I watched Jo's presentation - and delightful it was too. However I am a little surprised that she was able to do this - maybe I have been misinformed. One of my Sons-in-Law is Chinese and his Grandmother had bound feet - she was 99 when I first and last met her at their red letter party. I made overtures to him that I would just lurve to see her feet but was told to back off - big time. she would have been dreadfully embarrassed and hurt, I was told. she died soon after. The impression I gained was that it was as about as personal as a circumcision - and not to be shared by anyone apart from one's partner. But good on Jo.
Former Chinese custom of binding the feet of young girls
Foot binding (simplified Chinese: 缠足; traditional Chinese: 纏足; pinyin: chánzú), or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by footbinding were known as lotus feet and the shoes made for them were known as lotus shoes. In late imperial China, bound feet were considered a status symbol and a mark of feminine beauty. However, footbinding was a painful practice that limited the mobility of women and resulted in lifelong disabilities.
The prevalence and practice of footbinding varied over time and by region and social class.[1] The practice may have originated among court dancers during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th-century China and gradually became popular among the elite during the Song dynasty. Footbinding eventually spread to lower social classes by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Manchu emperors attempted to ban the practice in the 17th century but failed.[2] In some areas, footbinding raised marriage prospects. It has been estimated that by the 19th century 40–50% of all Chinese women may have had bound feet, rising to almost 100% in upper-class Han Chinese women.[3]
In the late 19th century, Christian missionaries and Chinese reformers challenged the practice but it was not until the early 20th century that the practice began to die out, following the efforts of anti-footbinding campaigns. Additionally, upper-class and urban women dropped the practice of footbinding sooner than poorer rural women.[4] By 2007, only a small handful of elderly Chinese women whose feet had been bound were still alive.
^Shepherd, John R. (2018). Footbinding as Fashion. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN9780295744407.
^Cite error: The named reference bbc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
About two weeks ago I saw a movie which addressed this issue (Foot Binding)... The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958 20th Century Fox film based on the true story of Gladys Aylward... which stared Ingrid Bergman as Aylward). However, Gladys Aylward was apparently upset by the inaccuracy of the movie... which you can now watch in full on YouTube...