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On Women's Day in 1927, a group of women gathered on the streets of Wuhan with their heads held high and banners in their hands, and a contingent of more than 200,000 people issued a wave of heaven-shaking shouts:
"Free women, refuse to tie their breasts!"
"The chest binding is extremely inhumane, a poisonous snake wrapped around the body of a fellow woman!"
"We want freedom and equality!"
Countless people gathered around the street, talking about the women demonstrating in the crowd.
Seeing that everyone's emotions were getting higher and higher, more than a dozen women suddenly ripped off their clothes and calmly marched into the middle of the team, and the onlookers were in an uproar.
"This, this, is simply against customs."
"Go back, go back quickly, such filthy things, you can't see it."
The words pointed at by everyone shot at the naked woman like sharp swords.
These radical behaviors, which are seen by others, are another effort by women in the early Republic of China to fight for physical liberation and freedom of dressing, and to obtain equal rights with men.
This demonstration also kicked off the prelude to the "Heavenly Milk Movement" of the Republic of China, and from then on, as long as a woman was found to be bound by her breast, the violator would be fined 50 oceans.
The prevalence of strict chest restraints
"These bad habits have been passed down for thousands of years."
As for the wind of binding the chest, it is no longer known when it began, and in various historical materials, it is also replaced by a thousand years of bad customs.
But it can be made clear that this custom reached its peak in the late Qing and early Republican periods.
The prevalence of this custom, on the face of it, is due to the result of the change of women's clothes at that time, and the root cause is still the aesthetic concept of the female body.
The Tang Dynasty's "Lady Hairpin Flowers" shows that in ancient times, women's breasts were not very severely restrained.
This can be intuitively felt from the pictures of ancient ladies.
Most of Gu Kaizhi's "fairies" are dressed in fluttering clothes, thin and beautiful.
In the picture of the aristocratic ladies of the Tang Dynasty, the women are richly dressed and the characters are plump.
Portraits of women in the Ming and Qing dynasties, how weak they are, and their bodies are slender.
It seems that the aesthetic of each dynasty is different.
As long as you look closely, you can see that in almost all the ladies' pictures, the woman has no traces of uneven figure, and the entire character image is in a straight state.
Even in the Tang Dynasty, which was said to be "fat for beauty", the body shape of a woman below the neck was straight.
Eliminating women's natural physiological characteristics, avoiding luring men to have "evil thoughts", and advocating the beauty of women without subtlety and desire, such an artistic orientation naturally guides the social standards for judging women's beauty.
As a result, women are ashamed to reveal the bumps of their bodies in the process of natural development.
The concept of chest binding is deeply rooted in people's hearts
Therefore, in the late Qing and early Ming dynasties, when women's clothing was improved, the custom of covering up the curves of the body was prevalent.
When the tight top appears, in order to continue to maintain a flat body shape, the woman's chest binding style is also more prominent.
Since women's tops have been changed to smaller, narrow and thin women's clothing is popular, which naturally highlights the curve of the chest, which is obviously different from the aesthetic orientation of thousands of years.
In order to keep up with the public perception and not be regarded as an outlier, women can only wrap their breasts tightly during dressing, not revealing any raised shape.
"Nowadays, the new style of clothing, narrow and wrapped, long enough to cover the feet, sleeves only accommodate arms, the shape does not cover the hips, occasionally squat, move until it cracks, or Mu suit for this."
In the description of the "Jinghua Hundred Two Bamboo Branch Words" in the early years of Xuantong, we can clearly feel how tightly the woman's body is wrapped, and she can't even breathe and squat normally.
Image from the Internet
Under such a clothing aesthetic trend, it naturally leads to severe criticism of women's unrestrained behavior in society.
"There is a violation of customs, I don't know what face to come out to meet people."
"Mother-in-law of the village, I don't know shame."
On the bustling street, a gentleman was walking with his wife, the woman's figure was bumpy, but she was belittled by several decent people who came in front of her.
Not wanting to be so ridiculed, she could only borrow a shirt and wrap her chest tightly.
At the same time, after the May Fourth Movement, the idea of equal rights for men and women rose, and some progressive young women began to constantly move themselves closer to men, even in dress.
Such a biased call for equality has also led to the prominence of the phenomenon of intellectual women and women in the upper class, and countless women have begun to follow suit in order not to leave themselves behind.
Women bind their breasts and wrap their feet
The interweaving of old and new ideas has made the chest binding more and more prevalent and strict, and even some women working in the fields have gradually been affected.
"Mom, I'm out of breath."
"It's good to bear with it, it's all like this."
"But I'm red and itchy, and I'm soaked in sweat."
