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The custom of foot binding was at first a sign of wealth, as the woman with a properly bound foot could do very little. This remained a custom of the royalty, nobility and very rich until the beginning of the 17th century. By the end of the 1600抯, millions of women from all classes were binding their feet in order to imitate the upper classes. Though the custom was outlawed in 1911, footbinding was not completely abandoned until the Communists。