Lotus shoes

I was attending a meeting today about South East Asia. There was a display of some work a colleague had been doing in relation to fabric restoration. This is a pair of Lotus Shoes so called because they are meant to resemble a lotus bud. Foot binding became very popular and it's estimated that more than one billion Chinese women had their feet bound between the late 10th to the early 20th century. Incredible to think an adult foot fitted inside these!