Editing Foot binding (section)

{{Short description|Former Chinese custom}}
{{Infobox Chinese 
|pic=A Chinese Golden Lily Foot, Lai Afong, c1870s.jpg
|picalt=An albumen silver print photograph of a young woman with bound feet; she sits on a chair facing left, her feet - one with a lotus shoe, the other bare - propped up on a stool.
|piccap =A Chinese woman showing her foot, image by [[Lai Afong]], {{circa|1870s}}
|picsize = 220px
|t=纏足
|s=缠足
|p=chánzú
|w=ch'an<sup>2</sup>-tsu<sup>2</sup>
|mi={{IPAc-cmn|ch|an|2|.|z|u|2}}
|j=cin4-zuk1
|y=chìhn-jūk
|ci={{IPAc-yue|c|in|4|.|z|uk|1}}
|altname=Alternative (Min) Chinese name
|t2= 裹腳
|s2= 裹脚
|poj2=
}}

'''Foot binding''' ({{Lang-zh|s=缠足|t=纏足|p=chánzú}}), or '''footbinding''', was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by foot binding were known as '''lotus feet''' and the shoes made for them were known as [[lotus shoe]]s. In late imperial China, bound feet were considered a [[status symbol]] and a mark of feminine beauty. However, foot binding was a painful practice that limited the mobility of women and resulted in lifelong disabilities. 

The prevalence and practice of foot binding varied over time and by region and social class.{{sfn|Shepherd|2018}} The practice may have originated among court dancers during the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]] in 10th-century China and gradually became popular among the elite during the [[Song dynasty]], later spreading to lower social classes by the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912). [[Manchu]] emperors attempted to ban the practice in the 17th century but failed.<ref name="bbc"/> In some areas, foot binding raised marriage prospects. It has been estimated that by the 19th&nbsp;century 40–50% of all Chinese women may have had bound feet, rising to almost 100% among upper-class [[Han Chinese]] women.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lim |first=Louisa |title=Footbinding: From Status Symbol to Subjugation  |url=https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/2007-03-19/footbinding-from-status-symbol-to-subjugation |work=NPR News |date=19 March 2007}}</ref> Frontier ethnic groups such as [[Uyghurs|Turkestanis]], [[Manchus]], [[Mongols]], and [[Tibetans]] generally did not practice footbinding.<ref>{{cite book |last=高 |first=洪兴 |title=缠足史 |date=1995 |publisher=上海文艺出版社 |page=30 |isbn=7-5321-1265-9}}</ref><ref name="manchu">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_qtgoTIAiKUC&pg=PA247|last=Elliott|first=Mark C.|title=The Manchu Way: the Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China|year=2001|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, California|isbn=978-0-8047-3606-0|pages=246–249}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Levy |first=Howard |date=1966 |title=Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom by Howard S. Levy |publisher=Bell Publishing Company, New York |page=53 }}</ref>

While [[Christian missionaries]] and Chinese reformers challenged the practice in the late 19th&nbsp;century, it was not until the early 20th&nbsp;century that the practice began to die out, following the efforts of anti-foot binding campaigns. Additionally, upper-class and urban women dropped the practice sooner than poorer rural women.{{sfn|Hershatter|2018|p=68}} By 2007, only a handful of elderly Chinese women whose feet had been bound were still alive.<ref name="lim">{{cite web |last=Lim |first=Louisa |title=Painful Memories for China's Footbinding Survivors |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607070627/https://www.npr.org/2007/03/19/8966942/painful-memories-for-chinas-footbinding-survivors |archive-date=7 June 2022 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8966942 |work=Morning Edition |publisher=National Public Radio |date=19 March 2007}}</ref>