China’s Sex Museum and Its History of Lotus Feet

Museum of the Month is a series where I share my experiences of visiting unique and often strange museums from around the world. My aim is to rebuff the notion that museums are boring. Join me on my quest!

Sometimes the world’s most extraordinary things are found in the world’s most unlikely places.

Who expected the remains of King Richard III to be found under a car park in Leicester? I’m sure a few of you would also be surprised to find a cat sanctuary located on the burial ground where Julius Caesar was murdered.

This list of unlikely places brings me onto the topic of this post: visiting a sex museum in China.

A sex museum in China, really?

Who among you would expect to find an ancient sex museum in China, a place where the talk of sex is still largely taboo?

Before arriving in China, I had a list of things I wanted to see and do, and visiting a sex museum was never on the table. I would never have guessed in a million years that such a place even existed in China. But it’s true. I saw, I went, and I bought the proverbial T-shirt. This place is real.

If you’ve ever found yourself in a sex museum in Europe (I’m looking at you Amsterdam), you’ll soon discover that this one is different. Where the ones I’ve ventured into in Europe would be aptly described as being rather trashy, this one in China by comparison holds quite a lot of educational and artistic value.

It might seem odd to say, but you could even describe it as surprisingly quaint and somewhat wholesome. There’s also just enough sauce ‘n’ spice for visitors to feel like they’ve got away with stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.  

Entering the museum

Whoever curated this exhibition, got the memo that first impressions matter. As soon as I entered the doors and into the main courtyard, the first exhibit made my jaw literally drop to the ground.

The unofficial museum mascot greeted us with a welcome that was one to remember. He was standing loud, proud, and, erm… fully erect.

Nice to meet you too.

Toby and Lily pose with the beast.

The museum is spilt up into several rooms covering different themes: from sex and evolution to sex in literature, and from sex in art to the sexual oppression of women.

There are a wide range of sexual relics, many of them hundreds of years old. Objects range from chastity belts to sexual devices and erotic themed sculptures to tiles and paintings. 

My favourite was the sculpture garden for its surprisingly picturesque setting which contrasted against the very graphic sculptures…!

It appears that China had quite a ‘colourful’ attitude towards sex, with many of the old sculptures and exhibits providing evidence.

Lotus feet

One of the more interesting cabinets documented the cultural practise of foot-binding, also known as lotus feet. This bizarre and painful tradition is said to go back as far as the 10^th century. It involved the binding of women’s feet in a bid to prevent them from growing bigger. Back then, smaller feet were considered more beautiful, with the ideal foot length being three inches.

In reality, lotus feet were extremely deformed feet. The practise involved crushing the toes and repositioning them underneath the ball of the foot. And because toes are not naturally meant to be underneath the balls of the feet, they had to be bounded tightly together to keep everything in place.

It must have been absolute, perpetual agony.

Brief history of lotus feet

How did this even become desirable? There are a couple of thoeries. It was said that an Emporer became infatuated by the small feet of a ballet dancer after seeing her perform. As a result, smaller feet became a highly prized beauty standard.

Another theory is that Daji, a concubine of King Zhou, was said to have a clubfoot and not wanting to feel out of place, she asked the King to make footbinding mandatory for all girls. Through doing this, she hoped that her own feet would become a beauty ideal.

Women in upper class societies began binding their feet as a symbol of status. The practice worked its way down the lower classes and had horrific consequences. At least the women in upper societies did not need to work and could therefore rest their feet, but the women with bound feet who had to work endured excruciating pain and lifelong disabilities.

It was not until the 20^th century, after repeated campaigns responding to women’s rights and health, did this tradition die out. However, as this short interview shows, the tradition still persisted in some areas after the 1911 ban.

Parting thoughts

The purpose of this museum is much less about cheap thrills, than it is about educating. I learnt loads about the history of sex and sexuality in China and was astounded at how attitudes evolved changed over the years. 

For centuries China seemed to have a liberate attitude towards sex but that changed when Mao came into power and sexuality was strongly discouraged. Under Mao’s regime sex was viewed solely for reproduction

Men and women wore androgynous military style clothing, and premarital sex could be punishable with sentences in concentration camps. However, if one seed of goodness came out of that period it was the banning of foot binding.

It’s only been in the last 20 years or so that the lid has begin to peel off China’s oppressive views on sexuality, but the important thing is that changes are happening.

Please note: I visited the Sex Museum when it was located in Tong Li near Suzhou, as of April 2014 it has relocated to the Hainan Province.