Foot binding; although notionally banned after the fall of the Qing Empiore in in 1911; continued in some remote areas for quite a few years under the Chinese Republic (1911-1949).

Not so in Shanghai; always the arbitor of modern tastes and fashion.

As a consequqnce; by the mid-1930s; Shanghai's Zhejiang Road; Fujian Road and Nanjing Road had over one hundred shoe stores between them; with highly skilled shoemakers copying western styles; the most popular among these being high heels and open toe leather shoes.

A Shanghainese woman; dressed in qipao and walking in high heels; became the iconic look of the age; and these two kinds of footwear continued to be changed and innovated upon; becoming staples of the Shanghai fashion world. Pictures From History