Introduced centuries ago, foot binding was considered to be a status symbol in ancient China.
Foot binding, also known as lotus feet, started off in China during the Song Dynasty. In the 12th century, foot binding had become much more widespread, and by the early Qing Dynasty (in the mid-17th century), every girl of high class who wished to marry had her feet bound. The appeal came from both the daintiness of small feet and the fact that those women who possessed them would have no need to do physical labor.
Women who didn’t bind their feet were from ethnic minority groups like the Hakka or Manchus, or women who worked in fishing and agriculture and needed to have normal feet in order to balance themselves.
Attitudes towards foot binding with were mixed ever since it became popular. The famous Confucian scholar Zhu Xi found it a warped and evil practice. The Kangxi Emperor tried to ban foot binding in 1664 but failed. In the latter part of the 19th century, Chinese reformers challenged it but it was not until the early 20th century that foot binding began to die out as a result of various campaigns.
Below is an eye-opening look at this perversion.
