONLY upper to middle class chinese women that was a symbol to show elegance and wealth. Plastic surgery is useful for men and women of all ethnic races (who can afford it) and targets multiple different body parts, rather than just feet. However, these two practices require a somewhat skilled doctor who knows what they are doing. Obviously the more evolved these two practices became, the more doctors knew about them, so naturally, more training was needed and pain levels lessened. Drugs were used for anesthesia in the 19th and 20th century which made the practices much more comfortable and gave people a greater desire to partake in them. At around this time, footbinding started to die out but the practice of plastic surgery boomed, especially in the facial area thanks to anesthetics, and continues to evolve with no sign of slowing. 

http://www.lisasee.com/images/footbinding/footbinding.htm

All in all, footbinding and plastic surgery are similar in many ways, but both with different uses and outcomes. Plastic surgery has been around since 3000 BC (in a form) with the same general idea today, and includes multiple different uses. Footbinding was used for similar purposes, but was not around for nearly as long as plastic surgery. Both practices were equally popular at their individual heights (plastic surgery's being today) and both served the same purpose to society. In a society where the community is judgmental and people are equally as self-conscious, these practices evolve and thrive to fit people's needs and expectations.