Why did ancient people bind their feet? What are the benefits of foot binding?

Foot binding is a bad habit of ancient Chinese women. It is a despicable step on the female body. In ancient times, women began to bind their feet from childhood. They tightly wrapped their feet with cloth to make the foot bones deformed and smaller. And take it as beauty.

Foot binding began in the late Northern Song Dynasty, flourished in the Southern Song Dynasty, and flourished in the Ming Dynasty.

Why ancient women bound their feet? There are two myths and legends about the origin. One is that Dayu married the daughter of Tushan as his queen. Tushan's daughter was a fox spirit and was small enough. The other is that Daji, the concubine of King Zhou, was also transformed into a fox spirit and was small enough. Because Daji was favored, the maids also came to her. Footbinding was followed by the people later. This is just a myth.

The prevalence of female foot binding in ancient times is inseparable from the cultural admiration and people's aesthetics at that time. In ancient times, both men and women regarded small female feet as beautiful, especially men. Women with small feet were sexually attractive. The beauty of three-inch golden lotus was a twisted and perverted aesthetic concept.

In ancient times, women's feet were bound, which made it difficult to move. It was conducive to confining women in the boudoir, limiting the scope of activities of ancient women, so that ancient women could comply with the "three professions and four virtues" to achieve men's desires and monopolize The purpose of its reconnaissance operations.

In ancient times, there was no benefit to foot binding for women. It artificially restricted the natural growth of the feet, changed the shape of the feet, and deformed the bones of the feet, which was not conducive to movement. It had adverse effects on women's physiology and psychology.

In 1644 AD, the Qing army entered the customs. In order to maintain the system and rule, they issued three orders: shaving hair, changing clothes, and banning foot binding. The first two, under the high-pressure policy of the Qing government, experienced " It was widely implemented under the enforcement of the "Ten Days of Yangzhou" and the "Three Massacres of Jiaqing", but footbinding was not effectively banned in Weidu. It was not until the liberation of New China that ancient female footbinding completely disappeared in the long river of history. This is the progress of the times and is Women's liberation symbol.

There is no benefit to foot binding! That is a cancer, a bad habit, and a deformed product of the ancient patriarchal society!

"Foot binding" is also called "foot binding". As the name suggests, it is to wrap the feet with cloth to achieve the effect of "foot shaping". It can be regarded as an ancient plastic surgery!

It can be traced back to the Five Dynasties period. Wen Tingyun once described "The Charming and Weaver Girl's Foot Binding"; by the Song Dynasty, foot binding had become a social fashion, ranging from palace concubines to common people. Women often have their feet bound. Small feet are called "official"!

By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, foot-binding had become a common phenomenon. Not only was it shameful not to bind feet, but foot-binding was "three inches long", and the three-inch golden lotus had been deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Speaking of "three-inch golden lotus", it sounds good, but in fact, it is a kind of torture to the body.

The entire foot binding process is very cruel, in order to make the feet as small and pointed as possible to achieve the effect of "three-inch golden lotus".

Little girls at the age of four or five have to start binding their feet to limit the growth of their feet. During this process, the sole of the foot will be broken and bent toward the sole of the foot. When it grows up, the entire foot will be completely deformed.

Such a foot is not only very painful during the "growing process", but also has a great impact on its back.

The most serious thing is that it affects movement. Just imagine how you can walk with such feet. Many of the women in ancient times had to be carried when entering or leaving the courtyard.

There was once an interview about foot binding. Mrs. Wu Yang from Liuyi Village in Yunnan once told her experience:

I think this passage is enough to give people A deep impression on everyone.

So if it’s so painful, why do we need to bind our feet?

There is only one reason, for the needs of "men".

As we all know, ancient times were a society where men were superior to women, and most women lived dependent on men.

But in this era, it doesn't matter whether it's painful or not. What's important is that the men like it!

At that time, some literati and doctors had high official positions and liked to be romantic, which gave rise to a peculiar preference for small feet. You must know that in ancient times, these literati and officials were at the forefront of fashion! They casually write poems and sing lyrics, and people are following them.

So, if they say small feet are good, women will naturally cater to them!

Of course, foot binding was only popular among the upper class at first. After all, girls from lower class families still had to work.

But as time goes by, this aesthetic has become mainstream, and this top-down concept spreads with little resistance and is easily accepted by the public. Even if the lower class people have no sense of aesthetics, everyone hopes that their daughter will marry a good family.

If it were not for her small feet, her daughter’s life-long events would be affected, and she would not even be able to get married, and would have to eat for free at home. Therefore, her feet must be bound.

