Find a pair of woman’s shoes at the Peasant Painting Village. The shoes belong to an artist, the old woman in this photo was her grandma in Shanxi province with the 3-inch feet. She will be 110 years old, if still alive.

Before 1911, for approximately one thousand years, some Chinese girls’ feet were bound with long strips of cloth to keep them from growing and the toes were broken and bent towards the soles of the feet. The ultimate goal was to achieve the “golden lotus”, a 3-inch long feet, arched and pointy resembling the lotus buds. Few women achieved this ideal. It was the standard of feminine beauty, eroticism, social status and a passport to marrying into wealth.

Gabby on the tour is feeling how small it is by holding it…

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