When did foot binding begin? How old do girls start?

Foot-binding first began in Li Yu's reign in the Southern Tang Dynasty (969-975). A young girl in Li Houzhu is very clever. She wrapped her feet in a crescent shape with silk and danced on the golden lotus to please the emperor. Later, this custom spread to the people and the wind of foot binding gradually spread to people's homes. However, some people think that foot-binding appeared as early as 770-476 BC during the Warring States Period, which may be traced back to the earlier Shang Dynasty. In a word, foot-binding has a long history, which has hurt countless women in China for thousands of years. It can be said that foot-binding is one of the most prominent manifestations of "men are superior to women" under the patriarchal tradition. According to records, folk women began to bind their feet at the age of four or five, and when they reached adulthood, if their feet were less than three inches long, they became the highly respected "three-inch golden lotus". At that time, such little feet were considered as an important aspect of "female beauty". Even a woman with good looks and figure will be laughed at if her feet are not small enough, so she can't get married. "Good bigfoot" has also become the most unpleasant word to insult and humiliate women. In fact, the "beauty" of little feet is based on the premise that women's body and mind are destroyed. The method of foot binding is to cruelly cause dislocation or fracture of metatarsal bone of female foot by artificial force, then fold it on the sole of foot, and then wrap it tightly with foot binding cloth layer by layer. Women who bind their feet have difficulty walking and great pain, and are more likely to cause disability and death. The folk saying "a pair of little feet and a jar of tears" is a concentrated reflection of women's suffering for thousands of years. Once the natural feet are entangled into a "three-inch golden lotus", women must be very inconvenient and greatly restricted in labor and communication. Only when you are trapped at home, you should stand against the wall when you stand and walk. Not only is it a matter of course that "men dominate outside and women dominate inside", but "men are strong and women are weak" has become a fact. It is even more difficult for women to be dissatisfied, resist and elope, but they must submit to humiliation. In fact, this kind of "beauty", which is against nature and health and based on destroying women's bodies, is not only an extreme distortion and metamorphosis of beauty, but also has the practical effect of strengthening the oppression and control of women in a patriarchal society, as the Daughter Classic says: "I am afraid that he or she will leave home lightly and be bound by thousands of layers."

Foot-binding rose because of men's addiction, and men's aesthetic distortion was out of control because of the "three-inch golden lotus", until women's destroyed feet became an important item to arouse men's sexual excitement. According to records, since the Song Dynasty, a "drinking" game has been popular in many brothels. From beginning to end, prostitutes' little feet and their little shoes stand out, and prostitutes' clients put wine glasses in prostitutes' little shoes to pass, pour and drink. Until the beginning of the 20th century, there were still some men who liked to participate in this "drinking" game and were excited about the opportunity to drink with the wine glasses in prostitutes' little shoes. As for the sour literati in the past dynasties, they regarded the discussion of feet as "learning" with great interest, and they did not hesitate to write articles and carefully evaluate them, taking pleasure in being humble, for fear that the aesthetic composition and flirting function of men playing with feet were not clearly explained. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, a scholar named Fang Xuan, who claimed to be "Dr. Xiang Lian", wrote an article "Made in Xiang Lian" and painstakingly divided the feet into five types, nine types and eighteen types, which made him famous.

As for the deformed feet with fractures, dislocated joints, bloody flesh and pus, why did they become men's sexual objects in China? This is because, in feudal society, foot-binding is a woman's extreme privacy, and people can't watch it at will except husbands and close people, which makes feet involved in sexual secrets, and even thinks that if they are not properly grasped, they will lead to fornication, and feet are "tools to attract prostitutes." According to the sour literati, little feet not only make women's gait more graceful and charming, but also make men "look more and pity more" during the day and "feel more affectionate and caress more" at night. The highest standard of beauty of little feet is also determined by them: first, fat, second, soft, third, beauty, "fat and soft can be sought after, beauty should meet God" and so on. Between the lines, there is love, admiration and worship for sick feet, and at the same time, destruction and deformity are appreciated and played as beauty, which shows how seriously China's male aesthetic concept has been corrupted under the background of traditional patriarchal culture.