So soon, foot binding became popular, and later it has developed to the point where women are ashamed of their big feet and proud of their small feet.

Because it is "fashion", it has been banned repeatedly. When the Ming and Qing dynasties were founded, foot-binding was explicitly prohibited, but it could not be stopped. Even the women of the Eight Banners who did not originally have their feet bound in the Manchu Qing Dynasty accepted the bad habit of "foot binding" due to the strong assimilation ability of Han culture.

It can be seen from this that its impact is far-reaching.

Of course, footbinding may not only be for aesthetic reasons. Ancient times had conservative ideas, and men may use footbinding to restrict women's freedom and prevent them from going out to show their faces. This is the origin of the so-called lady.

All in all, foot-binding is an absolute vice and has no benefits.

Perhaps what I say is a bit one-sided. After all, objectively speaking, foot binding is a product of the times, and it represents the "aesthetics" of that period. This is the same as our aesthetic today.

But I think that if the so-called beauty requires sacrificing health and damaging the body to obtain it, then don’t do it!

Welcome to open the historical treasure. What are the benefits of foot binding?

Of course, foot binding can destroy a woman's feet.

What’s the benefit of losing a pair of legs?

Of course it is a benefit, but it depends on who it is for.

In fact, the biggest role of foot binding is to restrain women.

My legs are disabled and I cannot move around freely. I really can only stay at home to take care of my husband and raise children, and I can only cook in front of the court and work endlessly.

But for women, foot binding is naked pain.

Looking at the bound feet, it is impossible to walk quickly, let alone for a long time. So forget about shopping.

Not only does it hurt when it is wrapped, but it will also be a problem to walk in the future. I can only walk slowly and lightly. As I get older, I can only walk slowly with crutches. This is definitely a kind of physical destruction and suppression of human nature.

The husband is the guide for the wife, the three obediences and the four virtues, and the husband follows the wife.

In fact, these are the same restraints and suppressions on women as footbinding, so there is a saying that there is a cannibalism etiquette.

My grandma has small feet, and my grandpa is gone a long time ago. I have never seen my grandpa. I don’t know my grandma’s name, only my surname. The name on the tombstone is Li Guo. , she told me that in her time, she started binding her feet when she was 8-9-10 years old, and cried every day in pain. She was a landowner, and she got up early every day to sweep the streets. She sewed a piece of white cloth on her back with the word "landlord" written in black on it. At that time, I slept with my grandma. She often came back in the winter and was freezing, but she was in good spirits. She often told me that she picked up a few cigarette butts while sweeping the street. I remember one time when a movie was playing in the village, my grandma went to clean it early. She picked up a few more cigarette butts. She picked up dozens of cigarette butts that time and was very happy. Grandma told me stories every day. In those years, grandma told me many, many stories and guessed countless riddles. Now that I think about it, my grandma really has a wide range of knowledge. Even though she is uneducated and can't write, I still use a lot of the knowledge she taught me. Later, my grandma had a cold and had no money to cure it. From then on, I had sequelae, which turned into pneumonia, and then into pulmonary heart disease. I was 15 years old when my grandma passed away. Rats in Tokyo, to the Big Dipper, from the riddles of lightning and thunder in the universe to the needles and threads in daily life, from Chinese fairy tales to A Dream of Red Mansions and the West Chamber. I don’t know how my grandma learned all this knowledge, but I was fascinated by them all.

I washed my grandma’s feet. Her feet were incredibly deformed. Now I think about it and I’m scared. How did she endure it when she was a child? She told me that she was one of the last women to have their feet bound. That’s it. With her little feet, she would sweep the streets every day before dawn, and then go to work in the production team to earn work points. In winter, when there was no work in the team, she would go to the fields to collect firewood (corn roots), and even go to some trees far away to collect firewood. Leaves are so that we can make a fire to cook and eat hot rice when we get home. I remember that the so-called hot rice is a bowl of corn mush and a pile of dried sweet potatoes. Forget it, let’s not talk about it, I miss my grandma... I miss my grandma... I miss my grandma... I visit my grandma’s grave many times every year!

Was foot binding voluntary for women in ancient times?

Since the question "What are the benefits of foot binding" is asked, it is obviously assumed that foot binding is voluntary for women? Nonsense! In ancient times, women were forced to have their feet bound by men.

Why did ancient men force women to bind their feet? There are many reasons for this, let me tell you one by one:

No woman will take the initiative to destroy her body unless a man forces them. Ancient men really liked the three-inch golden lotus.

