SOCIETY OP THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 45 



practised for the same reason that we do many absurd things, i.e., 

 because it is the fashion. The origin of this absurd custom is a little 

 uncertain. It is an old one, and some date it back to the favourite 

 wife of an emperor who bound her feet till they were the shape of the 

 new moon. Another theory is that it arose from the fact that the 

 favourite concubine of another emperor had club feet and that the 

 ladies of the court set themselves to imitate them. The true reason 

 according to Professor Giles, Professor of Chinese in Cambridge 

 University, is a sexual one. This view is pretty well borne out by 

 the well-known retort of the Chinese woman when a lady missionary 

 was remonstrating with her for being a victim of such a horrible 

 custom ; "me squeezy foot," she said, "you squeezy waist, both for 

 same reason, get husband ". 



