"The small head is narrowly dressed, and the green daisy has slender eyebrows. Outsiders should smile when they don't see each other, and Tianbao made up in the last years of his life. ”
It is Bai Juyi's description of foot binding in "Shangyang White-Haired Man". Although the rhetoric is simple, it is enough to see the "status" of foot binding in ancient China.
Nowadays, there is still a lot of controversy about the origin of foot binding, and we have no way of knowing the origin of foot binding, although there are endless theories, but there is no unified answer. It can be said that foot binding, as a cultural phenomenon unique to China, has a long history, but its origin time is still a mystery.
There have always been four theories about the origin of foot binding, which are in different eras, but there are clear records of foot binding.
First, the origin of foot binding
(1) Han Dynasty
According to the "General Record of Dan Lead", quoting the "Miscellaneous Secrets" Han Baolin Wu Yao said: "The female feet of liang shang, the marquis of Zhongshi, are eight inches long, have a fat and plump body, have flat toes, are about to force socks, and are slightly restrained."
It can be seen that during the Han Dynasty, there were already incidents of deliberate foot binding, but it was impossible to judge whether it was a personal will or a mandatory requirement.
(2) Six Dynasties
According to the "History of the South", the Marquis of Qidong chiseled gold for Pan Guifei as a lotus flower to stick to the ground, and ordered the concubine to walk on it, and it is known that this step gives birth to a lotus flower. The Six Dynasties Lefu Double-Line Winding said: "Silla embroidery is entangled, and the feet are like spring research; others do not say good, and I know pity alone!"
At the same time, there are many theories about the rise of foot binding in the Six Dynasties.
(3) Tang Dynasty
Regarding the records of foot binding, the literati and inkers of the Tang Dynasty record the most,
For example, Bai Juyi's "Shangyang Man" in the "small head shoes narrow clothes,...... Tempo's last years of makeup". And in "Group Talk Caiyu", there is a poem by Yong Yang Guifei Luo Socks: "The fairy Ling Bo will not return it, leaving the dust socks alone on the Mountain of Ma Song; the poor one has no three inches, and he has stepped on the Central Plains for thousands of miles."
What is certain is that foot binding already existed in the court of the Tang Dynasty.
(4) Five generations
According to Tao Zongyi's "Nancun Shu Farming Record", "The lord of the Later Tang Dynasty made a golden lotus, six feet high", because the Lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty Li Hou had a concubine named Miao Niang, who was small in stature and could sing and dance, so Ling Miao Niang wrapped her feet in a drapery, bent into the shape of a crescent moon, and danced in the lotus flowers wearing white socks, swirling and flying, like a cloud stepping on the fog.
At the same time, Zhang Bangji's "Mozhuang Manga" also said that the arch foot originated from the Southern Tang Dynasty Li Hou Lord, which was the beginning of foot binding, and when it appeared, it was effective, and it was better to be small. Since then, foot binding has really become popular.
It can be said that women's foot binding, as a folk custom, was recognized by feudal rulers and appreciated by literati and inkers. However, records of this are rarely seen in the official historical records of the past. Therefore, it is not easy to know the beginning time of ancient women's foot binding.
So far, there have been many accounts of the rise of foot binding, but they have not been conclusive. However, what is certain is that the popularization of women's foot binding began in the Song Dynasty and was the consensus of all sectors of society.
Since the Song Dynasty, foot binding has become increasingly popular, and the privilege of what was originally a court woman has become a change that women in the world have to accept. In the Ming Dynasty, there were also many requirements for the shape of foot binding, which meant that the matter of foot binding was moving towards progress. During the Qing Dynasty, all women had to wrap their feet and judge the beauty and ugliness of women by the shape and size of their feet, which even affected her lifelong events. It can also be said that during the Qing Dynasty, women's non-binding of their feet was a serious violation of Qing Dynasty laws, just like men did not wear braids.
However, no matter what dynasty foot binding appeared and when it arose, its influence on Chinese women continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Second, the nightmare of women in feudal society
As we all know, women in feudal society have to wrap their feet at a very young age, and when they wrap their feet, they need to endure the pain of broken soles of their feet, which will not disappear in a moment and a half, but will accompany women in feudal society for a lifetime. Even as adults, the pain of broken bones still surrounds them.
