Golden Lilies (Bound Feet) Symbol in Lady Tan's Circle of Women

What Are Golden Lilies?

In Lady Tan's Circle of Women, "golden lilies" refers to the ideal form of a woman's bound feet – small, arched, and pointed like a lotus bud. The practice involved breaking and bending the four smaller toes under the sole, then tightly wrapping the foot so the heel and toes nearly touch, creating a three-inch "lotus" shape. The novel presents this custom as both a marker of feminine beauty and a source of chronic pain, infection, and limited mobility.

Yunxian explains the process to her daughters: "the big toe remains in its natural position, while the four smaller toes have already been rolled under the foot" (chapter 11). The desired length is "the length of a mother's thumb." Miss Zhao reveals the hidden reality: "Our feet don't shrink or disappear. The bones are simply moved and manipulated to create the illusion of golden lilies" (chapter 2).

Recurrence and Evolution of the Symbol

The symbol appears throughout Yunxian's life, evolving from a source of maternal pride to a burden she must impose on her own children.

Childhood: Footbinding as Training

At age eight, Yunxian is recovering from her own binding when her mother Respectful Lady dies from a foot infection. This episode establishes bound feet as potentially lethal – "one out of ten girls dies during the two years it takes to complete the process" (chapter 11). Yunxian learns the rules: unbind every four days, wash, trim nails, sand down bones that might break the skin. Miss Zhao's own infection resulted in dead toes being broken off, giving her unusually small feet – "something your father appreciates" (chapter 2).

Early Marriage: Performing Grace

As a young wife, Yunxian notes she has "fully grown into the grace that bound feet bring to a woman" (chapter 11). Yet she also experiences the physical cost. After a secret house call dressed as a servant, she returns exhausted: "my feet are in more pain than when they were first bound" (chapter 11). She must hide her agony to avoid suspicion.

Motherhood: The Agony of Repetition

The most visceral depiction occurs when Yunxian binds her youngest daughter Ailan's feet. The scene mirrors her own childhood trauma. Yunxian reflects: "Who among us would wish to inflict agony on her child? ... sometimes I wonder if what we're really saying is that we'd rather have a son than do this" (chapter 11). She uses a numbing tonic, but Ailan still "whimpers" and "sobs" as her bones are manipulated. Yet Yunxian also speaks of pride: when Ailan's bone cracks on the pebble path, she says "Another bone has broken ... Every day you make progress" (chapter 11). This duality – love and cruelty intertwined – is the heart of the symbol.

Later Life: Acceptance and Ambivalence

By age thirty-one, Yunxian has accepted her role. She reflects that footbinding "teaches you to tolerate physical distress and trains you for the rigors of childbirth" (chapter 11). She gives Ailan a pair of beautifully embroidered shoes as consolation. The symbol never loses its pain, but it becomes part of the texture of women's lives.

Character Connections

Tan Yunxian

Yunxian's relationship with her own bound feet is complex. She takes pride in their beauty but despises the chore of maintaining them. As a healer, she uses her knowledge of footbinding medicine – special powders, tonics, binding techniques – to protect her daughters from the infections that killed her mother. She becomes the agent of the custom, perpetuating it even as she suffers from it.

Grandmother Ru

Grandmother Ru teaches Yunxian that "our golden lilies are both a gift and a peril. We must prize and care for them but also be watchful with every step we take" (chapter 6). She warns that a single fall can change a woman's future. Her lessons frame bound feet as a site of both vulnerability and social capital.

Miss Zhao

Miss Zhao's bound feet are exceptionally small because she survived a serious infection that broke off her dead toes. Her father appreciates this – a chilling reminder that male desire drives the practice. Miss Zhao also instructs Yunxian in proper foot care, passing down the knowledge of how to survive.

Meiling

Meiling, a midwife's daughter, has "big feet" (chapter 4). She was never bound, marking her as lower class but also as physically capable. She can run, skip, and kneel easily – actions Yunxian cannot perform. Their friendship crosses class boundaries forged by this bodily difference. Meiling's freedom contrasts with Yunxian's constraint.

