The Tian Zu Hui (Natural Foot Society), was a Chinese organization against foot binding, founded in 1895. It was the first secular mass organization against foot binding in China.
It was founded by ten women of different nationalities under the leadership of Alicia Little in Shanghai in 1895. There had been many anti-foot binding societies since the foundation of the Heavenly Foot Society in 1874, but with the exception of the Chinese Foot Emancipation Society, they mainly functioned within Christian missionary societies, focused on Christian converts, and were not successful. The Natural Foot Society was strictly secular, and welcomed members of all religions and nationalities.
The Natural Foot Society campaigned by way of lecture tours, information, pamphlets and name lists. They focused on the non-Christian Chinese upper class elite and engaged Chinese upper-class women, which was a new method. In contrast to previous societies which had condemned foot binding in connection to religion, it spoke of the health issues connected to foot binding. It wrote a petition to the Regent Dowager Empress Cixi, said to be signed by all Western women in Asia. Cixi did introduce a ban on foot binding in 1902, but it could not be enforced.
The Natural Foot Society achieved considerable success. It was an umbrella organization which founded and included local branches, and became a significant national organization. Gradually more and more Chinese women joined the movement, and in 1907, the originally Western leadership transformed the leadership of the Natural Foot Society to Chinese women and acknowledge this to be a success of their campaign. Through the campaign of the movement, the foot binding custom diminished in many of the provinces in which the society campaigned, a success noted by the society. They continued with the campaign until the custom was finally banned in 1911-1912
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Foot binding, or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by footbinding were known as lotus feet and the shoes made for them were known as lotus shoes. In late imperial China, bound feet were considered a status symbol and a mark of feminine beauty. However, footbinding was a painful practice that limited the mobility of women and resulted in lifelong disabilities.
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The Foot Emancipation Society, or Anti-footbinding Society, was a civil organization which opposed foot binding in late Qing dynasty China. It was affected by the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898, and this organization advanced the feminist movement in China.
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Alicia Little or Mrs Archibald Little was a British writer and a campaigner for women's rights and later against foot binding in China.
Ailie May Spencer Gale (1878–1958) was an American physician. She served as a medical missionary in China under commission from the Methodist Episcopal Board of Missions from 1908 to 1950 alongside her husband Rev. Francis Gale, a religious missionary. Committed to a lifetime of unpaid social activism, Gale's work emphasized an approach to patient care that focused on preventative care and public health, humane treatment, and consideration for the whole patient, entailing concern for physical, spiritual, and intellectual needs. She also had evangelical motives and sought to promote the status of Chinese women.
The National Christian Council of China (NCC) was a Protestant organization in China. Its members were both Chinese Protestant churches and foreign missionary societies and its purpose was to promote cooperation among these churches and societies. The NCC was formed in 1922 in the aftermath of the Edinburgh Missionary Conference.
Heavenly Foot Society, was a Chinese organization against foot binding, founded in 1874. It was the first organization against foot binding in China.