Therefore, you will see many literati praising footbinding from the bottom of their hearts. As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, the famous poet Su Shi wrote a poem "Bodhisattva Man·Ying the Feet", in which there is a sentence:

Delicate and delicate words must be read from the palm of your hand.

A woman’s slender feet can stand in the palm of a man’s hand. It can be said that the sexual metaphor behind foot binding is highlighted vividly.

Later, there were even groups of "Golden Lotus Scholars" who made a career of criticizing women's feet.

It is worth mentioning that in ancient times, men forced women to bind their feet for political purposes - the Han people used foot binding to resist the Qing Dynasty.

When the Qing Dynasty entered the country, they forced all men to shave their heads and also required women not to continue binding their feet.

All men succumbed to the order to shave their heads, but because the Qing Dynasty could not force the women in their families not to bind their feet, the habit of foot binding continued to be preserved.

Not only that, the men also intensified their efforts to force women to bind their feet to distinguish them from the Eight Banner women who did not bind their feet. The Han men at that time concluded triumphantly that men should not be restrained and women should not be restrained, and men should be subjugated and women should not be subjugated.

The above are the reasons why men in ancient times forced women to bind their feet.

The exact origin of footbinding is difficult to deduce.

Mr. Jia Shen published "An Examination of Chinese Women's Foot-Binding" in Volume 3, Issue 3 of Journal of History and Geography. He listed eight views, which had supporters as early as the Shang Dynasty and as late as the Five Dynasties.

Perhaps the most well-known story is that Li Yu doted on his concubine Ruiniang and had her feet bound into a crescent shape, and the people followed suit.

However, it is an indisputable fact that foot binding has gradually become a shackles on women's bodies since the Song Dynasty. This includes economic, social aesthetic, family ethics and other reasons.

Economically, the Song Dynasty abolished women’s land inheritance rights, and women lost their legal economic rights. A large number of women had to rely on their families to survive. Groups like the self-combing women, It is the resistance to this change.

In terms of social aesthetics, unlike Hu Hua’s previous admiration for round, plump, and powerful female images, from the Song Dynasty onwards, people increasingly appreciated slender and weak female images. This changed only in the Republic of China, so Lin Yutang said that "the standard of Eastern beauty is an animal with a flat face, no breasts, no hips, and no toes", which has no female characteristics.

In terms of family ethics, starting from the Song Dynasty and flourishing from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, women's chastity, subordination, and even dementia became increasingly strict. "A Dream of Red Mansions" Mrs. Zhongxing also had to help her husband find a concubine, which is a reflection of this absurd tendency.

Economic and physical dependence, over-emphasis on slenderness and weakness, and extreme emphasis on female chastity, patriarchy, and husband's rights have all created and consolidated the need for foot binding.

This may have been an advantage for wealthy men, who could keep their wives chaste and confined within the confines of their homes and unable to leave easily. They even developed a set of aesthetics for foot binding. Gu Hongming and Fang Xuan, who studies lotus science, are both this type of people.

But for poor men, footbinding means that they cannot expect women to work outside the home. Poor farmers have to shoulder the burden of a standard middle-class family. The burden is of course very heavy.

For women, there is only humiliation, pain, and uncleanness, without any benefit. If someone says that in some eras footbinding can help them marry better, how can they say that there is no benefit? That can only be said That patriarchal society is sick, and very sick.

Like many customs, foot-binding was not as bizarre as it later became, and it did not cause much harm to women's bodies. However, things must go to extremes, and as time goes by, people wrap their feet tighter and tighter, even becoming a kind of mutilation, and this has become a condemned bad habit.

Judging from scholars’ research on the custom of foot-binding, it is controversial when foot-binding began in ancient times. However, most people still agree with the "Nancun Stopping Farming Records" statement, believing that the foot-binding trend began in the Southern Tang Dynasty and was related to the later owner Li Yu.

According to the records of "Nancun Quits Farming", among the concubines of the empress Li Yu, there was a woman named Yao Niang. She was born with a pair of small feet and a slender waist, and was good at dancing. According to legend, the empress Li Yu often ordered her to dance with her little feet exposed, while Li Yu watched from the sidelines. This talented empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty did not care about governing the country, and spent all his time reciting poems, composing poems, and having fun with his concubines, which led to the ruin of his country and his family. Of course, this is a story for another day, so I won’t comment further for now.

What is good at the top will be bad at the bottom. Because Li Yu was very obsessed with Yao Niang's little feet, other concubines also followed suit. However, Yao Niang was born with small feet, and it was difficult to change the big feet of other concubines. However, there are always more solutions to the problem than the problem itself, and they also came up with a solution-foot binding.

