There is information about embroidered shoes.

China embroidered shoes.

In the footwear family, China embroidered shoes are the perfect combination of shoe culture and embroidery art, and the original handicraft of the Chinese nation. This kind of practical product rooted in national culture is praised as "China shoes" by the world. In this ancient land of China, since matriarchal society was transformed into paternal society, there has been a social division of labor between men and women. Women in past dynasties passed on the ancient embroidery skills from generation to generation, and appealed about the aesthetic concepts, cultural traditions, ethics and fashion values of each dynasty in shoes that were not square feet. Embroidered shoes follow the aesthetic fashion of oriental decoration, pay attention to the composition and paving of uppers, and match the technological decorative strips of shoe mouth and sole. Colorful silk threads are used to embroider gorgeous patterns from toes to heels, and even soles and insoles. The theme of embroidered shoes comes from life, and the main theme is folk culture and folk customs. The basic participants are flowers, birds, insects and fish, birds and animals, flowers and fruits with claws, mountains and rivers, and dramatic figures. Auspicious participants include the birth of your son, the blooming of a hundred flowers, the love of two butterflies, the dragon and phoenix dance, etc., which symbolizes the praise of life and a happy life. When and where did the embroidered shoes that traveled all over the country first originate? There is no way to verify the products handed down now. The legend of "Jin Shoes" widely circulated in southern Shanxi may give us some enlightenment. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period 2600 years ago, the State of Jin in Shanxi was still a small country. After Jin Xiangong proclaimed himself emperor in 660 BC, he made great efforts to expand his territory, annexed ten small vassal states in one fell swoop, and began to dominate the whole country. In order to make the people of the whole country remember his literary talent forever, he ordered all the women in the palace to embroider ten kinds of flower and fruit patterns, such as pomegranate flowers, peach blossoms, bergamot and grapes. At the same time, he also ordered all the civilian women in the country to use the embroidered "ten-fruit shoes" as big wedding shoes when they got married, so that they would never forget Jin Xiangong's brilliant achievements from generation to generation. At that time, women's shoes embroidered with this pattern were called "brocade shoes". Since then, the embroidery technology of Jin State has been extended to embroider clothes and other items with embroidered shoes. Three hundred years later, in 3 13 BC, Xunzi, a great philosopher in ancient China, was born in the hometown of embroidered shoes. Xunzi attached great importance to the local embroidery industry. In his masterpiece Xunzi, there is an article that records the embroidery technology of embroidery with iron needles, and praises the embroidery needles from the philosopher's point of view, thinking that iron needles can not only embroider shoes, but also "cover the people and decorate the emperor", which has made contributions to the prosperity and stability of social economy. Until modern times, silk weaving and embroidery were well known in this area, and local women began to embroider their shoes from childhood. They spent more than ten years painstakingly embroidering shoes for their marriage, embroidering innocent love needles and threads of girls on the vamps to express their loyalty to love and their pursuit of happiness. Historical changes make the production and embroidery level of embroidered shoes a prerequisite for local evaluation of a girl's ingenuity. From the wedding day to the child's full moon, from the family's birthday to the old man's funeral, they use a pair of embroidered shoes to show their talents, wisdom and artistic charm on all major events in life. Coincidentally, when looking for the whereabouts of embroidered shoes in ethnic minority areas, there is also a legend similar to "Ten Fruit Shoes": the Baoan people living in Dahejia, Jishishan, Gansu Province still retain the national tradition of wearing embroidered shoes. In the ancient poetry art "Flowers" handed down in this minority area, it is sung like this: "The upper is cut with blue satin and embroidered with ten kinds of brocade ... My sister is a peony, and I will take it, ah. After a preliminary investigation, more than 20 ethnic minorities in China regard embroidered shoes as their own clothing features. In the big family of the Chinese nation, embroidered shoes have become the cultural wealth of the whole nation, and embroidered shoes are the real "China shoes".

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The ladies written by a generation of literati walk gracefully, especially when the lotus steps move, the toe of the shoe is inadvertently exposed under the skirt. Above, it may be a charming peony, or a beautiful peacock looking forward to life. Charming and charming. No wonder women have never given up on embroidered shoes for thousands of years, in order to increase their feet.

