Ancient Chinese practice of foot binding

Also at the museum, perhaps in an effort to continue to cover issues not often included in other Chinese museums, there is a museum dedicated to explaning foot-binding. I will leave it to you to explore the details of this practice. Briefly, at a young age, many Chinese women, esp. those expected to be raised as a "lady" and to make them more attractive to a suitor, would have their feet bound. Their smaller toes would be broken (usually when about 4 years old) and be folded in and wrapped. The goal was to make the foot no longer than 4 inches or so. Mr. Yen turned over interpretation here to Wentao Song, our program director. The floor  was interestingly made uneven so it was awkward to walk - to try to simulate what it would be like to try to walk with bound feet. Here are some photos from the exhibit. At top, an ancient statue of a woman with bound feet; then a photo of what is exactly done to the foot and a description; then several sets of shoes worn by women and girls with bound feet.