When it comes to women with bound feet, we all think of a bad habit, that is, foot binding. Foot binding involves binding a woman's feet at a very young age, eventually causing the feet to become deformed. seriously harms women's rights .
In the old days, Three-Inch Golden Lotus can help women marry into wealthy families, help women compare their beauty, and help women find the right husband. The smaller the feet, the higher the status.
What is foot binding?
Business women don’t know the hatred of their country’s subjugation, but they still sing in the backyard across the river. This sentence says Li Yu Even if their country is subjugated, they don’t know the hatred of their country’s subjugation at all. They only know how to indulge in female sex. Yao Niang is the most famous representative.
Yao Niang was one of Li Yu's concubines who was good at dancing. The emperor wanted her to dance among lotus flowers, so she began to bind her feet just to make it look like she was dancing among lotus flowers. As a result, the custom of foot binding gradually became popular among the people.
China’s four great inventions are world-famous, but there is one invention that can be ranked fifth------foot binding.
Mr. Lu Xun once said: Start with prostitutes, then start with modern girls, then go to ladies, and finally reach Xiaojiabiyu.
Foot binding became popular in the whole society, and gradually became popular. Since the custom of foot binding began to develop during the reign of Li Yu in the Southern Tang Dynasty, many literati and poets have always praised this custom. What is even more ironic is that many women began to feel ashamed of their big feet in the Song Dynasty.
The specific method of foot binding is: use a long cloth bag to wrap the woman's feet. After a long period of binding, the bones of the feet will change and eventually become deformed and slender, reaching the "three-dimensional" state. A golden lotus". After a woman's feet are bound, the three-inch golden lotus becomes her privacy, and only her husband is qualified to see it.
Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian During the meal, Ximen Qing pinched Pan Jinlian's feet when he tested her, and then the story of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian came about.
In feudal society, the status of women was not high, and most of them were vassals of men. Women have to follow too many rules, so the development of foot binding is natural. Since ancient times, men have been fond of the appearance of a weak person and the appearance of being worried about illness and work.
Since then, women's feet have been wrapped into three-inch lotuses of "little full room, soft and fragrant", has made women have to be weak and help the wind, so that women have to rely on men and become men's vassals.
"A pair of small feet, a jar of tears" has become a true portrayal of a woman with bound feet. Even if a woman has a smile on her face, tears in her heart, and pain in her feet, she still has to bind her feet. Women’s feet have become men’s consumer goods.
The last woman whose feet were bound
The last woman whose feet were bound in history was Lady Liu. Liu Niang has been outstanding in appearance since she was a child, and is a famous beauty from all over the country. When Liu Niang was a child, she lived in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Footbinding was something she was required to do by her parents.
Because of her unique and beautiful appearance, Liu Niang’s parents placed high hopes on her. They hoped that she could marry into a wealthy family, that she could bring a steady stream of wealth to her family, and that she could make her family prosperous.
When Liu Niang was four years old, her parents began to bind her feet. They believe that if you want to be rich, you must start from an early age, so Liu Niang grew up in traditional education.
Comparisons with the custom of foot-binding have led many parents who are obsessed with profit to bind girls' feet since childhood. Although the binding of a girl's feet when she was young did not hurt much at first, it completely hindered the growth of the bones in her feet.
After having her feet bound, Ms. Liu’s feet hurt every night, as if they were being stabbed by needles. Every time Liu Niang asked her parents to give up, she was always rejected by her parents. unknown results consume a lot of time.
When Liu Niang grew up to be a young girl, her bound feet could only walk with very small steps. Every step she took felt like needles pricking her feet, and her feet were very painful, but she still appeared calm and relaxed on the surface.
Because of her outstanding appearance and three-inch golden lotus, when she was ready to get married, Liu Niang became very popular in the country.
Liu Niang’s parents thought this was a good thing, because it meant that their daughter could have a variety of choices, and that she could become rich. Does Liu Niang really think so? Is it really worth exchanging the imperfection of your legs and the pain every moment for a wealthy marriage?
Liu Niang’s marriage was decided by her parents, and she was promised to the largest local family. Equivalent to today's wealthy families, marrying into a wealthy family sounds infinitely glorious, but is it really that good?
After Liu Niang married into a wealthy family, although her husband was considerate and her mother-in-law was easy to get along with, she had to face a pain every day, which was foot washing. When washing your feet, you need to put down the foot binding cloth first, and then feel the severe pain while washing your feet.
The unmarried girls in Yunying from Shili and Baxiang believe that the reason why Liu Niang successfully married into a wealthy family is inseparable from the three-inch golden lotus. So at that time, many people came to ask Lady Liu's parents how to bind their feet and when was the best time to bind their feet.
Sadly, footbinding has become a common practice in the wandering era. How can one person fight against an era, how can one person fight against a society, and how can one person fight against everyone's thoughts?
Foot binding was not only the tragedy of Liu Niang, but also the tragedy of all women in that era.
The end of foot binding
Is foot binding always binding? In fact, it is not the case. Binding and untying feet, binding and untying feet are a process. The famous Kangxi Emperor once issued a ban on foot-binding, but because the people's thinking did not fundamentally change, the ban was ultimately ignored.
The essence of foot binding is to further strengthen the rights of men in society, implying that men's status was higher than women in the society at that time. The decline of the feudal dynasty brought foot binding to an end.
Foreign missionaries were shocked by the bad custom of foot binding among Chinese women. Under the Western ideology of advocating freedom, they do not understand why there is a custom of foot binding.
The first institution in modern Chinese history to ban foot binding was the Tianzu Society established by foreign missionaries. The Tianzu Association requires all women who join the association to prohibit foot binding.
After the Shanghai Tianfoot Association was established, its leaders continued to publicize the dangers of footbinding and spread the concept of banning footbinding by making friends with influential figures. Although the spread of the
concept did not bring immediate positive effects, it did sow the seeds for the elimination of foot binding. A single spark of can start a prairie fire.
Although the Empress Dowager Cixi was the main figure that caused the failure of the reform, she supported the ban on female foot binding organized by Kang Youwei and other important reformists.
After the founding of the Kuomintang, people from all walks of life held a Women's Day commemoration meeting. After the meeting, 100,000 women marched, demanding that the government strengthen its efforts to ban foot binding.
After the founding of the Communist Party, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region government issued regulations prohibiting women's foot-binding and sent a large number of women cadres to go to the grassroots to do persuasive work.
After the founding of New China, the Government Council issued an order banning female footbinding. After this, the status of women began to rise, and they were on the same footing as men.
