What kind of shoes were the "high heels" of palace ladies in the Qing Dynasty?

People who like to watch Qing Palace dramas must be familiar with the high heels worn by harem women. Seeing that girls can still run around in high heels, I really have to admire the "kung fu" under my feet. Such a peculiar shoe type has become a distinctive feature of the court dress of the Qing Dynasty compared with other dynasties. So, what are these shoes called? The beauty of ancient women's feet was called "three-inch golden lotus", and this extreme aesthetic emotion first began in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It is said that Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, indulged in debauchery all day. In order to win the favor of Li Yu, a concubine wrapped her feet with satin and bowed to make a crescent moon, completing a dance on the golden lotus stage. From then on, in order to keep the stunt of this dance and Li Houzhu's favor, the concubine wrapped her feet tightly with white silk. Over time, she wrapped her feet in a "red diamond" and a "crescent". As soon as this case came out, people followed suit, and after five generations, it gradually formed an atmosphere that swept the whole society. By the Song Dynasty, women's golden lotus feet had been known as the wonders of the world together with peony in Luoyang and fragrant tea in Jianzhou. In the Yuan Dynasty, if women did not bind their feet, it would be regarded as a great shame. Foot-binding was particularly popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most Han women wear bow shoes, while Manchu women don't. After the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, the wind of foot-binding increased under the influence of Chinese culture. Although Manchu women never bind their feet, according to universal aesthetic standards, Bigfoot is definitely not beautiful. In order to solve this problem, Manchu women invented a kind of high-top shoes, which hid their feet in clothes balls and would not be easily exposed. Han women wear bow shoes, while Manchu women wear wooden flat shoes and high-top flat shoes, which are called flag shoes. Flat shoes are square, similar to boots, and the front is very high. High-top shoes are the most ethnic shoes for Manchu women. Put a high sole about 10 cm in the center of the sole, and put several layers of white cloth outside. This kind of heel is divided into horseshoe-shaped, flowerpot-shaped and ingot-shaped, with shoe edges, embroidered shoes and various patterns. In addition, there is another story about the origin of Manchu women wearing high heels. There is a saying that Manchu people have the custom of "chopping wood to make shoes" since ancient times. In the past, Manchu women often went up the mountain to collect wild fruits and mushrooms, and tied wooden blocks on the soles to prevent insects from biting. Later, they made more and more complicated shoes and developed them into high-top shoes. There is also a legend that in order to cross a mud pond and recapture the city occupied by the enemy, the ancestors of the Manchu Dynasty learned the appearance of a white crane, tied high branches on their shoes, and finally won, achieving the goal of revenge and development. In order to remember those miserable days and commemorate the contribution of stilt wooden shoes, women put on these shoes and passed them down from generation to generation, becoming more and more exquisite and beautiful, thus becoming a dress with very national characteristics. It can be seen that Manchu women generally wear flag shoes when they wear flag clothes. The flag-style Kun shoes mentioned here can be divided into two types, one is often flat-bottomed, and the other is slightly lacking in front and back, which is called "inch-soled shoes". There is also a kind of shoes, which are several inches high in the middle, thin in the middle and square at the lower end. They are called "high-top shoes", commonly known as "horseshoe bottom" or "flowerpot bottom". This kind of silk shoes with wooden soles are often decorated with embroidery or beads because the wood can't move anywhere. Because the sole plane is horseshoe-shaped, it is named "horseshoe bottom". The bottom of another kind of shoes is flowerpot-shaped, so it is called "flowerpot bottom shoes"; The middle of the sole, that is, the high heel of the wooden sole, is generally about 5- 10 cm high, some can reach 14- 16 cm, and the highest can reach about 25 cm. Usually wrapped in white cloth, and then embedded in the middle of the soles of the feet. The heel bottom usually has two shapes, one is that the top is open and the bottom is convergent, showing the shape of an inverted trapezoidal flowerpot. The other is thin at the top and wide at the bottom, flat at the front and round at the back, with the appearance and landing marks like horseshoes. Hence the names "flowerpot bottom" and "horseshoe bottom". In addition to embroidered patterns or decorative pieces such as cicada butterflies on the vamp, there are often embroidery or beading on the parts of wood that cannot follow the ground. Some toes are decorated with ears made of silk thread, which is as long as the ground. The high-heeled wooden sole of this kind of shoes is extremely strong, and the upper is often broken, while the sole is still intact and can be reused. High-end flag shoes are mostly worn by aristocratic young women over 13 and 14 years old. Wearing these shoes, they walk gracefully, lightly and dignified. Flag shoes worn by elderly women and working women, with flat wood as the bottom, are called flat embroidered shoes, also known as "net cloud shoes". Manchu women's shoes are embroidered on the surface, while socks are mostly made of cloth, and the soles of socks also have patterns, and the front ends are slightly cut to facilitate walking. I don't even wear it now.