Wednesday, April 18, 2012

End To Foot Binding In China

From the Blaze:
Believe it or not there are still some Chinese women alive who practiced the ancient, incredibly bizarre tradition of binding their feet to prevent them from growing.

The feet of girls as young as 5 would be broken and bound tightly with cotton strips, forcing their four smallest toes to gradually fold under the soles to create a so-called 3-inch golden lotus, once idealized as the epitome of beauty.

Chinese men were hot for tiny Chinese lady feet, for some reason.

But not any more. Today there are only about 30 women alive in China who did this when they were younger.

See also a more in depth article in the LA Times.

1 comment:

Alluria said...

The feet of girls as young as 5 would be broken and bound tightly with cotton strips, forcing their four smallest toes to gradually fold under the soles to create a so-called 3-inch golden lotus, once idealized as the epitome of beauty.