Why was the painful practice of foot binding tolerated for thousands of years?

Answer 1

Two reasons- the first was fashion, rather like some women in African tribes massively lengthen their necks with lots of necklaces from an early age, or have very large earlobes due to having worn heavy earrings from early childhood. Foot-binding was regarded as a desirable trait in a woman and seen as sexually attractive, although the unbound foot more closely resembled a hoof than anything else.

The other, and probably main, reason, was to restrict women's movements. It was a way of keeping women confined by making it difficult for them to walk, meaning that they could not participate in society as men did, and were thus unable to rise to any prominent position in society or to attend any centres of education, preventing them from becoming professionals in any area.

The practice was finally made illegal in the early 20th Century under the Kuomintang, established by Sun Yat-Sen- this was effectively a democratic Parliament and he can be seen as China's first really autonomous Prime Minister.

Answer 2

because it was the inly way for a woman to marry

Answer 3

because the Chinese empress of the shang dynasty had small feet and people wanted to follow her so they bound womens feet to make them small