San cun jin lian - lotus shoes for bound feet

Ma Shujun, a citizen of Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia, is displaying her collection of a 'sancunjinlian' shoe made in the Qing Dyansty, January 14, 2010. She keeps three such shoes in her house with the shortest one measuring 9.9cm and the longest one less than 13cm, and the vamps are made of either silk or common cloth.

San cun jin lian, literally three-inch golden lotus, refers to the extremely small bound feet of ancient Chinese women. The shoes worn by women with bounded feet were called "golden lotus" shoes, because the overall shape of the shoes was like a lotus petal. Extremely small shoes were called "three-inch golden lotus shoes".

The three Qing-Dynasty 'sancun jinlian' shoes kept in the house of Ma Shujun in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia.