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Title: An ancient status symbol in China Written by: bio_man on Apr 15, 2017 (https://biology-forums.com/gallery/27/660366_14_04_17_2_38_18_278242230.png) (https://biology-forums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=27825) Started in Imperial China in the 10th or 11th century, upper-class court dancers would wrap their feet to make them permanently smaller. Although this made it difficult for a woman to walk, small feet indicated that a woman’s husband did not need his wife’s labor. To make the feet even smaller, sometimes the baby’s feet were broken and wrapped tightly. Some baby’s toes were cut off! Footbinding was banned by the Chinese government in 1911, but continued to be practiced in some places for several decades, as shown in the picture above. |