There is a lot of farm work waiting every day, and under the scorching sun, the gradually developing peasant girl cannot adapt to the sense of restraint of the small vest.
But looking at the elders who were also uncomfortable but could only hold on, they finally held back all the discomfort.
The clothes are narrower and smaller, and the chest is wrapped tighter and tighter, but why do women have to violate their physical development and self-harm and self-harm in this way?
From the former "Tianzu criminals", "short-haired criminals", and now to the "Tianjiao criminals", all kinds of crimes that imprison women's bodies are constantly stacked, pressing women to breathe.
Promote equality between men and women
In order to take off this accusation, countless outstanding women have paid a heavy price.
"Out of this door, you are no longer my Li family girl!"
"Guys, someone has to do this, if you and I back down today, what place will the woman have in the future?"
"Even if you fight hard and break the bloodstream, you will never regret it."
Colorful flags flew in the wind, and the woman who had been shy and hidden behind people tried her best to make her voice heard.
I don't want to be wrapped up like this anymore, experience the almost suffocating feeling, and watch my body become red, sore, and even festering little by little by the wrapping.
They want to be the masters of their bodies.
A cry for the liberation of the female body
"The old evils only hurt people's feet, and now the evils hurt people's chests and lungs. Injuries to the feet are very small for the human body, and injuries to the chest and lungs are even greater and deeper. ”
"Although the milk will not be smooth, the fetus will not be healthy, and even the lung disease will be transmitted, and the bone marrow will be poisoned, even if there is a divine doctor, it will be difficult to cure it."
Liberation of chest restraints
In fact, as early as the winding of chest binding was popular, countless progressives explained the serious consequences of such bad practices in various aspects.
They started with the most objective women's physical health, and persuaded the society to liberate women's breasts, which also set off huge waves in the society at that time.
"Such lewd clothes, with their muscles exposed, must be severely punished."
"What is the way is it that a woman dressed in fancy clothes and swaggered, deliberately exposing her skin, and even aroused everyone's pursuit?"
Women's once-Westernized clothing and the emancipatory rhetoric of progressives are unacceptable to many conservatives.
They wantonly abused women in various newspapers and magazines for showing their arms and not binding their breasts.
The government at the time was also outraged, issuing a ban on women from wearing short-sleeved vests and other clothing, and violators were arrested.
In the face of such arbitrary behavior, progressives from all walks of life certainly cannot accept it.
In their view, this is not only a constraint on women's bodies, but also a disaster of "weak countries exterminating" and ruining the health of the next generation.
Hu shi
"Because for the sake of aesthetics, there is no question of hygiene or not... If every woman has her breasts tied, she will not be able to be a mother in the future. ”
In August 1921, Hu Shi, who had returned from staying abroad, bluntly pointed out the importance of women's liberation of breasts in a speech in Anqing.
In December 1926, Zhang Jingsheng, who had also returned from staying abroad, also published an article entitled "Nude Research" in the inaugural issue of Shanghai "New Culture".
The sword pointed directly at women's bad habits of binding their chests, criticizing this ritual that turns women into men and prevents evil thoughts, which is destroying women's physical health and destroying the pregnancy and nurturing plan of Chinese heirs.
The opposition and fierce rhetoric from all sides finally echoed in July 1927.
"Than foot binding is even more than binding the chest... If it is light, it hinders the development of the body, which is easy to win, and if it is heavy, it causes the lingering lung disease and promotes its life calculation, and such bad habits are really lifelong harm to the female world. ”
"Investigate women's vices of binding their feet, tying their waists, piercing their ears, and tying their breasts, which not only hurt the body, but also hinder hygiene, and cause endless harm to the weak and weak countries."
Some women began not to wear corsets
Zhu Jiahua, acting director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, dropped a bombshell at the 33rd meeting of the Guangdong Provincial Government Committee: the "Proposal to Ban Women's Breasts".
The proposal directly pointed out the harm of chest restraint and held high the banner of "those who strengthen our race and strengthen our country", which caused controversy at the meeting.
"Such bad habits must not continue, and in the long run, I still have healthy women in China, what about the inheritance of heirs?"
Based on various factual grounds and public reactions, the members of parliament finally agreed to the proposal.
The executive committee of the "Heavenly Milk Movement" was established, and the "Six Words of the Executive Committee of the "Heavenly Milk Movement" was issued.
It took the lead in launching campaigns in women's colleges and universities in Guangdong Province, and at the same time formulated strict punishment policies for this purpose.
"All women in the province are prohibited from corsetting their breasts within three months... If the chest is still bound after the limit, once verified, a fine of not less than fifty dollars shall be imposed, and if the offender is under the age of twenty, the parents shall be punished..."
