The phenomenon of foot binding began in the Five Dynasties period. The concubine of Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, bound her feet with cloth to make it look like a "crescent moon". She wore plain stockings and danced on a lotus made of gold. Li Yu liked it very much after seeing it, saying that she looked like a flying cloud. This custom first arose among the palace curtains, and then entered the folk. It was widely spread during the Xining period of Shenzong in the Northern Song Dynasty. Foot-binding was regarded as a virtue for women, and not binding feet was regarded as a shame. Ma Niangniang, the empress of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was ridiculed because of her naturally large feet.
In the past, girls generally began to bind their feet when they were five or six years old. The method was to use long strips of cloth to break off the four toes except the big toe and the soles of the feet, forming a "bamboo shoot" shape. Three-inch golden lotus". It's miserable and painful. It can be imagined that doing this is usually done under the pressure of the elders. Mothers or grandmothers ignore the tears and cries of their children to fulfill their responsibilities and thereby ensure their children's future married life.
The reason why this kind of artificial disability is so popular is that it creates a unique "feminine beauty" in an artificial way. Before the Five Dynasties, there were poems and articles praising the beauty of women's feet. After the Five Dynasties, the bound feet were even known as "golden lotus", "fragrant hook", "step by step lotus" and so on. Literati even summed up the "four beauties" (shape, quality, posture, spirit) and the "three beauties" (fatness, softness and beauty) of small feet. to the Qing Dynasty. Foot-binding is very popular, and all Han women do not have their feet bound.
This kind of aesthetic psychology actually contains a strong sexual consciousness. Li Yu, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, even openly claimed in his "Xian Qing Ou Ji" that the highest purpose of foot binding is to satisfy men's sexual desire. Because the little feet are "extremely sexy". Playing with it is enough to make people "emotionally fascinated". He actually summarized as many as 48 ways to play with the little feet. Such as: smell, suck, lick, bite, scratch, take off, pinch, push, etc. It can be said that in ancient times, small feet were the third "sexual organ" of women besides the vagina and breasts. In the classic "Jin Ping Mei", there is a saying such as "a crooked stocking and a three-inch golden lotus are the spades that break the ground when building pits." Even the embroidered shoes worn on the little feet were given sexual connotations. During the Qing Dynasty, a Chinese student studying abroad was asked by Japanese customs officials to explain why he was carrying some small woven embroidered shoes. The student said a little shyly that he hoped to appreciate his lover's "feet" in his free time.
In addition, foot binding seems to have another purpose. Since the feet are too small to walk, having women's feet bound can prevent "red apricots from getting out of the wall". Just like ancient Egyptian men did not give their wives shoes to wear; European men in the Middle Ages made chastity belts for women. In fact, in poor and backward China, except for a few women from wealthy families, most women with small feet have to run for a living. The hardships they pay are far more than that of a woman with natural feet.
As a custom, foot binding has also led to the formation of other customs. For example, in the ancient foot racing meeting in Datong, Shanxi, women showed their little feet to people on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month. Take pride in getting good reviews.
Foot binding was also banned in history. Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty explicitly prohibited it, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also issued a similar decree. It was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that the maritime ban was lifted. Amid the constant appeals from foreign cultures and advanced intellectuals, the custom of footbinding slowly died out. Especially after the Revolution of 1911, foot binding was gradually abolished from cities to villages. Today, we can still see some women with a pair of so-called "liberated feet" or "half-bound feet," but those true "three-inch golden lotus feet" have become increasingly rare.
The custom of foot binding. It reflects the unique aesthetic standards and the social structure of male superiority and female inferiority in ancient China. Its demise shows the liberation and improvement of women's status, and also marks that China has moved from tradition to modernity.