The practice of foot binding entered traditional Chinese culture around the 12th and 13th centuries (Feng 236), a period in which the emerging conservative movement and the creation of a new class system society seriously lowered the status of women. The restructuring of the social class system was driven by new and greater prosperity and created a new and higher standard of living enjoyed by the new upper class of scholars and farmers. The higher standard of living of the once lower classes of stature, and the emergence of a greater emphasis on women's chastity, have left women with only one clear option, and that is to use the only thing that could be within their control them and their families, that is, their bodies. The footbinding movement and ultimately the anti-footbinding movement were vehicles for a female voice and participation in the social and political changes of the time. The foot-binding motion was not a fashion statement nor was it a callously inhumane act for Chinese women; the process of foot binding was a process that was seen as part of one's culture and that needed to be carried forward. It was through this understanding of the need for continuation of tradition that women discovered footwork as a way to gain power and social mobility. Throughout the book, The Three-Inch Golden Lotus, The main character, Fragrant Lotus, demonstrates the slow understanding of how to use bound feet and how bound feet in general have allowed greater power for women since the 12th century. Furthermore, Fragrant Lotus developed an understanding of how footbinding allowed for the historical maintenance of Chinese societies, relying solely on culture and customs to dictate the path of society as a whole... middle of paper... family structure of table also when a new wife enters her husband's family. Overall, the psychological process behind foot binding was the process that was cemented in fulfillment of tradition. That psychological process and mentality that have guided Chinese society and traditions can be summed up by the belief that the key to beauty is pain, beauty brings virtue, virtue leads to stability which leads to a stable family which creates a stable nation . Works Cited Beckingham, Carolyn. Is fashion a women's right? Brighton [England: Sussex Academic, 2005.Feng, Jicai. The three-inch golden lotus. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999. Finnane, Antonia. Changing clothes in China: fashion, history, nation. New York: Columbia UP, 2008. Greenhalgh, Susan. Bound Feet, Limping Lives: Women in Ancient China. Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies 2.1 (1977): 7-21.