| If you are familiar with Chinese nation enough, | | | | this process extended far beyond the feet |
| you could know Chinese Foot Binding which was | | | | themselves. Women with bound feet had difficulty |
| an old Chinese custom in which young girls' feet | | | | walking, squatting and working in the fields. A |
| were tightly bound to restrict and alter their | | | | 1997 study by researchers at the University of |
| growth. Foot binding is thought to have originated | | | | California at San Francisco found that women |
| in imperial China in the 10th or 11th century, | | | | ages 80 and older with bound feet were more |
| probably as a fashionable practice among wealthy | | | | likely to have fallen in the previous year and to |
| women. Although its first adherents used it as a | | | | need assistance in rising from a sitting position. |
| status symbol to indicate their high social rank, | | | | They also had lower bone density in the hip and |
| foot binding gradually spread throughout the | | | | spine than women with normal feet, increasing |
| culture. By the 12th century, even the poorest | | | | their risk of debilitating fractures. |
| families practiced it. | | | | After the Ban on Foot BindingEven after foot |
| How it Worked | | | | binding was banned by the Chinese government in |
| When a girl was about three years of age, most | | | | the early 20th century, the practice continued in |
| of her toes would be fractured and her feet | | | | secret for years, especially in rural areas where |
| bound tightly with linen strips to impede their | | | | enforcement was difficult. Foot binding is no longer |
| growth. The ideal was to create a 3-inch "lotus | | | | practiced today, but should we abandon this |
| foot" by limiting growth to just a few inches. The | | | | feudal custom forever? Absolutely ! Let alone the |
| binding forced a girl's toes down toward the soles | | | | misshapen feet hindered the women's ability to |
| of her feet to form a concave shape. | | | | work in the fields and made them less able to |
| The practice became so pervasive that a woman | | | | support their families. |
| whose feet had not been bound would have | | | | |
| difficulty finding a husband; most families | | | | Flawless Christmas make-up |
| demanded a woman with tiny feet when selecting | | | | Top 10 richest Kings or Queens in the world |
| a wife for their son. | | | | Copyright reserved by go4uggboots. |
| Effects on the BodyThe physical consequences of | | | | |