Over 105 years after the feudal tradition of foot binding was banned, a few elderly ladies living in the remote mountain village in southeast China’s Guizhou Province haven carried it out. /VCG Photo
Records show that the earliest practice of foot binding appeared in the late 11th century. It spread from the court to the elite class, and finally became popular among commoners. /VCG Photo
Girls had to have their feet bound at a young age, as early as age four to six. The process was extremely painful, involving bending toes underneath the sole and using long piece of cloth to wrap the feet to prevent normal growth. /VCG Photo
In the past, an ideal length of a bounded foot was around 10 centimeters. Families and husbands used to take great pride in tiny feet, so most girls had to endure the pain and lived with deformed feet, unable to travel far on foot. /VCG Photo
After 1912, the practice was seen by Chinese intellectuals as a symbol of backwardness and eventually banned. The elderly in Guizhou Province is the last group to witness the fading tradition. /VCG Photo
