The evil three-inch golden lotus, who was the first person to bind feet in history?

Women's foot-binding is a bad habit in China feudal society. For thousands of years, it has greatly restricted women's personal freedom, ruthlessly destroyed women's physical and mental health and seriously prevented women from participating in social life. It is a microcosm of the feudal system's discrimination and oppression of women, and it is also a huge obstacle for women in China to pursue happiness, freedom and liberation. However, tracing back to the origin of female foot-binding, it is surprising that the maker of the bad habit of foot-binding that women hate is actually a woman, and it is in a forbidden palace. She is the favorite concubine of Li Yu, queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, who is famous for her beautiful ci.

Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, is a famous monarch of national subjugation in the history of China, an emperor with a charming personality and a famous sentimental poet. Li Yu (937-978), whose real name is Jia Cong, whose real name is Shi Guang and whose real name is Zhong Yin, was the sixth son of Southern Tang Dynasty. Xuzhou people. Song Stegosaurus ascended the throne in Jinling in the second year (96 1) and reigned for fifteen years. He is called Li Houzhu. When he ascended the throne, the Southern Tang Dynasty had served Song Zhengshuo and settled in a corner of the south of the Yangtze River. In the seventh year of Song Kaibao (974), Song Taizu sent letters to the north many times, but he refused to leave. In October of the same year, Song Bing went south to attack Jinling. In November of the following year, the city was broken, and the queen came out naked. She was taken to Bianjing and ordered to disobey orders. Emperor Taizong ascended the throne and became the Duke of Longxi County. Taiping rejuvenating the country for three years (978), and Qixi was his 42nd birthday. Song Taizong hated him for saying that "the old country can't bear to look back on the bright moon" and ordered people to poison him up and down at the banquet. Queen Wu was sealed and buried in Mangshan, Luoyang.

In the early days of his reign, the style of his poems was beautiful and soft, and he did not get rid of the habit of "flowers". After the national subjugation, in his house arrest career of "Everyday Lacrimosa", he made the monarch of national subjugation the "Southern King" of the eternal ci circle (in Xiong's Ancient and Modern). It is precisely because "the unfortunate poet of the country is lucky that ci works only after vicissitudes of life". These late ci poems were desolate and tragic, with profound artistic conception, which laid the foundation of Su Xin's so-called "bold and unconstrained" school and became a generation of masters in the history of ci poetry. For example, Wang Guowei's "Words on Earth" said: "When Ci arrived in Li Houzhu, it began to have a broad vision and deep feelings." As for the beauty of his sentences and the harmony of phonology, it is unprecedented, and it is called the "Emperor of the Eternal Ci", which was collected by the late owner and has now been lost. There are 46 words, of which only 38 words can be confirmed by previous works or others. This is another story.

After Li Yu ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, on one occasion, Li Yu, a romantic, went out in plain clothes, dressed as an ordinary dude, and went to Qinhuai River south of Jinling, boarded a boat and enjoyed himself leisurely. Suddenly, a song came from the river and reached Li Yu's ears. Li Yu listened carefully and sang her own new word "Looking at Jiangnan". This song is sweet and melodious, like the sound of nature, which fascinates Li Yu. She couldn't help but go ashore and follow the song. The singer used to be a geisha in a brothel by the river. Her name is Yan Niang.

This girl used to be a young lady of an official's family, but because of her poor family, she unfortunately became a geisha. However, Li Yu fell in love with her at first sight because she was gorgeous, dignified, versatile and extraordinary. The next day, he sent someone to take Renniang into the palace and take her as his concubine. Since the mother entered the palace, the husband and wife hit it off, met each other late, and their love was abnormal. Li Yu called Yan Niang a "bosom friend", and they were inseparable. Empress appreciates Li Yu's kindness to meet him. She felt that Li Yu saved her from suffering and enjoyed the splendor. So she should always pay attention and look for opportunities to repay Li Yu's deep feelings for mountains and seas. One day, Li Yu and his wife came to the imperial garden to play, only to see the lotus flowers in full bloom in the pond, and the red-violet flowers were graceful and picturesque under the shade of green fields. Li Yu jumped on the railing and had a whim. He pointed to the lotus pond and said to Ren Niang, if people's feet can dance on the lotus pond like Hong Ling, how beautiful it would be! The speaker has no intention, but the listener has a heart. Li Yugang was still talking about it, but it aroused her gratitude. After returning to the palace, my wife made an incredible decision: foot binding! I want to turn my feet into Hong Ling that the emperor likes. From then on, she gritted her teeth, endured severe pain, wrapped her feet tightly with white silk, and repaid the emperor's kindness in an instant with a lifetime of pain. Day after day, year after year, the empress's feet finally twisted and deformed, and her toes were bent under her feet except her thumb, which really became the appearance of Hong Ling. My mother's hardships have no tears, only a smile that blooms after reaching some goodwill. After Li Yu saw Yan Niang's deep affection and painstaking efforts, he couldn't help loving her more. However, such feet, not to mention dancing on the lotus, are difficult to walk on the flat ground. Renniang won Li Yu's favor with a pair of little feet, but left herself endless pain.

Although the starting point of Fu Niang's foot-binding is to express her love for the emperor and repay the kindness of the former emperor, she would never have thought that while she expressed her deep love for Li Yu by mutilating her limbs, she also put on a pair of shackles of freedom for herself, which set a bad precedent for later feudal rulers to use foot-binding to hurt women. Since then, "three-inch golden lotus" has been available.