Bound By Tradition (A summary about an article I read.)

            I’m sure we all are somewhat knowing of how the Chinese used to think the tinier your feet are the more beautiful you were. This is going to tell you a little bit more about that. The shoes that squish these ladies feet are called ‘Lotus Shoes’ It has been practiced in parts of China for thousands of years, it is called foot binding. However, the process of producing lotus feet was gruesome, problematic, and often led to lifelong problems. The full history on how this all got started was not documented properly, but the earliest known records we have of the practice date back to the ‘Southern Tang dynasty’ around 937 AD. The girls would typically have their feet put into this process when they were older than 2 and younger than 5. This trend becomes popular amongst high-class Chinese families. The binders broke several bones in order to make this shrinkage possible and hear many screams during their career. Once the feet reached their target petiteness of 7.5 centimeters (about 3 inches), the unsightly bindings were adorned with embroidered silk slippers. Once these ladies had their lotus feet they were highly sought after from many rich and well respected Chinese men.