 It was also a commentary on how humans control each other, as a boss controls an employee and a parent or school controls a child.As Michael Young points out, the wires and pulleys on Shen's plants are “implements of torture and the props on which the organism depends to survive.”

Shen was inspired to create these bonsai while looking for books about Chinese foot binding.During his research, he happened upon a manual detailing the process of bonsai-making and recognised its similarities to foot binding