I saw some of these tiny shoes at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. Incredible that girls were subjected to that torture.

That theme pic is freaking me out, man.

Well, Victorian women bound themselves up in corsets so tight that they would faint - hence the invention of the "swooning couch" (really!). Some women even suffered broken ribs! There was an episode of CSI where a man wore one - reminiscent of a practice in civil war times.

Even here in this country some very strange ritual practices are performed.

I'm not from back-in-the-day China, so I really can't speak for the people then, but how is that attractive??! It looks like she has horrible tumors coming out of the top of her feet! Ew!!!

Your avatar is freaking ME out. You look just like Shaun of the Dead.

I guess it's all about the size. The Chinese men must have all had a foot (shoe) fetish - except for the top of the foot.

I read somewhere that it was meant to make men more protective of them and they ideally should 'sway like a willow in the wind' when they walked. If a woman had feet more than 4 inches long she wouldn't be able to get a husband.

It's my zombie Friday avatar.(watch your head)

I have a neat book, "Splendid Slippers" which discusses the feet and shoes. The shoes are VERY collectible, and quite pretty. An amazing relic of pre-commie China.

That's what the foot looks like after this s**t, too. It's sad really. People get all up in arms and empathetic for the muslim women, but you don't hear much about how bad the Chinese women had it.

Women, you can't live with them, you can't....

Finish that sentence.

...You can't legally bind there feet anymore