Manchu Platforms

When the Manchu took control of China in 1636, they made an unsuccessful attempt to outlaw footbinding which had been practiced in China by the majority Han people since the late Tang Dynasty. Manchu women did not have their feet bound and instead wore shoes with high platforms possibly inspired by Italian chopines which enabled them to emulate the desirable ‘lotus gait’ of women with bound feet. The Suzhou embroidery on this pair of Manchu stilt-shoes suggests that they were associated with marriage. The exquisitely rendered phoenixes are traditional symbols of the Empress and women wore this royal symbol on their wedding day. The mandarin ducks swimming among the lotus blossoms symbolize fidelity and fertility.