Zhou Zhou and Zhou Xiao are sisters, married into the court of Southern Tang Dynasty. Their father, Stuart Zhou Zong, is a three-generation veteran of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and their two daughters are both beautiful. People compare them to "Er Qiao" in southern Soochow. My sister's name is E Huang. Sister, named Nv Ying.
E Huang is one year older than chief instructor julee. /kloc-at the age of 0/9, she was hired as the princess of the crown prince. A few years later, Li Yu became the king of Jiangnan. E Huang gave birth to a son Zhong Xuan for Li Yusheng, but he died when he was a few years old. E Huang, who was already in poor health, passed away in a hurry because of the sudden death of his beloved son and the aggravation of his illness. As China's younger sister, Nv Ying fell in love with Li Yu at first sight when she went to the palace to visit relatives and live in seclusion. After E Huang's death, Nv Ying became the queen of that country. From Jinling to later, Li Yu was imprisoned in Bianjing, and she followed and took care of Li Yu.
Compared with E Huang and Nv Ying, Renniang was born in poverty. She was originally a lotus picker and was elected to the palace at the age of sixteen. Entering Nantang Palace, Li Yu summoned her alone to watch her pick lotus dances. Seeing her sunken eyes and looking around, she named her "Renniang". Renniang is good at dancing Jin Ping Mei. It is said that when she dances, she looks like a lotus Ling Bo, and her posture is swaying and beautiful. The most interesting thing is that she wrapped her feet with white silk and wrapped them very small. When she dances, she is on a lotus-shaped stage, so she is very popular with Li Yu. Therefore, women in the Song Dynasty and later dynasties took foot-binding as beauty. This custom was not broken until the New Culture Movement.
Foot binding, also known as foot binding, began at the end of the Five Dynasties. From the cultural relics excavated underground and ancient documents, we know that the shape of men's and women's shoes was the same before the Five Dynasties. During the reign of Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties, she indulged in music, poetry, singing and dancing, and drank and had fun with concubines all day long. There was a concubine named Yan Niang in the palace, who was originally the daughter of an official family, but later became a prostitute in Jinling because of her poor family. She was born slim and good at singing and dancing, and was favored by Li Yu. Li Yu's imperial edict is to build a golden lotus platform, which is six feet high and decorated with treasures. The net belt is tassel, and all kinds of red lotus flowers are inlaid in Taichung. Let your mother tie her feet with silk, bend down to make a new moon, dance in the lotus in plain socks, and spin like a lingyun. Li Yu was overjoyed. Since then, in order to maintain and improve the stunt effect of this dance, Renniang often wraps her feet tightly with white silk. Over time, she wrapped her feet into "Hong Ling shape" and "crescent shape", which made her dance more natural and beautiful. When people competed to imitate, after five generations, it gradually formed an atmosphere that swept the whole society.
In my opinion, foot binding can only be regarded as a folk custom formed by preference. There are no restrictions on official documents and official will. It is not as good as Chetongdao, Shu and Tongce in Qin Shihuang's period, and it is not as good as the ousting of a hundred schools in Han Wudi's period, which only respected Confucianism. Therefore, we can't blame too much on the power of feudal rulers, but should find another reason. Foot binding has been popular for nearly a thousand years. What is the reason? I think it's just like the current fashion trend. For example, an art star is very pleasing to the eye, and everyone enjoys it comfortably, so they love and admire him very much. Many people who don't know follow suit, and groupies and idolization are popular.
But foot-binding is a vulgar custom after all, which brings pain and distortion to women. For the "beauty" formed by foot binding, they may be condescending from the heart! Even if an emperor like Li Yu is beautiful as a scholar-bureaucrat, I think he should be a smart and petite bodybuilder like Yan Niang. He should not ignore the distortion of his toe bones and fail to see his own stumbling and dullness. If the latter also thinks it is beautiful, it is really deceptive and morbid!
In feudal society, Confucianism ruled China for nearly two thousand years. Bureaucrats and scholars have read four books. Confucius and Mencius' thoughts are profound and scientific. It is hard to imagine that those who have been edified for a long time should treat things irrationally, regard ugliness as beauty, love my house and my dog, treat them as wives and concubines, and imitate them from generation to generation. It is incredible.