In order to make their feet look better, other concubines tied their feet with silk and then put on exquisite embroidered shoes, hoping to win Li Yu's favor. As a result, many women in Li Yu's harem began to use this method. Over time, the practice of foot binding also spread among the female relatives of princes and ministers.

Although the Southern Tang Dynasty perished, the foot-binding habit that began in Li Yu's harem gradually spread. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were relatively few people who practiced foot binding, and it was mostly limited to Han women in the south. However, after the Southern Song Dynasty, foot binding became more and more popular, and by the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it became a bad habit that poisoned women.

As foot-binding spreads, it becomes more and more cruel. Compared to the past, which was just to put on better-looking shoes and make one's feet look smaller, footbinding in later generations can be described as inhumane. When the girl was still a child, her family bound her feet tightly, causing the feet to develop abnormally, forming the so-called "three-inch golden lotus".

In the old society where foot binding was prevalent, people were not even willing to marry women who did not have their feet bound, but those who had their feet bound were very popular. This kind of chaos actually reflects the old idea that men are superior to women. It was not until the Republic of China that the practice of foot binding gradually declined, and most women began to get rid of this shackles. The real liberation of women came after the establishment of the new regime.

Why did ancient people bind their feet? What are the benefits of foot binding? Let me tell you what I know!

(The picture above shows a four- or five-year-old girl in the late Qing Dynasty who had already begun foot-binding)

In ancient times, women would start foot-binding with the help of their mothers when they were four or five years old. Because the bones of girls at this age have just begun to develop, it is easy for the bound feet to be finalized at this time. The reason why they had to endure great pain and insist on foot binding from generation to generation was purely to satisfy the deformed aesthetics of the men at that time.

In ancient times, men regarded women's small feet as beautiful. For this reason, they also divided the size of women's feet into three levels, that is, three inches for golden lotus, four inches for anemone, and four inches or more. The feet will be called iron lotus. Among these sizes of feet, the smallest three-inch golden lotus is the most popular among men. Therefore, ancient women would try to control their feet to three inches to cater to the deformed aesthetics of men at that time, and at the same time for themselves Can marry into a good family.

Of course, there is another reason why men love women with small feet, and that is to prevent them from cheating.

Women with bound feet will be restricted from walking. In this way, after they get married, they can only stay at home to raise their husbands and children, and become female celebrities, thus reducing their exposure to the opposite sex. opportunities, and at the same time, it also reduces their chances of cheating. So, what are the benefits of foot binding?

Foot binding does not do any good for women. Instead, it only causes physical pain and mental devastation for them. Imagine that a four or five-year-old girl will live in pain every day after having her feet bound. Among them, how can there be a beautiful childhood for them, and what benefits can there be!

Of course, there are definitely benefits for men. Foot binding can not only satisfy their desire for women, but also play a role in restraining their wives. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone, so foot binding This bad habit will continue for thousands of years!

The emerald skirt is embroidered with mandarin ducks and golden lotuses, and the red sleeves have long jade bamboo shoots and mandarin ducks. In ancient times, women's feet were often wrapped in cloth, which was called foot binding. Consider it beautiful. Even in "The Romance of the West Chamber", Zhang Sheng longed for Cui Yingying and thought about how lovely her three-inch golden lotus was. So why did ancient people bind their feet, or what process did foot binding go through, and what were its benefits? Of course, I think this benefit should be in quotation marks.

Women’s feet are bound, which is unique to China.

Originated from myths and legends.

It originated from the Tushan clan in the Xia Dynasty. According to legend, Dayu once married the Tushan family and gave birth to a son, Qi. The Tushan girl is a vixen with small feet. "An Examination of Ancient and Modern Things" says that the earliest person to bind feet was Daji. The original text says, "Shang Daji is a fox spirit, also known as a pheasant spirit. It has not changed enough, so she wraps it in silk and it works in the palace." Of course, this is not enough evidence.

From the Book of Songs, it is the courtesy of a gentleman

There is a sentence in the Book of Songs,

Liu Xi of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Kong Yingdadu of the Tang Dynasty I think that means binding your feet with words can make you jump easily. So is that so? What is the historical background of this? It turns out that in the Western Zhou Dynasty, etiquette was emphasized, and gentlemen should walk with smaller steps, as the saying goes, "the venerable ones are slow to walk." Therefore, foot binding is not for walking convenience. It's a matter of etiquette. In fact, in order to achieve this goal, the nobles also wore jade to control the rhythm of their footwork. "The purpose of wearing jade is to make people walk calmly and at a moderate speed." In addition, the Han Dynasty also had a special foot-binding tool, "luju" "so foot-binding". By the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, footbinding became a custom among nobles and gentlemen. Already formed. In other words, the original foot binding was not for women but on men's feet.

