History can't bear to look at the complete collection

Chapter 94 Cruel Punishment 5
The Long History of Footwraps
Everyone seems to think that the history of women's footbinding has a long history, it is a kind of culture accompanied by feudal dynasties, and it is a deformed culture handed down from ancient times.However, when archaeologists excavated the ancient tomb more than 1000 years ago, they were surprised to find that the foot bones of the female corpse more than 1000 years ago were not bent, but natural feet.All of a sudden, the long history of foot binding lost its edge. Where should the history of foot binding start?

Tao Zongyi, a literati at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, wrote in "Nancun Stop Farming Records" that Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, on the basis of Tang people's obsession with "bow shoes", also uniquely wrapped bow shoes with long cloth, Instead of socks, he also let his concubine try it out in person to satisfy his perverted aesthetic desire.That is, since then, the method of women's foot binding has been created.

But there is another view that foot binding originated in the Tang Dynasty.At that time, there was an amazing performance of foot-binding dance in the Persian dance, so the men in Datang were infected and let women start to bind their feet.Regardless of the Tang Dynasty or the Southern Tang Dynasty, the time together is not too far away, so it can be considered as the same era.

Foot binding became a fashion, and it has been passed down for so many years. When men chanted "the body, hair and skin are the parents", they also praised how ecstasy women's little feet are.Small feet have been mentioned in many literary works, such as "thin desire to be invisible, the more pity you look at it", "three-inch golden lotus", "soft as boneless, the closer you are, the more resistant to caressing".

Lin Yutang wrote in his article "Chinese Feet Binding": "Watching a woman with small feet walk is like watching an actor walking a tightrope, and you are always being pulled by her heart."

It's a pity that not everyone has Lin Yutang's concept. The ancients described women's small feet as "two crescent moons". In Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West", the Guanyin Bodhisattva who saves the suffering even has small feet. "The jade ring wears embroidered buckles. , deep under the feet of the golden lotus".In the Ming Dynasty, one of the criteria for men to choose a mate was that women's feet must be small enough. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many literary works described women's small feet.

For example, in the Qing Dynasty, there was a man named Fang Xuan, who called himself "Pinghua Yushi", also known as "Dr. Xianglian".He has conducted many researches on ancient women's footbinding. He believes that women's footbinding can give literati rich associations and "aesthetic appreciation", "aesthetic feeling" and "aesthetic requirements" accumulated in feudal history.It can be seen that in ancient times, women's foot binding was actually to satisfy men's visual enjoyment.

In ancient times, men classified women's feet in detail according to their appearance. For example, there was "Sizhaolian".There is also a kind called "Jinbianlian", which is a slender foot between four inches and five inches. "Chai head lotus", that is, thinner and more slender feet. "Single-leaf lotus" is like a leaf-like slender and curved feet. The "Buddha head lotus" is similar to the small feet in the shape of a Buddha's head in a bun.

There are many names for small feet. The obsession of ancient men with small feet caused many women to suffer a lot in order to create these two golden lotuses. In order to bind their feet, they often used white silk when they were still underage. It was a long and painful process to wrap one's feet layer by layer. When they were adults, and then let Bai Ling go, their feet had already been deformed due to the long-term imprisonment.

Archie Pod, a British missionary who lived in China for many years?Lide recorded this process in words: "During the three years with bound feet, the childhood of Chinese girls was the most miserable. They didn't laugh,... Poor! These little girls leaned heavily on a tree that was bigger than theirs. They sit on crutches that are still tall, or lie on the back of an adult, or sit and cry sadly. There are several deep black lines under their eyes, and there is a strange expression on their faces that is only related to the bound feet. The paleness that can only be seen. Their mothers usually put a long bamboo pole by the bed, use this bamboo pole to help the girl stand up, and use it to beat the daughter who cries day and night to annoy the family... The only relief for the daughter is to smoke opium , or hang your feet on a small wooden bed to stop blood circulation. Chinese girls are almost dead in the process of binding their feet."

Although the small feet are admired by men, they have lost their basic functions. Small feet of three or four inches can hardly stand, let alone walk, but men think it is a symbol of beauty. Two golden lotuses are like a spell, Cursed countless women in Chinese history, living in pain all their lives.

(End of this chapter)