The origin of lily feet is not very certain. It is often said that it appeared during the Five Dynasties (907–960). According to legend, a king asked a lady-in-waiting named Ruiniang to bind her feet and dance on a golden lotus flower, so it was called three-cun lily feet. After that, the custom of foot-binding emerged. But this custom ceased after the founding of New China, and shoes for lily feet entered the museums. There is another story about lily feet. The king of the Sui Dynasty (581–618) was immoral. When he traveled along the river, he did not want to use men to tow his boat, so he chose 100 beautiful women. A blacksmith’s daughter, Wu Yueniang, was one of them. She bound her feet and hid a small sword inside. She wore very beautiful small shoes with lotus flowers which attracted the king’s attention. When the king came closer to look, Wu Yueniang drew out the sword and stabbed the king’s arm. Wu Yueniang failed to kill the king; then she jumped into the river and killed herself. From then on, women began binding their feet to memorialize Wu Yueniang. (Source: Chinese Shoe Culture Museum)
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Tags: boots, fashion, japan, shoes
June 20th, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Horrible…I’ve heard of this before and find it pretty disgusting. I can’t believe these women mutilate their feet to fit into these shoes.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:21 PM
wow, you a pretty ill informed. the binding of feet in china is pretty much a form of domestic abuse, the womens feet are bound as it was thought to be more attractive. e.g. the smaller the feet the better the woman.
July 30th, 2009 at 8:45 PM
I dont care if they think that, I find this disgusting!!, unaceptable!
July 30th, 2009 at 9:02 PM
Wow I have a size 9 1/2 to 10 foot. When I was a kid I used to ask my mom if we could bind them cause I have always had big feet. After seeing this MY BIG MONSTER FEET ARE SMEXY!! lol
July 30th, 2009 at 9:03 PM
I’m not sure what PasserBy is so well-informed about, since Chris clearly said they’d heard of it before, as has everyone else. If you’ve not been locked away in a cave for 20 yrs then this is not news. Thx for the history lesson, idiot. It’s not esoteric. What possible contribution did you think you could make on the internet verse the power of Google? Choke already.
July 30th, 2009 at 9:33 PM
Mike: they didn’t have a choice. They were forced, as young girls (from age 4 or 6), to do it. Often by female family members.
August 13th, 2009 at 4:36 AM
I’ve read about this before. Andy is right as young girls from the age of 3 were forced to binding their feet by their mothers. This wouldn’t be the first time women went to great length for fashion, though.. At least nobody died in the process.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:48 AM
I think they were forced by the society in the past.
If one day people think “fat” is more beautiful people will eat as much as they can.
March 7th, 2012 at 1:18 AM
I can’t imagine how painful this must have been. The pix. you show are hard to look at.
May 17th, 2012 at 3:26 PM
jen,it’s not about fashion,i’s about customs with results that men appreciate;probably a man wouldn’t marry a girl without money or with big feet;women were taught and tamed to do this;in the same way are the muslim women;they can’t see past their living conditions…they haven’t seen better.they have been raised like that