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Foot binding

In nineteenth-century China, when wives and daughters were foot-bound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote Hunan county developed their own secret code for communication: nu shu ("women's writing"). Some girls were paired with laotongs, "old sames," in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.

 

This photo reminds me of Lily and Snow flower in the Novel "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See

 

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Uploaded on August 6, 2008
Taken on August 3, 2008