Timothy Richard
The earliest-known Western anti-foot binding society, , was formed in Amoy (Xiamen) in 1874 by 60-70 women in meeting presided over by a missionary named John MacGowan. The society asked members to promise not to bind their daughters' feet or let their sons marry a woman who bound their feet. In 1895, Christian women in Shanghai led by Alicia Little, formed the Natural Foot (, literally 'Heavenly Foot') Society. It was also championed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Movement founded in 1883 and advocated by missionaries including Timothy Richard, who thought that Christianity could promote equality between the sexes.