Chinese Foot Binding

In China men never considered women beautiful unless their feet were bound which resulted in many more women resorting to having their feet bound. Which also showed social order, that men were in charge as the women could barley walk.

Having bound feet meant squishing the toes together, ruining the arch of their foot.

Having your feet bound also meant that women had to depend on others to complete task for them showing a sign of wealth.

Peasant women who could not afford to have their feet bound never had hope of marrying well.

• A long bandage was wrapped around the feet and toes, tightened everyday.
• The girl would progressively move into smaller shoes, until she reached the desired shoe size of 3-4 inches.
• Foot binding lasted through the T'ang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Ming period and Ching Dynasty. ( Approximately 1000 years)
• Approximately a billion women had their feet bound during this time.

An interesting video pointing out the main points of Chinese foot binding.