Beauty feet

Once mocked as the 'girl who plays with stinky feet', Lu Qin has upgraded the Chinese pedicure industry into part of the intangible heritage of 'Yangzhou's Three Knives'. China Daily reports.

Just like Chinese acupuncture and traditional massage, pedicure has a long history in China, originating back in 3,000 BC.

These are not pedicures purely to beautify the toe nails. Using special knives, pedicurists help cure people's foot ailments, which are hard to get treatment for in hospitals. However, being a pedicurist was not a desirable job in the past, at least not for Lu Qin when she first learned her trade as a female pedicurist back in the 1980s.