【明報專訊】For thousands of years many middle- and upper-class Han Chinese girls had broken feet. Their toes were tucked（塞進） underneath the soles（腳底） of their feet and tightly bound inside doll-sized shoes. That's because small feet ("three-inch golden lotus") were considered a mark of beauty and a symbol of men's power over women. But the process was very painful and made feet smell like rotting flesh. Besides, the poor girls were unable to walk properly, never mind hop, skip, or play. They then had to spend their adult lives at home being waited on by servants. Can you believe that the tradition of foot binding didn't die out until the early twentieth century?