More than 5,000 years ago, in the Neolithic Age, leather boots entered the historical stage of the Chinese nation. Subsequently, with the differences of times and regions, shoes of different materials and styles came out one after another. For example, shoes with upturned toes, clogs with double teeth and shoelaces on the soles, clogs worn only for pilgrimage and sacrifice, leather boots above the ankles, flowerpot shoes worn by Manchu women in Qing Dynasty and so on. , are shoes derived from different times. Due to the diversity of materials and styles, the names of shoes have been varied since ancient times, including full clothes, shoes, shoes, boots, shoes and so on.

After the May 4th Movement, the bad habit of foot binding was gradually abolished, and women regained the autonomy of their feet and put on embroidered shoes of normal size. But because embroidered shoes are made of expensive silks and satins, and then embroidered with flowers and birds with silk thread, they belong to the exclusive products of rich wives and daughters. In Shanghai, ladies and gentlemen frequently go out to social occasions, and they strive for beauty, thus creating a professional street of embroidered shoes. There are more than 100 professional workshops in Beijing and Shanghai. The embroidered shoes displayed in the window are colorful and decorate the streets like blooming flowers.

In the 1940s, dignitaries were still the main group wearing embroidered shoes, and the service mode was customization, that is, measuring the size of customers' feet. After the customers selected the colors and embroidery patterns, they first delivered the patterns to special people, and then the embroidery workers embroidered the patterns according to the patterns, then cut the patterns and sewed them into uppers. Finally, cut the leather into the shape of the sole, put layers of cloth soles on it, and sew the vamp and sole together to make a pair of sturdy embroidered shoes with two hands.

Later, embroidered shoes gradually became fixed-size shoes made of shoe last for sale; In addition, with the appearance of plastic and super glue, the sole is changed from leather to cheap plastic sole, and the upper and sole can be bonded with super glue, which saves production time and gradually reduces the price. As long as women who love beauty can put on these light, comfortable and exquisite shoes, embroidered shoes became the hottest fashion at that time.

By the middle of the last century, sports shoes, casual shoes and fashionable high heels had become popular indicators for gentlemen and ladies to pursue fashion, and the embroidery footwear industry was facing a crisis of survival. The retro style in the 1990s pushed embroidered shoes, which had been silent for 20 years, back to the popular trend, forming a grand occasion of selling out as soon as they were put on the shelves. However, manufacturers also see that embroidered shoes must be innovated in tradition if they want to capture the hearts of young consumers, so the patterns are no longer fixed on flowers and birds, and the color matching is bolder. For example, black, white and denim fabrics, which were taboo in the past, are also applied to uppers. Even the shoe last has a pointed or square head style, and the heel also has a flat bottom and high heels.

In recent years, embroidered shoes have fallen to the bottom again, and no one can say when the fashion trend will turn to embroidered shoes again. However, with the difficulty of finding female embroidery workers, manual embroidery has been gradually replaced by electronic embroidery, and it will become more and more difficult to find embroidered shoes with one stitch by hand in the future. To paraphrase a boss, "Besides the old lady, she also knows the quality of embroidery. Young people simply can't tell the difference between electronic embroidery and manual embroidery. "

Yes, it's another century of rotation, and young people may have been confused for a long time. Embroidered shoes used to be red shoes for more than 1000 years. Who cares about the difference between electronic embroidery and manual embroidery?

Embroidered shoes are everywhere

Aquarium female embroidered shoes

The sole is made of a thousand layers of cloth, the upper is made of red cloth, and the heel is made of blue cloth. The toe of the shoe is pointed upward. The vamp is embroidered with silk thread into a background color pattern, and then rolled into various geometric patterns by the method of "ponytail embroidery", including flowers, clouds and other patterns. Exquisite embroidery and exquisite workmanship. Most aquarium women wear them on solemn occasions or when visiting relatives and friends, with pleated skirts and silver button tops, which are very elegant and luxurious.

Aquarium embroidered shoes

Shui people mainly live in Sandu County, Libo, Dushan, Duyun, Kaili and other counties and cities in Guizhou, with a few scattered in Guangxi, Yunnan and other provinces. Shui people call themselves "though" and are called "Shuijia" and "Shuijia Temple". Their present clan name "water" is transliterated from "although".

