In the tenth century in China, a prince began the practice of foot binding because he loved the small ‘lily feet’ of his concubine.  Thus traditional Chinese values for over 1000 years dictated that the feet of young girls should be bound to keep them small.  ‘Lily feet’, as they were called, were thought to be very dainty and beautiful and a symbol of gentility and high-class.  Although the term sounded harmless, it was really very cruel.  It began when a girl was between three and eleven years old.  First her foot was washed in hot water and massaged.  Then the child’s toes were turned under and pressed against the bottom of her foot.  The arches were broken as the foot was pulled straight with the leg, and a long narrow cotton bandage would be tightly wound around the foot from the toes to the ankle to hold the toes in place.

 

After two or three years, a girl’s feet actually shrank -- until they could fit into shoes just three inches long.  This resulted in feet that were very deformed and unbearably painful to walk on.  Sometimes the toes even fell off, because blood could no longer reach them.  Besides identifying women of gentility or high-class, it prevented women from “wandering,” since the women with bound feet were unable to walk unassisted, and even going a short distance was very painful.  These women had to walk with very short mincing steps and could stand only with great difficulty.

 

Tiny 3-inch-long shoes, called ‘lotus shoes’, were made of silk and were beautifully embroidered.  In the upper classes in China, a good marriage would be impossible to arrange if the girl had “big ugly feet.” The practice of foot binding continued in China for over 1000 years until the Manchu Dynasty was toppled in 1911 and the new republic was formed.  Foot binding was then outlawed.