When Shunzhi put forward the abolition of foot binding, since the Qing soldiers entered the customs, they have repeatedly ordered the abolition of folk foot binding, but the custom of foot binding has a long history, so it has little effect. Almost everyone in Manchu can ride a horse and draw a bow, so it is considered that female foot binding is not good for health. This is a bad habit. In the first year of Shunzhi (1644), according to sourdrang dowager's imperial edict, all women who bound their feet were forbidden to enter the palace, and all offenders were put to death.
After two years of Shunzhi (1645), folk women banned foot binding. Later, it was repeated. Until President Sun Yat-sen abolished foot binding in the Republic of China.
It was not until the Republic of China that President Sun Yat-sen published the article "The President ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to persuade all provinces to ban foot-binding" on March 19 12, which is what we usually call the article "Persuading to ban foot-binding". Only then can the wind of foot binding gradually stop.
Why did ancient women like foot binding?
Yunnan is a place where ethnic minorities live in compact communities. Minority women have no habit of foot-binding. Han women living in mountainous areas seldom bind their feet because of the inconvenience of walking on mountain roads. Why is it so difficult to put your feet in such an area? Chen Feng's long-standing old habits are certainly one reason, and the traditional distinction between China people and foreigners also plays an important role. In places where many ethnic groups live together, people always pay attention to the division of midsummer, and small feet are respected by Han people. In some places, Han people "ask if they have feet before marrying." If they are Bigfoot, they think they are stubborn. "
Or regarded as inferior, so that some ethnic minority residents deliberately imitate the Han nationality and let women bind their feet to show that they are no different from the Han nationality. This is tantamount to encouraging the psychology of being proud of foot binding and aggravating the resistance to foot binding. This shows that the old cultural concept is actually the main pillar of the bad habit of foot binding.
If Yunnan is a special case, Shanxi's repeated foot binding is very representative in the mainland. As early as 19 16, the Shanxi provincial government has implemented the regulations prohibiting foot binding. All counties have established Tianzu clubs, and officials at all levels are ex officio members. 19 18 established the "students don't marry foot-binding women's club", stipulating that unmarried members should not marry foot-binding women; Those who are married and bound feet will be released; Those who break the contract will be severely punished, and the fine for the parents of the young girl will be increased by 10 times.
19 19, it was forbidden for young girls to bind their feet to become village rules and regulations, and gongs were often sounded for public display and notices were posted along the street. Therefore, we should be resolute and effective, and the results should not be underestimated. For example, in Datong, "the rate of women under the age of 20 is trendy, and the beauty in the eighteenth century is rare outside the city and rare in the city."
However, this is only in cities with developed transportation, but it is another scene in those remote villages. There is a big gap between urban and rural areas. Foot binding has a revival trend in 1933. According to the report of Central Daily at that time, there were 322,000 girls under 15 in Shanxi Province, which made it impossible to eradicate this bad habit.
Until the 1990s, a reportage "Little Foot Tribe after China" revealed that there were still more than 300 old ladies who bound their feet in Liuyi Village, Tonghai County, Yunnan Province. Most of them experienced entanglement and release, and some of them were entangled in 1946 and released in 1 954. Some of them were packaged in 1943, released in 1950, and repackaged in 195 1 year until 1958. Nowadays, the 70-year-old man didn't let go until around the founding of the People's Republic of China, which is called "liberating his feet".
When it's time to let go and forbid entanglement, there are many fashionable slogans: "Don't marry a girl with little feet." "There are no smelly feet on the kang." "No one wants small feet, smelly feet are really bad, big feet are more civilized and walk more leisurely." "I don't have much work, and I'm afraid of being bitter and tired. It's hard to see in-laws. " At the same time, there is a new two-part allegorical saying: "The foot wrap of a lazy woman-smelly and long."
Extended data:
There are four common sayings about the origin of foot binding:
1, which began in the legendary era.
China ancient myths and legends do have such traces. Legend has it that Dayu married Tu Shanshi's daughter and gave birth to a child when he was in charge of water control. Tu Shan barren woman is a fox spirit with small feet; He also said that da ji, the concubine of the late Yin Dynasty, was also a fox, or a pheasant, but her feet didn't get better, so she wrapped them in cloth. Because of da ji's love, all the women in the palace followed her example and held back. Of course, these are just folk myths and legends, and more of them contain additional romantic elements, which is not enough to prove that women bound their feet at that time.
2. It started from Sui theory.
Foot-binding began in Sui Dynasty and originated from folklore. According to legend, when Yang Di went to Jiangdu, he recruited hundreds of beautiful women to pull fibers for him. A woman named Wu Yueniang was chosen. She hated Yang-ti's tyranny, so she asked her father, who was a blacksmith, to make a lotus petal knife three inches long and one inch wide, and wrap it under her feet with a long cloth, and at the same time, the smaller the foot, the better. Then carved a lotus on the sole, and printed a beautiful lotus in one step when walking. Emperor Yang Di was very happy when he saw the queen, so he called her to his side to admire her little feet.
Wu Yueniang slowly untied the foot cloth, suddenly pulled out a lotus petal knife and stabbed Yang Di. Emperor Yang Di flashed by quickly, but his arm was stabbed. Wu Yueniang saw that the assassination failed, so he threw himself into the river. Later, Emperor Yang Di issued a decree: No matter how beautiful a woman is, "foot-binding women will not be selected" in future beauty contests. However, in order to commemorate the moon mother (or not to enter the palace), folk women have bound their feet. At this point, the wind of women's foot binding has intensified.
3. Starting from the Five Dynasties Theory
Foot-binding began in the Five Dynasties and originated from concubines in Li Houzhu in the Southern Tang Dynasty. They are beautiful and versatile, and are good at singing and dancing. Li Houzhu specially made a six-foot-tall golden lotus, decorated with jewels and ribbons, and ordered her to tie her feet with silk, so that her feet were slightly bent to make the shape of a crescent moon, and then put on plain socks and danced on the lotus stage, so that the dance was more beautiful.
4. It started in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Modern scholars have pointed out that China ancient women's foot-binding rose in the Northern Song Dynasty, and China women did not bind their feet five generations ago. Su Dongpo, a poet in the Song Dynasty, once wrote the word "Bodhisattva Man" and lamented foot binding. "Don't cherish step by step lotus, worry about wearing socks to Ling Bo; I saw the dance in the air without a trace. Stealing the palace is as stable as Mount Tai, and it is a double drop; It should be hard to say that it is wonderful. It must be seen from the palm of your hand. " It can also be called the first poem dedicated to foot binding in the history of China's poetry.
It should be noted that the writing of foot-binding poems depends on the appearance of foot-binding customs, which shows that foot-binding customs did appear in the Song Dynasty. In the Southern Song Dynasty, women's foot-binding became more common. Even at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, "little feet" had become a general term for women. However, in the Southern Song Dynasty, women's foot-binding was not popular, and it was mainly confined to the upper class, and the social concept of foot-binding was not accepted by everyone. At the same time, the custom of foot-binding spread from the north to the south, about the time when the Song Dynasty moved south.
Foot-binding in Song Dynasty is different from the three-inch golden lotus in later generations. According to historical records, foot binding in the Song Dynasty was to "straighten" your feet without bending, which was called "getting on the horse" at that time. The shoes used are called "Wrong in the End", and the soles are very sharp and consist of two colors. This kind of foot-binding shoes has been found in archaeology. From the archaeological findings, it is speculated that the feet wrapped by these shoes are bigger than those later.
References:
Baidu encyclopedia-foot binding