The shoe ornaments of the Shui nationality have many same-sex characteristics with Miao, Yao, Zhuang and Dong nationalities in Yunnan-Guizhou area, and they like to wear embroidered shoes with hooks. The production technology of the embroidered shoes of the aquarium displayed here is very particular. First, cut out the sole model with dried bamboo shoots, and thicken it layer by layer with old cloth to make a "thousand-layer bottom"; Then, the cut shoe masks are embroidered with flannel, with various patterns, mostly flowers and birds, and sometimes wool balls are embroidered on the toe; Finally, sew the upper and the bottom. Generally speaking, it takes 2-3 weeks for a skilled woman to make a pair of embroidered shoes, and it takes longer for an ordinary woman to finish it.

Dong women's sandals

Dong people are mainly distributed in Guizhou, Guangxi and Hunan. Because of the humid climate in this area, the clothes are mainly skirts, leggings and sandals with good air permeability. What is on display here are embroidered sandals that are deeply loved by Dong women. This shoe is hand-sewn with cloth and the sole is hemp thread. Technology is very particular. The shape of shoes is also very unique. As long as there is an upper at the back, the toe cap is connected with the toe cap with a slender cloth strip, which is simple, lively and durable. Flower embroidery is embroidered on thin strips, tails, etc., and dotted with metal sheets, which highlights the meticulous style of Dong embroidery and shows the colorful traditional culture of Dong nationality. Such shoes are not only cool and practical to wear, but also beautiful and generous.

Dongxiuhuaxie

Dong people call themselves Geng, Jun or Jin, while Han people call them Dong Shi or Dong people. Mainly engaged in rice cultivation, known as the "rice farming nation." What you see are embroidered shoes worn by Dong women. Shoes are made of thousands of layers of cotton thread, and the toe is double-beam pointed. The whole vamp consists of blue cloth and red cloth, with abstract geometric patterns embroidered on the front and sequins in the middle. The heel of the shoe is sewn with black cloth with a hook cloud pattern.

Zhuang people's embroidered shoes on their backs.

"Back" embroidered shoes are often worn by women. There is a hook on the toe, like a dragon boat. There are two kinds: with and without. The sole is thick and made of sandpaper. Qi Zhen, traction stitch, mixed stitch, loop stitch, pile stitch, pressure stitch, etc. In terms of color, young people like to use white flowers with bright background, such as pomegranate red, crimson, cyan, yellow, green, etc., and the patterns include dragon pattern, double lion bowling, iris and magpie. Old people often use black, light red, deep red and other colors, and the patterns include clouds, dragons, heaven and earth, lions and beasts. What is on display here is the embroidered shoes of the Zhuang nationality's "back" women. The toe of the shoe is triangular and conical, and the toe is "turning back". The vamp is made of blue cloth and embroidered with flowers and plants with yellow, red and green lines. Sole is made of Melaleuca material, with fine stitches and durability.

"Alternative" Hakka Embroidered Shoes

In the Hakka Museum in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, there are a number of special embroidered shoes, which are particularly eye-catching. These embroidered shoes are bigger than the traditional three-inch golden lotus. These are embroidered shoes worn by Hakka women when they get married. Because they never bind their feet, they are very big.

In the history of China, Hakka women are the only group of Han women who have no bad habit of foot binding. Why don't Hakka women bind their feet?

Experts believe that Hakka women take part in productive labor just like men, and even most heavy physical labor such as plowing and chopping wood is done by women. The responsibilities of life and family make Hakka women have to have a pair of big feet to bear, which is also an important reason why Hakka women do not bind their feet. Of course, this is not the only reason. The fact that Hakka women don't bind their feet is also related to the living conditions of Hakka people at that time. Because Hakka people live in mountainous areas and are far away from the constraints of imperial ethics, their living customs are often frozen in the state of moving south and continue in a relatively closed form.

"In the Hakka Museum in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, there are a number of Hakka traditional embroidered shoes with strange styles. To sum up, this kind of shoes has three characteristics: first, the toe is pointed upward, shaped like a phoenix mouth. "

Second, the vamps are all made of cyan or black homespun, and the vamps are embroidered with auspicious patterns such as peony, chrysanthemum, pomegranate, phoenix, butterfly, etc. The welt and the welt edge are inlaid with a colored piping, which makes the whole shoe look colorful, layered and solemn. Thirdly, the heel and vamp of shoes are divided into two different individuals, that is, the heel position is reserved when the vamp is made, and then the left and right ends of the vamp are connected with hemp thread and interwoven into a net to form the heel. Compared with ordinary shoes, the shoes made by this method have very soft heels and can be worn as slippers.

