WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Foot binding, or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change their shape and size. Feet altered by footbinding were known as lotus feet, and the shoes made for these feet were known as lotus shoes.

Detailed explanation-2: -Footbinding was viewed as a rite of passage for young girls and was believed to be preparation for puberty, menstruation, and childbirth. It symbolized a girl’s willingness to obey, just as it limited the mobility and power of females, kept women subordinate to men, and increased the differences between the sexes.

Detailed explanation-3: -Women with bound feet were more likely to fall, less able to squat, and less able to stand up from a chair without assistance than women with normal feet. They also had 14.3% less functional reach (a test of balance) and 5.1% lower hip bone density.

Detailed explanation-4: -The procedure entailed bending the girls’ toes underneath the sole, using very long ribbons to wrap their feet all the way to the ankle. Basically, the idea was to keep breaking the foot whenever it grew too large, a process that usually took between two and three years.

Detailed explanation-5: -In fact, this tiny footwear is an example of lotus shoes, worn by women whose feet were bound. Tiny feet in China were a symbol of beauty; today, they are synonymous with pain and deformity.

Detailed explanation-6: -From the start, foot-binding was imbued with erotic overtones. Gradually, other court ladies-with money, time and a void to fill-took up foot-binding, making it a status symbol among the elite. A small foot in China, no different from a tiny waist in Victorian England, represented the height of female refinement.