Complex sentence: The practice however become increasingly common among the gentry families, later spreading to the general population, as commoners and theatre actors alike adopted footbinding, and by the Ming period, it was no longer the preserve of the gentry.
Split into simpler sentences: The practice however become increasingly common among the gentry families, later spreading to the general population, as commoners and theatre actors alike adopted footbinding. By the Ming period, the practice was no longer the preserve of the gentry.