The decorations on ancient shoes have their special meanings, which have remained unchanged for hundreds of years. Embroidery in the Tang and Song Dynasties has developed into refinement. This is mainly determined by its social environment. In the feudal society where men plowed and women wove, there was no distinction between men and women in shoes before Qin and Han Dynasties, but the toe of shoes had to bend upward. The toe of the ancient shoes must be made into a square curved upturned style to remind the wearer to be cautious and not to look around. Since ancient times, girls have to learn needlework and master embroidery. With the development of economy, people's aesthetic concept has also changed greatly, so a new kind of embroidered women's shoes has appeared among women. . Compared with the clumsy pointed shoes in the past, these shoes are more exquisite and beautiful, which can fully show the graceful and feminine posture of women, so they are widely circulated among women and become the most popular shoe type in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Comparing Hakka traditional embroidered shoes with "phoenix-tailed shoes" in Tang and Song Dynasties, it is not difficult to find similarities between them. This kind of shoes, once popular among women in urban and rural areas in the Central Plains, can still be preserved in Hakka areas after hundreds of years, which makes people admire how determined and persistent Hakka people are in inheriting the traditional culture of the Han nationality.

"Hakka's inheritance of the traditional culture of the Han nationality is not completely copied, but also includes the absorption of foreign cultures and the transformation of their own cultures. Although the traditional embroidered shoes of Hakkas are almost identical in appearance to those of the Tang and Song Dynasties, they are quite different in details, such as heels. "

The upper and heel of embroidered shoes in Tang and Song Dynasties are generally integrated, that is, the left and right ends of the upper are stitched together to form the heel. However, Hakka embroidered shoes are made of vamp and heel separately, and the heel is made of a net made of hemp thread. According to the author's research, there are two reasons why Hakkas want to make heels in this way. First of all, Hakka women usually work in the fields. In addition to visiting relatives and friends during the Spring Festival, I generally don't wear shoes during the day. There will be a short chance to wear shoes after finishing work and washing feet at night. My feet are still wet at this time. For comfort, men usually wear wooden slippers. Women were bound by feudal ethics, so they had to change to cloth shoes in order to meet the requirements of "laughing without showing their teeth and walking without making any noise". According to the traditional shoemaking method, in order to make the vamp quite scraped, a layer of bamboo shell is often put on the vamp, so that although the vamp looks good, it is extremely uncomfortable to wear. Therefore, Hakka people use soft materials to make shoe roots, and embroidered shoes are made in this way, which is not only popular in Hakka areas in southern Jiangxi, but also in some ethnic minority areas outside Hakka areas. Occasionally, you can see the crocheted embroidered slippers of Maonan nationality in Guangxi, which is one of them. Second, once Hakka women get married, they become the main labor force in the family. Therefore, most of the headgear, shoes and socks they need in their lives should be arranged properly before marriage, that is, when they are "girls". This kind of shoes made in advance, it is difficult to take into account the size of the feet when wearing. If shoes are made according to the old traditional method, once the feet become fat or thin and the shoes don't fit, they have to be torn down and redone. According to the method used by Hakkas now, even if it doesn't fit in the future, it is only necessary to tighten or loosen the twine of the heel without affecting the upper.

"From the production of Hakka traditional embroidered shoes, we can also see how flexible and creative Hakka people are in inheriting traditional culture. On the basis of inheriting traditional culture, Hakka people have transformed and surpassed the original old culture and created a new culture with unique personality. This is the attitude of Hakka people towards the traditional culture of the Han nationality, and it is also the fundamental reason why Hakka culture is unique in the culture of the Han nationality.

Now, due to their remote mountainous areas, Sannan (Longnan, Dingnan, Quannan), Xunwu and Anyuan in southern Jiangxi have not only preserved a large number of Hakka enclosed houses, but also preserved many Hakka customs and cultural relics. Some Hakka women also cherish the embroidered daily necessities they wore when they got married and when their children were young, such as embroidered shoes, embroidered wallets and embroidered children's hats. These embroidery products have unique shapes, exaggerated patterns and rich colors.