Hmm…in a question about foot-binding in China (gruesome thing), the term “lotus blossom” was used to refer to the
resulting crushed feet. I thought that “lotus blossom”
was a poetic reference to a vulva. Am I wrong? A flower
would be a appropriate metaphor, I think, with a bit of poetic license for the “petals”.
Nah, the lotus is an important symbol in buddhism.
Actually, they were referred to as “san cun jin lian” literally 3 cun sized gold lotus. A “cun” is defined in my dictionary as 1/30th of a meter.
So, the foot bound feet were not referred to as lotus blossom. AFAIK, lotus blossom is not a common expression for a woman’s hooha these days. James Clavel might have used this but in my exhaustive research I’ve never heard the term used in Taiwan, HK or China.
A Chinese pornographic classic called the Jin Ping Mei is often translated with the title Golden Lotus, but that is a literary translation rather than a literal one.
Chas.E is correct as well that the lotus is an important Buddhist symbol.