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Lily feet refers to women's boundfeet. The origin of lily feet is not very certain. It is often saidthat it appeared during the Five Dynasties (907–960). According tolegend, a king asked a lady-in-waiting named Ruiniang to bind her feetand dance on a golden lotus flower, so it was called three-inch lilyfeet. After that, the custom of foot-binding emerged. But this customceased after the founding of New China, and shoes for lily feet enteredthe museums. There is another story about lily feet. The king of theSui Dynasty (581–618) was immoral. When he traveled along the river, hedid not want to use men to tow his boat, so he chose 100 beautifulwomen. A blacksmith’s daughter, Wu Yueniang, was one of them. She boundher feet and hid a small sword inside. She wore very beautiful smallshoes with lotus flowers which attracted the king's attention. When theking came closer to look, Wu Yueniang drew out the sword and stabbedthe king's arm. Wu Yueniang failed to kill the king; then she jumpedinto the river and killed herself. From then on, women began bindingtheir feet to memorialize Wu Yueniang.
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Flowerpot-sole shoes in the QingDynasty. Women from the Manchu ethnic group liked to wear long dressesbut found it inconvenient to walk. Thus, they added a special kind ofthick sole under their shoes. The sole looked like flowerpots, so theywere called flowerpot-sole shoes. According to legend, they made arhythmic sound that would drive bad animals away. Another reason forwearing the flowerpot-sole shoes was that they supposedly made womenslimmer and more coquettish.