In fact, to put it bluntly, foot binding is to wrap the foot with cloth strips and ropes to forcibly inhibit the normal growth of the soles of the feet. There is a saying in feudal society that "three inches of golden lotus, four inches of silver lotus", that is, the more deeply poisoned by feudal society, the more favored she was at that time.
It is no exaggeration to say that the vast majority of feudal women were severely persecuted because of the existence of foot binding. The existence of this feudal bad habit has also made many feudal women become "disabled". For these foot-bound women, their lives will be affected by the "three-inch golden lotus".
What people had to accept was that almost all feudal women had to wrap their feet, and it was not until after the Xinhai Revolution that this feudal residue was completely abolished. But there are still many women who have suffered all their lives because of foot binding, even after the founding of New China, such women still exist, and Liu Niang is one of them.
Third, the last foot-binding woman in China
According to Liu Niang's recollection, she still vaguely remembers the tragic appearance when she wrapped her feet, saying that she had cried her throat at that time, but her family still wrapped a cloth around her. Liu Niang said that no matter how she cried, her family did not care, and forced her feet to wrap her feet and did not let her remove the cloth.
It can be said that after being entangled, Liu Niang had to bear the pain of broken bones every day. But in the eyes of Liu Niang's family at that time, this was a necessary skill for women. If Liu Niang does not have it, she will definitely lag behind other women. Therefore, Liu Niang's family will force Liu Niang to wrap her feet, in fact, the family's original idea was also for Liu Niang's good.
Sure enough, at the age of fifteen, Liu Niang relied on the "three-inch golden lotus" and beauty to marry into the Li family, a large family that was deeply bound by feudal ideas.
After Liu Niang married into the Li family, she lived a life that everyone envied. Since then, Liu Niang's life can be described as abundant food and clothing. I have to say that Liu Niang's married life is still relatively happy, but there are still some unknown heartaches behind Liu Niang's marriage.
It is said that Liu Niang was in excruciating pain every time she washed her feet, but her husband did not think so, but instead liked her pair of three-inch golden lotuses very much, and praised her small feet as "beautiful". At the same time, her husband also strictly ordered Liu Niang not to let her little feet be seen by outsiders. If not, it is unfaithful.
In fact, the practice of Liu Niang's husband is also a common phenomenon in feudal society. In feudal thought, a woman's feet could not be exposed to outsiders. If an unmarried woman is seen by a man, the man will marry her. If a married woman shows her feet to others, she is unfaithful to her husband and does not abide by the three virtues and the four virtues, and will be punished and dealt with by the husband's family, and the consequences can be said to be very serious.
Therefore, under the shackles of deep-rooted feudal ideas, Liu Niang's three-inch golden lotus was only seen by her husband. The seemingly loyal existence is actually a serious persecution of feudal women. Not only physically, but also ideologically bound and oppressed.
epilogue:
Liu Niang, as one of the many women in China's feudal society, her encounter is also the encounter of the vast majority of women, forced to wrap their feet when she was young, and after marriage, she not only had to bear the pain from broken bones, but also had to bear the shackles of feudal thought cage alone. It can be said that Liu Niang is the epitome of the tragic fate of feudal women, and it is also a portrayal of the life of feudal women.
In the era when Liu Niang was born, foot binding was a transformation that women had to accept, and in the era of Liu Niang's life, the bad habit of foot binding has gradually been banned, but Liu Niang herself is still affected by foot binding. It can be said that Liu Niang's life was shrouded in feudal thought, and she was poisoned by the residue of feudal thought. In fact, Liu Niang is also a bitter person in feudal society, and her whole life is shrouded in dark clouds.
In this way, we live in today's society of free thinking and personal freedom, which is also our luck. We do not have to be bound by feudal ideas, let alone be baptized by its sins. Compared with the people in feudal society, we are extremely lucky.
Therefore, we must cherish the good life now and arrange our lives reasonably. Especially when you lose hope in life, you must firmly believe that you can get through it. No matter what situation we are in, we are much luckier than the men and women in feudal society.
Reference: "China's Last "Little Foot" Woman"
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