There are many suggestions for the origin of footbinding. One story relates that during the Shang dynasty, the concubine Daji, who was said to have clubfoot, asked the Emperor to make footbinding mandatory for all girls in court so that her own feet would be the standard of beauty and elegance. Another story tells of a favorite courtesan of Emperor Xiao Baojuan, Pan Yu'er, who had delicate feet, dancing barefeet over a floor decorated with golden lotus flower design. The emperor expressed admiration and said that "lotus springs from her every step!"
a reference to the Buddhist legend of Padmavati under whose feet lotus springs forth. This story may have given rise to the terms "golden lotus" or "lotus feet" used to describe bound feet, there is however no evidence that Pan Yu'er ever bound her feet. The general consensus is that the practice is likely to have originated from the time of Emperor Li Yu (Southern Tang of the Ten Kingdoms, just before the Song dynasty). Emperor Li Yu created a six-foot tall golden lotus decorated with precious stones and pearls, and asked his concubine Yao Niang (zh) to bind her feet in white silk into the shape of the crescent moon, and performed a dance ballet-like on the points of her feet on the lotus. Yao Niang's dance was so graceful that others sought to imitate her. The binding of feet was then replicated by other upper-class women and the practice spread.