These silk, Chinese shoes are for women with bound feet, a process which began in early childhood. In China between the 10th and early 20th centuries, girls had their feet bound around the age of 6. This meant that their feet did not grow properly which often led to severe problems with walking due to the way that feet were deformed and bones were even broken. A wealthy person was thought not to need to be able to walk as they could afford a litter (portable chair) to carry them.

It was made illegal to have your foot bound in 1911 due to international pressure which saw the process as barbaric. Older women who had their feet bound, were humiliated at having to remove the bandages as they had grown up believing that it was unacceptable to have large and unbound feet.

When first looking at these shoes they can be deceptive as they look like ordinary shoes for children. In fact they are adults' shoes and it is not until you look at the size of these in centimetres and compare to a modern day, average-sized adult foot that you realise the effect that binding feet had. Rather than looking like a cute, highly decorated and attractive pair of shoes, what you begin to imagine is the unbearable pain that children went through as they began the process of having their feet bound. At the end of this process these women's feet were permanently deformed.