The ocean of 50 yuan in 1927 is not a small amount.
Even though the purchasing power of silver dollars at this time has decreased compared with previous years, in Peiping at that time, a poor family of five in the suburbs had to earn about 200 yuan a year to maintain a minimum living standard.
Free women to tie their breasts
And in Shanghai at the same time, an ocean could buy 16 pounds of rice, about 4 pounds of pork, 6 feet of cotton cloth...
Therefore, such a fine is far from what ordinary families can afford, even if they have small family resources, they cannot prevent the daily surprise inspections of the executive committee.
"What are you wearing?"
"Get dressed, what kind of body."
"This, the government has ordered, not to wear a fine to fine."
Looking at the father-in-law sitting in the living room with a face, Wei Qingfen was a little helpless.
She had just taken off her chest corset, but she didn't expect her family to be so disgusted, so she could only put on the "little vest" again.
"What's going on with your clothes?"
Who knew that as soon as he took to the street, Wei Qingfen was arrested by the female police patrolling and could only pay a fine.
But when she told her family about this, she provoked a disapproving reply.
Solve the chest binding problem
"It's not that you can't afford it at home, you will go out less in the future."
Who knows, the government actually sent people to the door for a surprise inspection, and Wei Qingfen, who still did not untie his chest, was fined again.
The helpless Wei family finally stopped saying anything.
But even so, many women still do not recognize the "Tianjiao Movement" from the bottom of their hearts.
The flourishing of the "Heavenly Milk Movement"
"How so, how do I go out and meet people?"
"Those women are so tossed, they are not good women, and I am ashamed to be with them."
Whether to tie the chest or not, in the end, depends on the attitude of women, although there are countless people who agree, but there are many people who resist, including many female students in colleges and universities.
Although some middle school girls had to give up chest binding due to the ban, they often showed shame and were unwilling to straighten their backs to show others.
Women pursue fashion
What's more, he was directly ordered by his family to drop out of school and return home and not be allowed to go out, in order to resist the "Heavenly Milk Movement".
Such strong resistance and resistance also had something to do with the "vacuum suit" at that time.
The "Heavenly Milk Movement" advocates the "Heavenly Breast View", that is, to abandon the restraints of women's breasts in the old rules and restore their original state.
But in the early days of the movement, the Western concept of bras did not flow into the country, so many women dressed in a "vacuum" with their breasts.
From bondage to full openness, such a huge change, it is normal that it is difficult for many traditional women to accept for a while.
In order to make the aesthetic concept of "heavenly milk" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, many newspapers and periodicals have made efforts one after another, and the "Guangzhou Republic of China Daily" directly published a "famous painting reservation advertisement":
"I specially collect European and American famous shu and Chinese beauty photos, and select 46 beautiful curvilinear postures to print and sell, the essence of beautiful curves."
Ruan Lingyu
Under this call, many portraits showing the curvy beauty of women continue to appear on various packaging and billboards.
On the "Yannian brand" cigarettes, the image of women showing their legs and exposing half of their breasts was boldly used as a means of publicity, while stimulating consumers to buy, spreading the concept of female curvy beauty.
At this time, some female stars also played a positive guiding role.
In the 20s of the 20th century, the plump and bumpy screen image of Hollywood actresses influenced many domestic trend followers.
When Western "prosthetic milk" was introduced into China, Ruan Lingyu also put it on for the first time.
In her performances of "Goddess" and "New Women", she attracted the attention of many people with her Miao Man's body form and superb acting skills.
To a certain extent, this has accelerated the spread of the entire "concept of heavenly breasts" and made the female body liberation movement more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Advertising at the time
Ideas and aesthetic standards such as "women's natural breasts are the most beautiful" and "breasts are plump and shameless" have gradually spread among women of all classes.
Under this trend of liberating the female body, the "Heavenly Milk Movement" began to spread throughout the country.
"Now that the south has set an example, I cannot continue to lag behind in the north."
"Stereotypes and bad habits should be eliminated."
With the outbreak of the "Heavenly Milk Movement" in Guangzhou, the cries for the liberation of women's bodies across the country have risen one after another, and various regions have begun to take action.
All sectors of society actively wrote articles denouncing the harm of breast restraint, popularizing the knowledge of women's physical health, and successively launching discussions on how to effectively eliminate bad habits.
Local governments also followed suit, responding to the call of people from all walks of life and issuing a ban on chest binding.
In 1928, the Ministry of the Interior of the National Government issued Official Letter No. 374, which issued a nationwide ban on women's breast-binding practices.
