XIAOJIE, China, July 18 (Reuters Life!) - Zhang Huaixian was only three years old when her mother broke her toes and bound them beneath the soles of her feet, turning her into one of thousands of Chinese women once crippled in the name of beauty. Foot binding, which aims to make a woman's feet look tiny and therefore desirable, was practiced in China for centuries before it was banned in 1912 at the fall of the last imperial dynasty. But some women continued the practice in secret, particularly in remote areas like Xiaojie, a small town in the southwestern province...
