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The tiniest shoe in the collection at the Textile Research Centre (TRC) in Leiden, the Netherlands, measures just under 2.4 inches (6 centimeters). Even squeezing an adult thumb inside would be out of the question. These objects, known as lotus shoes, are direct witnesses of foot binding—a Chinese body modification practice called chanzu that endured for more than a thousand years.
READ ALSOShe wrote masterpieces 1500 years before Homer—why is Enheduanna erased?→Chanzu mainly concerned young Han girls, typically between the ages of 4 and 8. A mother would bind her daughter’s feet herself, wrapping them in long strips of gauze or cotton with the goal of halting their natural growth. In reality, the four smaller toes were folded under the sole, and the arch bones were deliberately broken to bring the front and back of the foot closer together. Enjoy your next pedicure appointment with that image in mind.
The intended result: a minuscule foot, ideally 2.7 to 3.9 inches (7 to 10 centimeters) long, nicknamed the “golden lotus foot.” The suffering was well documented. Chinese writer Yang Yang, whose own mother had bound feet, told…