Women seek freedom
Subsequently, the University of the Republic of China issued Directive No. 471, stating that "girls in all schools shall abide by it."
Shanghai, Guangxi, and Hunan have responded one after another, issuing various official letters one after another to strictly investigate women's breast-binding behavior.
Some people may think that such a big effort is unnecessary, and it does not seem like a big thing, why should it be so vigorous.
This is purely a statement out of the context of the times, women at that time, not long after getting rid of the bad habit of foot binding, even hair and other clothing, have a set of conventional social rules, want to break, extremely difficult.
What's more, throughout the ages, the beauty of Chinese women has been based on men's aesthetic standards as the main reference, and women naturally need to be recognized and supported on a large scale if they want to break through this shackle.
With the slogan of wanting to liberate their bodies and gain freedom of dressing, women in the Republic of China actively participated in the "Heavenly Milk Movement" to fight for women's freedom and equal rights.
Therefore, the "Heavenly Milk Movement" is a feminist movement calling for women's liberation.
But gradually, the direction of this movement has gone a little off, and the passivity of women has become more and more obvious throughout the movement.
Meditations on the Liberation Movement
"There are many tricks in women, and life has been so hard since then."
Mr. Lu Xun, who has always had a keen eye and sharp words, wrote the article "Worrying about "Heavenly Milk" when the "Heavenly Milk Movement" broke out.
The words clearly write the sorrow and helplessness of women for thousands of years.
Here, he mentioned an extremely important point: the idea of improving society.
In the early days of the movement, many women were actually forced to join the liberation movement, and there was no fundamental change in their thinking.
Across society, views on this are also polarized.
Women in the "Heavenly Milk Movement"
This fully shows that ideologically, many men and women still do not agree that women's bodies should be in the hands of women themselves.
The constraints at the ideological level have made many women take the initiative to join the women's liberation movement, but subconsciously they are still guided by men's preferences and aesthetics.
The saying that "women are happy with themselves" is even more popular.
"This is the most popular dress nowadays, no one can look at your dress."
"Everyone wears it like this, why are you still stubborn, do you really want to be told that you have not seen it?"
In addition, the "Heavenly Milk Campaign" was carried out from the perspective of "preserving seeds and strengthening the country".
Women did not participate in the women's liberation movement as individuals, but were taken seriously because of their reproductive value and were trapped in the so-called feminist movement.
How many of those positive and high-pitched calls treat women as individuals?
The newspaper of the time
How many people in the whole society have fundamentally changed their thinking, as Mr. Lu Xun advocated?
Therefore, many people believe that this liberation of women's bodies is actually a political game, for this reason, some people call the "Heavenly Milk Movement" "politics on the chest".
There are even more good deeds, under such a "bold" dressing atmosphere, vigorously advocating all kinds of revealing clothing and issuing some explicit remarks.
Liberating the original pure breasts, gradually focusing on the fullness of women's breasts.
On many portraits and billboards, some women deliberately highlight their breasts, and their body movements are extremely contrived, which undoubtedly deflects some people.
In order to cater to the aesthetics of others, some women once again add a lot of confinement to their bodies.
It is clear that this freedom was not the intention of the pioneers to fight for in tears.
Emancipate women
Today, dressing has become a woman's freedom, but many inappropriate clothes have also caused dissatisfaction among many people.
"What kind of clothes to wear on what occasion, you should pay more attention to it!"
"Is it too much to blindly emphasize women's freedom of dressing, like this kind of spicy eyes, can you stay at home and wear it yourself?"
"No, no one really thinks it's beautiful to wear like this!"
It is human nature to love beauty, but love of beauty must also be moderate, and too much pursuit of external formal beauty can sometimes backfire.
In fact, in addition to making a big fuss about clothes, what women need more is to broaden themselves ideologically.
In the midst of the complex information impact, learn to distinguish, maintain your independent thinking, no longer passively fall into various speech traps, and play your own life value.
Perhaps, this is what the pioneers of the feminist movement have been looking forward to.
Bibliography:
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[2] Liu Zhenggang, Zeng Fanhua. The Difficulty of Emancipating the Breast: An Analysis of the "Heavenly Milk Movement" in the Republic of China[J].Women's Studies Series,2010(05):66-72.)
[3] Wu Xiaowei. Analysis of the "Heavenly Milk Movement" in the Republic of China period[J].Guizhou Literature and History Series,2015(01):45-50.DOI:10.14040/j.cnki.52-1004/k.2015.01.009.
[4] Chen Mingyuan. Historical purchasing power of silver circles DOI: 10.14185/j.cnki.issn1008-2026.2010.24.016