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In its most extreme form, footbinding was the act of wrapping a three- to five-year old girl's feet with binding so as to bend the toes under, break the bones and force the back of the foot together. Its purpose was to produce a tiny foot, the "golden lotus", which was three inches long and thought to be both lovely and alluring. It is believed that the origin of the term "golden lotus" emerged in the Southern Tang dynasty around 920 A.D.,where the emperor Li Yu ordered his favorite concubine, Fragrant Girl, to bind her feet with silk bands and dance on a golden lotus platform encrusted with pearls and gems. Thereafter, women inside and outside the court began taking up strips of cloth and binding their feet, thinking them beautiful and distinguished, dainty and elegant. It gradually became the prevailing style and "golden lotus" became a synonym for bound feet. Delia Davin, "The Custom of the Country", Times Literary Supplement, April 24, 1992: 28. This was the closest thing I could find, its pretty vague in every historical accout as to where the actual practice of footbinding started, often just stating that it started "in northern China".

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16y ago

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