The origin of ancient women's foot binding

Foot binding is often said to be foot binding. Foot-binding is a bad habit in ancient China, which means that women wrap their feet tightly with cloth, making them deformed and beautiful. Generally, women begin to bind their feet at the age of four or five and untie the cloth belt until the adult skeleton is finalized. Some people are still tied for life.

There have been different opinions about the origin of foot binding since Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to modern scholars' research, foot binding began in the Northern Song Dynasty and rose in the Southern Song Dynasty. Foot-binding in Yuan Dynasty continued to develop in a slim direction.

In the Ming Dynasty, the wind of foot-binding entered its peak, and the saying of "three-inch golden lotus" appeared, which required that the feet should be not only as small as three inches, but also bent. However, foot-binding was not found in female corpses unearthed before the Qing Dynasty, which shows that foot-binding was not very common at that time. The storm of foot-binding in Qing dynasty affected women in all walks of life, rich or poor, but there were not a few who did not bind their feet. Foot-binding has brought serious pain to women.

There are four reasons for foot binding:

1. It is beneficial to imprison women in boudoir and strictly limit their activities to conform to the ethical code of "three obedience and four virtues", so as to achieve the goal of dominating male chastity as desired. Yi Shizhen's "Langya Ji" in the Yuan Dynasty said: "It is said that a saint has a daughter, so it is not easy for him to do it. Because he is bound in his feet and lives in a boudoir, if he wants to go out, he has a car, so he has nothing to do." For another example, why does it say in the "Improved Daughter Classic": "Why are you wrapped up? Not because it looks like a bow; " I'm afraid she will be bound by thousands of kinds if she walks out of the house lightly.

2. This has caused changes in women's own posture and sexual physiology, so as to better undertake the reproductive tools to extend their offspring. Because the shape of the foot becomes deformed after foot binding, when the foot touches the ground, the weight of the whole body is concentrated on the heel. In other words, women walk with their heels after foot binding, so every step will affect their waist and buttocks. In the long run, women's waist and buttocks will develop and affect the pelvis, thus affecting women's sexuality and fertility.

3. The influence of the ruler's will on people all over the world. Foot-binding has its origin and is related to rulers. Foot binding began in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty and rose in the Southern Song Dynasty. The royal family and the upper class in the Song Dynasty first began to bind their feet. "He Lu" records: After four years of advice, "I am very fortunate and suspicious. He frowned and said, "The Jin people drove them away and marched in Wan Li. How can they return to their original state? "... is really sad. "

"History of the Song Dynasty Five Elements" records: "Ruling the dynasty, the imperial secretary tied his feet straight". This is an example of female foot-binding in the royal family and palace in Song Dynasty. Su Shi's Bodhisattva Man chanting Buddha's Feet calls women's feet "palace-shaped", and Cao Yuanchong calls them "official" in a poem, which also shows that foot-binding originated from the upper class in the Song Dynasty, such as bureaucrats and nobles. Without exception, it is related to the rulers, which also explains this reason.

4. The morbid aesthetics of feudal literati created it. Many feudal literati regarded women as playthings, and they had morbid aesthetics, and enjoying their feet became a hobby. Literati in Ming and Qing dynasties have many flowery words praising little feet, such as "thin desire is invisible, the more you look at it, the more pity you get" and "soft without bones, the more close you are, the more resistant you are to touch"; "The first charming child, Jinlian, is the best. Look at that pair of cockscomb cocks. Hsinchu is in pieces, the moon is sprouting, and the flowers are slender and embroidered. "

The influence of literati on social customs made ancient women pay great attention to headdress, and then they stood firm. The idioms "commenting" and "commenting" all have the meaning of discussing women's appearance and posture. Head and foot have become an important standard of female beauty in the eyes of cultural people.

Literati have many praises for Feet, such as "Golden Lotus", "Three-inch Golden Lotus" and "Xianggou". Su Dongpo's "Bodhisattva Man" chants "It's hard to say exquisite, but you must look at it from the palm of your hand", and even sets seven standards for the beauty of small feet: thin, small, sharp, curved and so on.

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