Foot Binding
Foot binding is where the toes of young girls were broken and strapped the the ball of the foot. The purpose of this was to obtain the goal of tiny feet, preferably three inches long. This process could take up to two years and was extremely painful. These tiny feet were considered beautiful in China. It started to become a popular trend in the Song Dynasty, amongst the noble women. Soon the trend spread to the lower classes as well. It was a way for lower class girls to marry up into wealthier families. It was also more difficult for common girls to bind their feet because they had to labour intensive work with bound feet. Many of there young girls did not want to bind their feet, but they pressured into it by their mothers and society's expectancies. There were several attempts to band foot binding, but the practice continued in secret. It was officially outlawed until 1912.

	Created by lperozek about 11 years ago

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