Foot binding, a common custom in China's feudal society, has undoubtedly caused deep harm to women. When the girl is only five or six years old, the young feet are wrapped in footcloths, which prevent them from developing properly, and the bones of the feet are deformed. This deformed aesthetic concept makes the smaller the entangled and crippled feet, the more beautiful they are, hence the name "three-inch golden lotus". In that era, when a girl was looking for her in-laws, the main criterion for a blind date was to look at the feet rather than the head, and small feet were considered the most beautiful. Ancient Chinese women used to walk slowly and slowly for beauty. The poem "The moon rises brightly, the outstanding people are slight, and the soothing and graceful gait" in the "Book of Songs" depicts a soothing and beautiful gait, and Zhang Pingzi also has a saying in "Nandu Fu" that "Luo socks are tiptoeing and happy". These are in stark contrast to the vulgarity of foot binding. So, when exactly did foot binding begin?There are different opinions, and there is no consensus. Some people believe that it began in the Han Dynasty, according to the record of "Miscellaneous Secrets" quoted in the "Dan Lead General Record", Han Baolin Wu Jiao said that the Liang Shang women's football team was eight inches long, and the flat toes of the shin and tarsus were tightened, and the socks were about to be forced, and they were as small as the forbidden middle. And in "Peacock Flying Southeast", there are also verses of "stepping on silk shoes, slender and slender steps, exquisite and unparalleled". These depictions are believed to be depictions of small feet.
Another theory is that foot binding began in the Six Dynasties. According to the "History of the South", the Marquis of Qi Dong dun chiseled gold for Pan Guifei to stick to the ground, and ordered the concubine to walk on it, saying that this step by step gave birth to a lotus. The six dynasties of Yuefu double-line entanglement said: "Silla embroidered line entanglement, feet such as spring research;."Others don't say good, only I know pity!These descriptions are thought to reflect the phenomenon of foot binding at the time. Another theory is that foot binding began in the Tang Dynasty. According to Yi Shizhen's "Langhuan Ji": "During the Anshi Rebellion", after Yang Guifei was hanged to death in Ma Weipo, an old woman became rich because she found the concubine's socks. His daughter Yufei also picked up a pair of bird's head shoes;It is embedded with pearls, and the shoes are only three inches long. Yufei regards this as a strange treasure and never wants to show it to others easily. According to "Poetry and Turtle", Tang Xuanzong returned from Shu and wrote "Luo Socks Ming" in memory of Yang Guifei: "Luo socks and socks, the fragrance and dust are endless......These descriptions are also thought to be related to foot binding. There is also a theory that foot binding began in five generations. "Nancun Dropout Record" records that the queen of Li in the Southern Tang Dynasty had a palace concubine named My Aunt, who was slender and could sing and dance. "After the main golden lotus, six feet high", so that my aunt wrapped her feet with silk, bent into the shape of a crescent, wearing white socks dancing in the lotus, whirling and flying, just like Lingyun stepping on the fog. "Daoshan News" also said: Empress Li's aunt wrapped her feet with silk, making her slender and bent in the shape of a crescent. These descriptions are also thought to reflect the phenomenon of foot binding at the time. After the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict prohibiting women's foot binding. This pair of women is really "liberated". However, the Xi formed over a long period of time was not easy to change, and it caused a lot of controversy at that time. In the seventh year of Kangxi, the minister Wang Xi was exempted from the ban, so the people openly bound their feet. It was not until the eve of liberation that the wind of foot binding gradually disappeared.
As a folk Xi, women's foot binding was recognized by feudal rulers and appreciated by literati and inkers. However, there are few records of this in the official histories of the past dynasties. Therefore, it seems that it is not an easy task to find out the beginning time of ancient women's foot binding. AI assistant creation season