On High Heels and Lotus Feet

Girls and women with bound feet not only walked on those feet, they labored alongside their families in shops, on farms, and in fields, their wrapped, bent, broken-and-healed lotus feet tucked into tiny slippers, walking shoes, and even work boots. As important as these miniature, triangular feet were for Imperial Han Chinese women, just as important were what having those feet did to the body and how it moved, which an added heel or wedge further exaggerated. Often, how a woman walks in high heels has less to do with the height of the heel itself and more to do with how well the shoe is attached to her foot, and how much pain she is in.

Source: granta.com