Began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

In the Warring States Period, there were also records. "Han Li Commentary" in the Wuliang Temple of the Han Dynasty, there is a painting of Lao Lai's mother and Zeng Zi's wife, both walking and walking, which is evidence that footbinding began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Western Han Dynasty, some people also bound their feet to show off their wealth in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

They bound their feet one after another, which became a sign and symbol of the status of wealthy families. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, "Hun Hou of Qidong" carved gold into lotus flowers to cover the ground, and ordered Concubine Pan to walk on them, saying that "the source of the three-inch golden lotus must be here."

In the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, small feet were considered fashionable, and small feet were regarded as beautiful.

There were many poems at that time describing women with small feet. Like Bai Juyi's "Small-toe shoes, narrow clothes, indigo dotted eyebrows and slender eyebrows. "Du Mu also has" a razor ruler cut by four points, slender jade bamboo shoots wrapped in light clouds. "Mao Xizhen said, Holding the heart in hand, he walked up the fragrant steps speechlessly, moving slowly Luo shoes with embroidered soles. In the Song Dynasty, it became even more popular. There is a poem by Su Shi that says, "Don't cherish the lotus when wearing incense, and the long sorrow will be gone with the lingering socks."

This is the classic drama "The Romance of the West Chamber". After Zhang Sheng saw Yingying, he thought about it day and night. What was he thinking about? Among them were the green skirt with small feet, the mandarin duck embroidered with golden lotus, and the red-sleeved Luan bird with jade bamboo shoots. Later, before having an affair, I took a pitiful step... I walked in the fragrant dust, and my prints were shallow. After having an affair, I walked lazily down the fragrant steps with green moss, and my beautiful place was narrow and my shoes were narrow.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, foot binding became popular, and a large number of literati poems even eulogized the little feet. The pair of golden lotuses mentioned above are beautiful and wonderful everywhere. As the saying goes, women should look good to please themselves, so the foot-binding trend becomes even more popular. And society has formed the concept that small feet are beautiful. People believe that "beautiful women from ancient times all have slender feet." They even believe that "those who love slender feet are mostly elegant and elegant people, while those who love money are common in the village."

This is the origin of the custom of foot binding. Myths and legends, the need for gentleman etiquette, showing off wealth, a sign of rank, social customs, the pursuit of fashion, and the concept of small feet as beauty have created the three-inch golden lotus.

Speaking of benefits, I think different periods have different effects. Daji can hide the truth about her vixen; the Western Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period help to cultivate the elegant behavior and tolerance of a gentleman. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it showed identity and status and satisfied vanity. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, it gradually became a folk custom. If you don't bind your feet, you will feel bad about yourself.

This is just like people wearing Chinese tunic suits in the 1920s and 1930s, and people wearing green military uniforms in the 1960s and 1970s. In the early days, women's foot binding was a sign of a wealthy family, just like wiping their mouths with lard before going out to tell others that our family eats meat. ...

In ancient times, materials were not very abundant, and most people did not have much money on hand. They wore clothes from new to old for three years and then mended and mended them for another three years. In this case, how can we express our own life? Okay? If we don’t say that the ancients were smart, they focused on their daughters, binding their feet...

For foot binding, you need a foot-binding cloth, so that they can show off when they step out of the house: our daughter’s foot-binding cloth Ah, it's made of real silk, and it's about ten feet long. What do you use at home? Is it cotton? Let me tell you, it’s better to use pure silk. Oh, your daughter’s feet are bound. Our family is really rich. My daughter is quite old, but I haven’t collected enough money for foot-binding cloth. I hope the harvest will be good this year, okay. Let me go to the market and pull out a few feet of cloth... To show off, foot binding can be said to be done once and for all. In the early years, I could brag about having foot binding cloth at home. When the foot binding is finalized, it is a sign of hard power when people look at me when I go out. A rich girl, a poor boy. Their family is so rich that they don’t even need girls to work. It’s amazing. It would be great if I was born in their family...

In those years, foot binding was really just for show, but Those who could wrap their feet were really well-to-do people. Later, this trend was fueled by scholars. The three-inch golden lotus and the enchanting golden lotus just made foot binding a custom. In order not to be looked down upon by others, the poor also wrapped their own daughters. My feet...

Especially in the early Qing Dynasty, when the customs were changed, men could not protect their hair, so they asked girls to bind their feet, which was called not surrendering...

Of course, women's foot binding also has a "beautiful" side, just like today's women's leather shoes, why are they made pointed?