Introduction to Literary Chinese - Lesson 8, Text 1
Adapted from the 1927 book by J. Brandt
纏足之害
Evil of Foot-binding
人有四肢。缺之則廢。
Man has four limbs. Those who are deficient in this respect are cripples.
傷之則病。廢病之人世之所憫也。
If the limbs are hurt, (the man) gets sick. Crippled and sick men inspire general compassion.
故有戕人之肢體者。衆必斥之。法必刑之。惡其不仁耳。
Therefore those who hurt the limbs of men must be blamed by everybody and punished by the law for (lit. loathing) their cruelty.
父母愛子。無所不至。万以纏足之虐。施於女子。便之終身病廢。
Parents love their children without limit, yet they inflict upon (their) daughters the cruelty of foot-binding, and make them sick and crippled for life.
豈不愛其女哉。亦狃於世俗之故耳。
Do they not love their daughters? It is because they stick to the old custom.
衛生之道。運動爲上。纏足則艱於行步矣。
(According to) the principles of hygiene, motion is a most important thing. (But) if the feet are bound up, walking is difficult.
治家之道勤勞爲貴。纏足則憚於操作矣。
In house-keeping the activity (of the house-wife) is the most precious (quality). (But a woman whose) feet are bound up dislikes to be active.
其爲害之大。非難知也。乃世之有女者。猶忍爲之。世之取妻者。猶以必求之。
This is a great evil, and it is not difficult to see (lit. to know) it. And yet parents (lit. those who have daughters) permit (lit. bear) it to be done (to their daughters), and the men who marry insist upon it.
雖身體日弱。家事日廢。曾不恤。亦可謂至愚也已。
Even though the health (lit. body) (of the wife) gets weak from day to day, and the house affairs go from bad to worse, still (the husband) has not a bit of compassion. This can be called an extreme stupidity.