There have been different opinions about the origin of foot binding since Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to modern scholars' research, foot binding rose in the Northern Song Dynasty. Foot-binding in Yuan Dynasty continued to develop in a slim direction. In the Ming Dynasty, the wind of foot-binding entered a prosperous period, 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 wind of foot-binding in the Qing Dynasty spread to women in all walks of life, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, and there are not a few who do not.
When did foot binding begin? There have been several theories: Six Dynasties, Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties. Generally speaking, each statement is deliberately drawn from the sporadic literary and poetic works of the previous generation, each statement has found some basis, and the opponents of each statement have found some opposite arguments. But generally speaking, this custom originated in the Southern Tang Dynasty and was accepted by ordinary scholars in the Southern Song Dynasty.
When it comes to the reasons for foot-binding, there are probably four aspects: aesthetic requirements, the result of the development of gender segregation system in Han history, the promotion of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties, and the promotion of virgins' hobbies (Pan Honggang: New explanation of the reasons for foot-binding of Han women, Jianghan Forum, 10, 2003). )。 For a long time, the Han people have been pursuing the beauty of women's bodies. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "the king of Chu has a thin waist and many people starve to death in the palace." There are countless poems praising the beautiful bodies and light steps of beautiful women. In his later years, Bai Juyi entered the poem with the names of his two concubines: "Cherry Su Fan mouth, willow waist". Here, willows are used to describe women's figure, and the ancient people's aesthetic appreciation of women's beautiful figure is vividly displayed. Probably people have long found that women with small feet can show their figure and sway more. Therefore, five generations ago, although women did not bind their feet, there were many poems praising their feet. A woman's delicacy, slowness and swaying posture are noble and moving. Foot-binding has been welcomed by many scholars since it appeared, which is the result of the development of people's aesthetic tendency for a long time. Even outstanding writers such as Su Shi and Xin Qiji have chapters that sing and appreciate foot-binding. In Su Shi's Bodhisattva Man, there is a saying that "it is hard to say exquisite, but we must look at it from the palm of our hand". In Xin Qiji's Bodhisattva Man, there is a saying that "shoes are as small as a yellow bow, and the waist is afraid of the wind blowing off", which is often quoted. Mr. Lin Yutang once described the gait of women after foot-binding: China women's foot-binding completely changed women's style and gait. "Its role is equivalent to that of modern girls wearing high heels, which produces a very stiff and beautiful gait, making the whole body fragile and wobbly, producing a subtle feeling." It was this "sense of pity" that inflated the sense of superiority of feudal literati. Therefore, it gave birth to "the highest secret of sexual ideal" (Lin Yutang's My Country and My People, see Collected Works of Lin Yutang, Volume 8, published by Writers Publishing House, 1995, p. 157. )
Myth and legend 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.
Began in 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.
Starting with 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.
Began in the northern song dynasty
A common view is that foot binding began in Song Dynasty, and Neo-Confucianism advocated foot binding in Song Dynasty. It can be seen from foot-binding that women in Song Dynasty were oppressed by ethical codes. But in fact, foot-binding did not originate in the Song Dynasty, but appeared in the Tang Dynasty. There are poems as evidence: the text "Jin Xie Fu": "Weaver bound feet"; Du Mushi: "Four points are deducted at the discretion of the cymbal ruler, and the slim jade bamboo shoots are wrapped in light clouds." From the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, foot-binding was only a popular fashion among ladies and prostitutes in the upper class, but most women in society did not do it. In addition, the foot-binding of Song people refers to winding a woman's feet straight, which is called "getting on the horse", rather than the abnormal "three-inch golden lotus" in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The rise of foot-binding has nothing to do with Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty. We can't find anything to support women's foot binding in the Neo-Confucianism works of the Song Dynasty. On the contrary, we can see that some neo-Confucians explicitly oppose foot binding. Yuan people's notes "Talking in Zhanyuan" said: "Song and Cheng Yichuan's women don't bind their feet and don't understand. In the later Tang Dynasty, Queen Liu couldn't walk any further, so she stepped out. It can be seen that aristocratic women in the Song and Five Dynasties have been bound to their feet. " Cheng Yichuan was Cheng Yi, a Dali scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty. Until the Yuan Dynasty, the Cheng family insisted on not binding feet. Che Ruoshui in the Southern Song Dynasty also pointed out in his collection of beriberi, "I don't know when the woman's foot-binding began, and the child is not four or five years old, so she is innocent and makes her suffer endlessly. I don't know what's the use? " This should be the earliest complaint against the bad habit of foot binding in the history of China. Che Ruoshui is a disciple of Zhu, a Dali scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Generally speaking, the custom of foot-binding in the Song Dynasty is only the product of the morbid aesthetics of the upper class, which is similar to the waist-binding fashion in western Europe and the breast augmentation fashion today. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the meaning of gender oppression appeared. For example, Yi Shizhen, a poet in the Yuan Dynasty, said in "Langya Ji": "I heard that it is not easy for a saint to set up a daughter, because she is bound in her feet and lives in a boudoir. If she wants to go out and have a car, she is not satisfied." But in the Song Dynasty, women were not imprisoned.
develop
Mongolian aristocrats in Yuan Dynasty did not bind their feet originally, but they did not oppose the habit of binding their feet by Han people. On the contrary, they are appreciative. In this way, the wind of foot-binding continued to develop in the Yuan Dynasty, and even the concept of not being ashamed of foot-binding appeared at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. In the Yuan Dynasty, women's foot-binding continued to develop in a slim direction.
In the Ming dynasty, the wind of women's foot-binding entered a prosperous period and developed rapidly in various places. When Zhang invaded Sichuan in the late Ming Dynasty, women's feet were so small that they piled up into mountains, which was called "Golden Lotus Peak", showing the prosperity of women's foot-binding in Sichuan. During this period, there were certain requirements for the shape of foot binding, and the theory of "three-inch golden lotus" appeared, which required that the foot should not only be as small as three inches, but also be bent and wrapped into corn. But at this time, those who don't bind their feet are still in the majority.
In the Qing Dynasty, the rulers strongly opposed the foot-binding of the Han people at first, and repeatedly ordered women to ban foot-binding, but at this time, the wind of foot-binding was hard to stop and had to be banned in the seventh year of Kangxi (1668). This incident was once exaggerated as "men are superior to women" (the Qing court implemented a "haircut order", and the Chinese men's haircut was regarded as a symbol of submission to the Qing court. The Qing court also banned women's foot binding, but it did not achieve the purpose of prohibition, so there is a saying that "men are healthy and women are not healthy." Foot-binding was popular in the north of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, but not in the south. By the Qianlong dynasty, women's foot binding became popular in the south; During the Xianfeng period, women from all walks of life in the Qing Dynasty, rich or poor, bound their feet one after another, and even some ethnic minorities in the northwest and southwest were infected with the custom of binding their feet. As a woman, whether and how to bind her feet will directly affect her personal life. The theory of "three-inch golden lotus" was deeply rooted in people's hearts, and it was even less than three inches, so that women had to be held by others because their feet were too small to move. Such women were still very popular at that time.