Since a court concubine wrapped her feet and ankles for an illusion of length, and danced on a platform inside a sculpted lotus blossom, Chinese women have followed custom of binding their feet to get 3-inch golden lilies feet for more than 1000 years.

　　Sixteen year old Yuxiang sobbed herself to sleep under the covers. Her feet hurt terribly and tomorrow she was to deliver her new shoes. It didn't matter how prettily embroidered she had stitched them, or how bright the silk the colour of the blooming crimson peonies, or the soft cotton lining them, they would never ease the pain. How she envied Meixing who escaped the ritual, just because she was born 2 years later, and mother rejected it. Not only that, tomorrow's shoes were part of her dowry, for in the summer, a reluctant Yuxiang was to be married. Her shoes would represent the final approval from her future mother in law. Yuxiang was accepted and had passed inspection by the in-laws eighteen months earlier on their visit to Peking: not enamoured of anyone else, unlearned, and bearing an ethereal gait as she walked. Like her peers, she was proud of her most precious of possessions - her three inch golden Lilies.? Since she was five, a lengthy piece of cloth committed her forever to wearing tiny shoes. Perfectly shaped to resemble an unopened lotus bud, Yuxiang's feet were bound.

　　Her betrothed was two years younger, the same age as her sister, chosen as an infant by the families. Following tradition, it was her wifely duty to help finish raising the boy. The son of a distant relative's wealthy neighbour in the imperial retreat town of Chengde, he was schooled to expect a girl of comely beauty, gently sloping shoulders, oval face, rosy cheeks, lustrous skin and long, sleek black hair, wovensintosa braid. The bride and groom had never met.Though uneducated, an enlightened Yuxiang listened and remembered everything, for, in the hutongsswheresshe lived, people talked and gossiped incessantly. She believed that men would rather have a spouse who could walk and contribute to the household rather than have a human chattel of apparent vulnerability who needed protecting. She felt that if men saw the rotting, stinking flesh always hidden from them, then they're no longer view the small footsteps and swaying pace as something erotic. Her only relief was loosening the binding at night, after treating and bathing them in hot water. Her mother had been strong, she knew, by not yielding to her pleas to stop, for they both were convinced that a good future depended on them. at least,?she sighed, I don't have to be a concubine. Nothing could be worse than a houseful of catty mistresses, who were there first, dominated by First Wife, and called upon unashamedly for pleasure at whim.?

　　A loud pair of cats screeched in the night, awakening the bride. She sat up and rubbed her legs, removed the binding completely and gently massaged her toes. Sometimes, she wished she could just cut them off. Maybe if her husband, Xuejin, was soft hearted and she was really nice to him, then she could convince him to give her walking freedom from the chamber confines of embroidery, calligraphy, painting and music. Yes,?she decided, Now that the emperor has gone, and so many things are changing in Peking, I will wait a few weeks and then offer to escort Xuejin everywhere. I'll make him proud of me.?

　　Yuxiang and Meixing were on the cusp of change at the dawn of the 20th century, as anti-footbinding societies called for an end to the deforming practice, and indeed, national politicians, including Sun Yat Sen, were calling for an abolishment in view of the embarssment the country faced on the international scene.

　　For over 1,000 years, ever since a court concubine wrapped her feet and ankles for an illusion of length, and danced on a platform inside a sculpted lotus blossom, Chinese women of all walks of life had followed the custom of footbinding. From the palace, it spread downsintoslesser chambers and geographically outwards to court wannabes.

　　Why did ladies see fit to put themselves through the agony of the first binding, for a full lifetime of care and pain, and bequeath the habit to following generations for so many centuries? Over time, the Western consensus was that men wished to dominate and subjugate their women to satisfy their sexual needs. That seems like a simple explanation for a more complex activity. Following the mothers?attention during the first two years of binding, the filial/maternal relationship was bonded tightly, as was the welcomingsintosthe female sorority of sharing a common discomfort. Unaware of the psychological condition we now know as詐eer pressure,?females just did it, knowing that if they didn't, the feeling of inferiority and ridicule would be worse. Girls who lacked facial pulchritude could take matterssintostheir own hands by diligently wrapping and moulding to create their own beauty. A good foot could guarantee status, even power, in a hierarchial household or community. It was possible to improve one's livelihood if a successful marriage could be arranged. At a physical level, women knew that more pleasurable lovemaking and enhanced sexual orgasms resulted from walking on bound feet. The internal temperament of personality, and the outward talents of creative handiwork were symbolically demonstrated in the shoes that covered the wearer's foot.

　　During the later years of the Qing Dynasty, when the Manchurian emperor endeavored to bring it to an end, a national patriotism grew that actually increased the fervor of the practice - especially since male partners had adopted the Manchu pigtail. Thus, in a society derived from Confucian principlesswheresskills in the arts were recognized, worth was measured in size and creativity of small shoes, household duties were firmly divided, and motherhood was a well-respected pastime, footbinding thrived.

　　An enduring tradition, footbinding was full of ironies. Out of a single act of agony, edged with violence, came a promise of future livelihood. Out of deformity came beauty. Daytime pain and discomfort aroused nighttime pleasure. Weakened feet strengthened womankind. Erotic women weakened men. In the most delicious irony of all, it was Mao Zedong who finally brought the practice to an end. By likening his feudalistic country to old women with bound feet,?in his blueprint for revolution, he struck a chord with the few remaining women in remote areas who had continued to promote the customsintosthe 1940s. As the new millennium came and went, bound footed women, who in the past might have proudly worn bright-coloured shoes decorated with symbols, hid their feet in embarrassment in black strapped MaryJanes that refrained from making a fashion statement of any kind. As each elderly woman passed away, a tradition of mystery and fortitude died with them.