There are different opinions about the origin of foot binding. Some say it began in the Sui Dynasty, some say it began in the Tang Dynasty, and some say it began in the Five Dynasties. Some people even say that Yu's wife and da ji in Xia and Shang Dynasties were both small feet. It can be said that there are different opinions and no one can agree.

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.

Foot-binding began in Sui Dynasty and also 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. So in order not to be elected to the palace (another is to commemorate the mother of the moon), folk women have bound their feet. At this point, the wind of women's foot binding has intensified.

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 to make them slightly bend into crescent shapes. Then she put on plain socks and danced on the lotus stage to make the dance more beautiful.

history

However, some scholars have pointed out through research that the ancient female foot-binding in China rose in the Northern Song Dynasty, and women in China did not do foot-binding before the Five Dynasties.

. 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.

Mongolian aristocrats did not bind their feet after they entered the Central Plains for Jianyuan, but they did not object to the habit of binding their feet by the Han people. On the contrary, they still hold an appreciation attitude. 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 slender direction, but there were still many people who did not, especially in southern Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Lingnan areas. 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 were small and piled up into mountains, which were called Jinlianfeng. This shows that Sichuan women's foot binding is flourishing. This period has certain requirements for the shape of foot binding. Women's feet should not only be small, but also shrink to three inches, and they should be bowed and wrapped in the shape of corn.

Eighteen-year-old Xiang Lian

In the Qing Dynasty, a man named Fang Xuan called himself "Shi Huayu", also known as "Dr. Xiang Lian". This paper describes the foot-binding of ancient women from many angles and directions. His monograph "Five Views of Xiang Lian" on women's feet in China classified women's feet in detail according to their appearance, which is the infamous "Eighteen Children of Xiang Lian".

For example, "ice lotus", the little feet with thumbs up; "Asahi Lotus", little feet walk in high heels; "Xiang Lian", a little foot with two legs turned outwards; "concentric lotus", a small foot with two feet turned inward; "Twisting Lotus", walking into a line of feet; Passion flower, a lotus flower that became a monk halfway, or a little foot that has never been entangled at all.

One foot within three inches is the "golden lotus"

Some scholars believe that the reason why feet are called golden lotus should be investigated from the aspect of lotus in Buddhist culture. Lotus is regarded as a symbol of purity in Buddhism, so it is a good name to name a woman's feet after lotus. In Zhejiang, feet larger than three inches or four inches are called "silver lotus".

This is the answer in Baidu Encyclopedia.