[On3S1CFuK.]

I Just Wanna Snap It N2!

[BlahBertBloohHug]

Thats very very interesting

[Human52093]

What... How... Why... So many questions.

Is that even possible?

[SnappyTurtle]

Walking must hurt.

[therezamackenzie]

Oh my gosh I'm suprised at how many people out there dont know about foot binding! LOL

[Edoelric]

on another site ive seen xray pictures of these feet. they start binding the feet when the children are very young... and once it's reached that stage you cant just stop....

[Fatality]

this is far beyond insane

[becca320]

Why would you want to do that to your feet

[dEAD mICHAEL]

I think they should still do it. Kinda cute.

[IC10021]

Originally Posted by myleperfriend ↗

Quite right. The practice of foot-binding is an ancient Chinese status symbol. The practice is derived from a particular province known for their beautiful dancers with tiny feet (i forget which province). The practice is in reality extremely painful for the women who undergo it (as it involves manually breaking the arch of the foot) and even more painful to try and reverse later in life. When the practice was banned and women were forced to undo their bindings permanently, many died from the severe pain (or more likely committed suicide). It always amazes me to see what humans are willing to do in the name of beauty (or in this case, status).

... This I find sadly fascinating and disturbing as an expression of a culture's acceptance of an artful means to oppress and cripple its vulnerable population of girls and women. Yet, our own culture's unhealthy engagment with (sometimes dangerous) impractical women's high-heeled shoes (as a standard of high beauty) presents a similar distorted concept of women's health and beauty.
--> It is hard to imagine that the practice crippled several generations of chinese girls and women over hundreds of years when a rumor spread among the masses that the emperor (during the reign of Li Yu, who ruled over one region of China between 961-975) admired the small feet of a particular dancer and concubine, Yao Niang. (See below for source.) Chinese learning that wanted their daughters to display the same feature of having "small, dainty feet" so they too would be more attractive and so too could attract a better mate. As the barbaric practice took hold in the minds of the people and evolved over several hundred years, "foot binding" developed into an extreme discipline among generally all "good families" raising girls. Small feet on a girl was a mark of good breeding and cultured upbringing. For centuries, entire populations of very young girls, from age 6, endured the daily bone-breaking torture of having their feet washed and tightly bound. Binding was generally begun by mothers and in time it was was taken over by the girls themselves. Girls were not to complain of the pain. The practice cripples the feet when the growing foot bones are forced to maladapt, bend and fold underneath the foot into the space of the arch where they eventually fuse into position. This folding under of the foot produces the misimpression that the foot remains the size of a 6-year old child. Girls and women with bound feet are not able to walk properly nor run. They balance precariously atop their balled up crushed bones.
--> Since the practice of foot-binding was outlawed in China in 1912, there are very few women still alive with this condition. It is true that when the practice was banned, many girls did not want to comply, but continued binding their feet, some from painful necessity and some out of vanity. In some parts of the back country, it was possible for the practice to continue for another generation. As a result, we today can know these few very old women as the last living examples of the brutal practice. These women wash and wrap their broken, misshapen feet daily. Many treasure their delicate, intricately-crafted silk shoes made specially for their tiny feet. The women require regular attention from foot doctors specially trained to treat this condition. However, these women still regard their small feet with pride, since they regard small feet as a mark of beauty and high breeding.

--ic

NPR documentary here for more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=8966942
FROM Louisa Lim:
"... historical records from the Song dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) date footbinding as beginning during the reign of Li Yu, who ruled over one region of China between 961-975. It is said his heart was captured by a concubine, Yao Niang, a talented dancer who bound her feet to suggest the shape of a new moon and performed a "lotus dance."

During subsequent dynasties, footbinding became more popular and spread from court circles to the wealthy. Eventually, it moved from the cities to the countryside, where young girls realized that binding their feet could be their passport to social mobility and increased wealth. ..." FROM Louisa Lim published at NPR.