Lady Kuo and the Concubines

Miss Chen, the former Thin Horse (a woman trained to have tiny feet for elite men), binds her daughters' feet exquisitely. Her own bound feet are her ticket to status as a concubine. Lady Kuo, as mother-in-law, enforces the cultural requirement for Yunxian to produce a son and maintain proper footbinding for her granddaughters.

Theme Connections

Female Friendship and Solidarity

The shared suffering of footbinding bonds women across generations. Yunxian's daughters help bind Ailan's feet, and Yuelan encourages her little sister: "Your feet will bloom like golden lilies" (chapter 11). The ritual becomes an act of female community, even as it perpetuates pain.

Women's Medicine and Healing

Yunxian's medical knowledge includes preventative foot care – herbal powders, tonics, and binding techniques that reduce infection risk. She uses "mulberry root, white balsam, tannin, and frankincense" to soak feet, and a powder of "clove, cinnamon, and flower petals" to scent the bindings (chapter 11). Her grandmother taught her to brew a tonic to "frighten away your pain" (chapter 11). Yet medicine cannot fully protect women from the custom's dangers.

Duty vs. Self-Fulfillment

Yunxian binds her daughters because it is her duty. She dreads the task but sees no alternative: "We say we want sons to continue the family line, but sometimes I wonder if what we're really saying is that we'd rather have a son than do this" (chapter 11). Her inner conflict between maternal love and cultural obligation is the central tension of the symbol.

Class and Gender Hierarchy

Bound feet denote elite status. Meiling's unbound feet mark her as low class, yet they allow her physical freedom. The practice reinforces a patriarchal system where women's bodies are shaped for male pleasure and control. The "Thin Horse" concubines represent the extreme commodification of bound feet as sexual objects.

Sacrifice and Resilience

Every woman who binds her feet sacrifices mobility and endures chronic pain. Yet they also find moments of agency – like Yunxian's secret house calls, walking despite agony. The symbol embodies resilience in the face of unavoidable suffering.

Study Questions

1. How does the footbinding scene with Ailan (chapter 11) illustrate Yunxian's conflicting emotions about the custom?
Answer: Yunxian feels "turmoil" about what she must do, calling it a "chore" she "despises." She even wonders if mothers would rather have sons than bind daughters' feet. Yet she also speaks of "pride" in her daughters' progress and thanks Yuelan and Chunlan for helping. This conflict shows her trapped between love for her daughters and the cultural mandate to make them marriageable.

2. Compare the attitudes toward bound feet held by Respectful Lady, Miss Zhao, and Grandmother Ru. How does each woman's experience shape her perspective?
Answer: Respectful Lady binds Yunxian herself, taking great care, but dies from a foot infection – showing the risks even with expertise. Miss Zhao survived infection that broke her toes, resulting in desirable tiny feet; she sees the custom as both dangerous and beneficial. Grandmother Ru teaches that golden lilies are both a "gift and a peril," emphasizing vigilance – reflecting her role as a healer who witnesses the consequences.

3. Why is Meiling's unbound status significant for her friendship with Yunxian?
Answer: Meiling's big feet allow her to run, skip, and kneel – actions Yunxian cannot do because of her bound feet. Their class difference (midwife's daughter vs. official's granddaughter) is embodied in this physical disparity. Yet they form a bond across that gap. Meiling's literal mobility symbolizes the freedom Yunxian lacks, while Yunxian's education and status offer Meiling opportunities like learning to read.

4. What does the scene where Ailan's bone cracks on the pebble path (chapter 11) reveal about Yunxian's role as a mother?
Answer: When Ailan's bone breaks, Yunxian says "Another bone has broken ... Every day you make progress" with pride. She interprets pain as progress toward the ideal foot shape. This reveals her internalization of the cultural value system, even as she herself suffers from the same condition. She becomes the conduit of tradition, inflicting pain while offering comfort and beautiful shoes – a mother's love expressed through the very custom that causes agony.