Dear Steemit friends:

A few days ago, I paid visit to a rural folk village. It was famed for it's beautifully embroidered shoes. They are truly a work of art, and yet, I noticed that aside from their strange shape, they were all really small.. Is there some reason behind this? Since it's Halloween week, i'll tell you more the gruesome stories behind these shoes..

Embroidered shoes are otherwise known as simply "Chinese Shoes" and is the embodiment of China's traditional art of embroidery. The patterns on the shoes are usually colourful as well as very delicate, each having a unique feel. I even considered buying one for myself but they're just so small, even for my petite size! As a comparison, I use my finger to show how small they are; some are only the length of my forefinger.

Everybody must know the story of Cinderella. Her glass slipper was delicate and small, fitting only for the person it was made for whilst others with feet too large or fat will not fit in the shoe. Chinese embroidered shoes are just like the glass slipper, beautiful when worn, but size is everything, unsuitable feet will make wearing the shoe uncomfortable and probably painful.

Do you remember my post where I mentioned European Women's corsets? (you can find it HERE) Women who wore corsets were considered beautiful because of their tiny waists, and yet it often came at the cost of body deformation. The continued bandaging of the waist to make it more narrow often resulted in the bending of ribs, and in extreme cases the ribs could puncture other internal organs such as the liver resulting in death. Beauty has its price!

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Embroidered shoes are a nightmare for ancient chinese women.

A thousand years ago, foot-binding became a popular custom for Chinese women. Girls as young as 6 years old would have their toenails removed, and their bones bent down leaving the thumb in place. This disfigurement was set in place by bandages which eventually set the bones in a new form. This process was extremely painful and stops the foot from growing any bigger. I can't imagine the terrific pain the girl experiences.

This custom was designed to keep the foot between 10cm and 15cm in length. The foot is made sharp to fit into the pointy embroidered shoes. This deformation caused a lot of women to lose their walking ability, most woman had to rely on their heels to walk. This caused women to twist their hips as they walked which was considered sexy.

So is foot-binding really considered a thing of beauty?

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The consequences behind a beautiful foot.

The distorted attitude of men

Women desired this deformity because in the eyes of men, the foot was the most private part of their body and the form was considered sexually attractive. They called the 10cm foot the "Three-inch golden lotus". For men, this "quality" was considered a treasure and those who possessed this golden size foot would be the most attractive. Those without food-bindings would likely not marry.

The constraint of freedoom

Foot-binding is a display of a woman's character and honour. At the time, society had prejudices against women and foot-binding was the way to differentiate the level between men and women. Not only does foot-binding take away their mobility, it also takes away their freedom. Women were limited to staying at home. Whilst this was considered feminine and attractive, it greatly hindered the productivity of the nation.

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Foot-binding awakened me

Historically, people used the size of the woman's foot to "measure" a woman's personality. In this chauvinistic society, women were oppressed and belittled for much of history. When people talk about the equality of men and women, it is actually referring to the fight for woman's equal rights and stature in society.

The age of foot-binding has now passed, but in today's society, we still witness many instances breaching the freedom and equality of women. For instance, the right to govern their own bodies. Forced operations like breast enlargement, genital mutilation to mention a few.

In the workplace, some companies continue to put pressure on married women to avoid having babies. Having one hurts their chances of getting a promotion.

According to an employment study of university students, one out of every five women who graduate are refused by companies for their gender alone.

Families with limited financial resources will be biased towards their sons and send them to university but not their daughters. This has resulted in many women becoming vulnerable in society. In the South of China, many girls rely on marriage to make them financially secure or even wealthy.
(Sources:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12)

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亲爱的Steemit朋友们， 前几天我去参观了民俗村，在那里看到了美丽的绣花鞋。看看图上的鞋子，绣着各种颜色鲜艳的花朵，充满了中国的民族风俗。我用手比划一下，鞋子还没有我的手指长。还记得我曾经在文章（文章在这里）中提到欧洲女人束腰文化，一种美丽的痛---用绑带绑紧腰部，不幸的女子会因为肋骨过度受压，插破肝脏而死亡。

绣花鞋是古代女人的噩梦在大约一千年之前，缠足这种习俗在中国女性中流行开来。在女孩6岁或更早前，将她们的脚指甲拨去，然后将脚骨骼打碎，为了重新塑型。除拇指外，其余四指下屈，用布条缠紧，用针线缝住，阻止脚自然长大。我不敢想象是何等的痛苦。

美丽背后的黑影:男人们扭曲的心态女孩们渴望这畸形的美丽，男人们把小脚当作女人最隐私和激发性欲的部位，10cm的脚被称作三寸金莲，会被男人当作宝贝，而不缠足的女人是嫁不出去的。对自由的束缚缠足展现了女性特性和尊严，整个社会对女性的偏见，用缠足来强化男女有别的传统规则。缠足夺去女性自由活动的权利。

缠足的历史惊醒了我古代的人拿脚的形状衡量女性的人格，带着对女性的贬低。在男权社会中，女子受压迫和摧残有很长一段历史。我们在追求男女平等，其实就是在争取女性的权利。
缠足的时代已经过去，而当今社会，人们对于女性的忽视，似乎缠住了女性应有的权利。在我们身边，还是有很多女性丧失支配自己身体的权利，去隆胸，削骨这些危害生命的手术。职场上，很多公司拒绝已婚的女性，因为生孩子会给公司带来麻烦，影响个人升职的机会。
希望你们喜欢我的故事，虽然不是万圣节的鬼故事，但是却是现实中的噩梦，谢谢你们阅读一个女生的感概，如果你们有任何想法想与我分享，非常欢迎！

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Thanks for reading, I hope you like my story! Even though it's not a ghost story, it was very much a horrible reality in history. Feel free to comment on what your thoughts are around this subject!

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