Once a symbol of beauty and status, foot binding, also known as golden lotus feet, was carried out in ancient China, falling out of favor in the early 20th century before it was outlawed in 1911.

    Now photos of the last remaining women who underwent the painful foot binding are on display at Se Artspace in OCT-LOFT.

    Shenzhen photographer Qin Junxiao took photos over 18 years (1986-2004) of Chinese women who underwent foot binding in Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu and Yunnan. He had taken photos of 600 women and the oldest woman with bound feet in his collection was Liu Shaoyun (1897-2003) in Henan Province.

    The photos at the Shenzhen exhibition were taken in Qujing, Yunnan Province in 2004.

    Qin firstly published his foot-binding women photos on the People’s Photography newspaper in 1998 and exhibited his collections in 2002 at the Culture Palace of the Nationalities in Beijing.

    Foot binding was the ancient Chinese custom of applying painfully tight binding to the feet of young girls to prevent further growth. The practice became popular during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and eventually spread to all social classes. Foot binding became popular as a means of displaying status (women from wealthy families, who did not need their feet to work, could afford to have them bound) and was correspondingly adopted as a symbol of beauty in Chinese culture. Its prevalence and practice however varied in different parts of the country.

    In the later part of the 19th century, Chinese reformers challenged the practice but it was not until the early 20th century that foot binding began to die out as a result of anti foot-binding campaigns. Foot binding resulted in lifelong disabilities for most of its subjects.

    Dates: Until July 29

    Hours: 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.

    Venue: Se Artspace, A2, North Area, OCT-LOFT, Nanshan District (南山区华侨城创意文化园北区A2栋色界艺术空间)

    Metro: Luobao Line, Qiaocheng East Station (侨城东站), Exit A(Cao Zhen)