Is the "three-inch golden lotus" really attractive? Today, in the 21st century, people can no longer accept the unhealthy habit of foot binding. Those deformed little feet only make people feel distressed when they look at them, and they have no beauty at all.
However, men in ancient times were obsessed with it, and they were proud of whose wives had smaller feet, and women at that time, as accessories of men, were also willing to cater to this pathological pursuit of men.
China's first foot-bound woman began her foot-binding life precisely because she fell in love with Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, so who was the woman who bound Li Yu's feet? How did foot binding become so common?
Li Yu, an emperor, was widely praised for his literary talents. This writer who likes to dance and write and recite poetry and the moon is also an affectionate person when he was young.
One day, he and several literati dressed up as wealthy and noble sons and went to the Qinhuai River to play, and the figure of the beautiful man on the cruise boat attracted the attention of beauties on both sides of the strait.
Just as everyone was enjoying themselves, there was a melodious singing voice on the riverbank, and the voice should be a beautiful woman. The singing voice is lingering and compassionate, and Li Yu's "Wangjiangnan" is even more intoxicating.
Everyone followed the prestige and found a young girl on a flower boat, although she was a Hongchen woman, but her demeanor was dignified and there was no sense of frivolity. Li Yu fell in love at first sight, regardless of etiquette, and stepped forward to greet him.
She was called "Lady of the Princess", and it is said that she was born into a family of eunuchs, and later because of her family's downfall, she was forced to become a singer here.
Li Yu's words made the lady fascinated, and her love for Li Yu was beyond words. On the banks of the Qinhuai River, she is no less famous than any Oiran, yet her most beautiful singing voice is only a tenth of her beauty.
Li Yu was attracted by the talent and beauty of the lady and decided to take her back to the palace. However, as the daughter of a criminal minister, she was opposed by the ministers after entering the palace, especially her beautiful face and talent made them think that she was a witch of the country.
In the face of the opposition of the ministers, Li Yu didn't care, his feelings for the lady deepened day by day, and the two got along with each other, making their hearts closer and closer. Li Yu likes words, while Miao Niang likes his words and adapts his words into songs and dances to make the words more vivid.
Compared with other concubines in the harem, Miao Niang understands Li Yu's mind better and can better cater to his preferences, so Li Yu regards her as a confidant.
While playing in the Imperial Garden, Li Yu was deeply attracted by the delicate lotus flowers in the pond, and created poems one after another around the shape of the lotus flowers. At dusk, the lotus flowers are even more chic against the backdrop of the sunset.
Li Yu said to the lady beside him: "This red ling is so beautiful, if people's feet can be as small as it and dance on the lotus pond, it will be even more beautiful." Although Li Yu just said it casually, the lady remembered it in her heart.
All along, she wanted to thank Li Yu, thank him for rescuing her from the wind and dust, and pampering her like a treasure. However, she never found the right moment. Now, Li Yu has said his wish, he likes red ling-like little feet, so the lady will make a pair of "red red diamond little feet" for him.
After some careful consideration, the lady decided to use the method of foot binding to shape her feet into red lings. She had some strips of white cloth prepared, sewn them together, and then used them to wrap her feet.
Although the process was very painful, every time she thought that this would make Li Yu happy, she could muster up the courage to continue. In the process, her feet were sometimes swollen and numb, making it impossible for her to sleep properly.
However, what made her suffer the most was not these physical tortures, but that she could no longer accompany Li Yu out to play. Despite this, she still persevered, just to satisfy Li Yu.
Li Yu looked at the lady distressedly, hoping that she would give up wrapping her feet, but she resolutely refused. Although he was distressed, Li Yu wanted to know deep down in his heart whether the foot binding could successfully create the "Hongling Little Feet".
Even in those days, when the lady had difficulty moving, Li Yu did not lose his love for her. The road to the foot binding of the lady is full of pain and challenges. Every once in a while, she had to remove the footwrap and re-wrap it.
Every time the foot is re-tied, it is like a torture. However, as time went on, her feet really became smaller little by little, and even changed shape. When barefoot, the twisted toes look terrifying.
Due to the change in the shape of the foot, the previous shoes and socks no longer fit. So, she asked the old man in the palace to customize a "red diamond shoe" according to the size and shape of her feet.
When she put on that custom-made Hongling shoe, her whole foot looked like Hongling, small and delicate. When Li Yu saw these feet for the first time, he was ecstatic.
He never thought that the lady could really create a "red diamond little foot" for him. He was moved by the ingenuity and persistence of the lady, and he doted on her even more.
In his spare time, Li Yu often praised the "red diamond little feet" in front of everyone, claiming that they were the most beautiful and agile feet he had ever seen. Although we don't know how beautiful those feet are, Li Yu's appreciation for the Lady also has some intention to comfort her, after all, the Lady has paid a lot for him, and she can't let her hard work be in vain.
Although the ladies in the palace seem to scoff at the Lady Girl's approach on the surface, they secretly want to know what method can make the Lady Lady's feet so small.
After all, who doesn't want to be favored by the emperor? Soon after, the residence of the lady became lively, and the ladies of the palace were embarrassed to go in person, so they let their subordinates go to give gifts to the lady one by one.
Needless to say, everyone knows what it means. Naturally, the lady was reluctant to reveal this secret, because she didn't want anyone to take away her favor. Those concubines couldn't get the secret from the lady, so they turned to the maids beside her.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the trend of "foot binding" became prevalent in the palace. It was also from that time that the custom of "foot binding" plagued Oriental women for thousands of years.
With the leakage of the secret of foot binding, the harem concubines began to follow suit. Li Yu not only did not stop this, but also praised the concubines' "love for beauty". The lady, as the founder of foot binding, is even more proud and complacent because of this, and she walks more proudly.
At that time, the court was the first place to come into contact with fashion trends, and then slowly spread to the people. Footbinding became popular in the court, and the news quickly reached the ears of the minister's family, and everyone entered the palace to inquire about this secret that attracted men.
After foot binding became a fashion symbol for the wealthy, the people began to follow suit. In that feudal society, women were dependent on men, so they were willing to take special ways to cater to men's aesthetics.
The society's requirement for them is "not out of the door, not out of the second door", and foot binding obviously meets this demand, which is also the reason why the trend of foot binding can spread rapidly.
At that time, foot-binding was seen as a symbol of beauty, but in reality, foot-bound women were trapped at home due to their inability to walk. The practice of foot binding has led to a change in the criteria for mate selection in society, and the smaller the foot, the more it is considered to be a rule.
In the era of parents' orders and matchmakers' words, couples often meet on their wedding night and cannot choose a partner. The custom of foot binding has added one more criterion to a man's choice of mate, that is, to look at the size of the foot.
Men are proud of this, and women who marry small feet are considered happy. To cater to this custom, women from.
At the age of four or five, he began to bind his feet and endure pain. While most women have historically bound their feet, in reality, most women have felt pain and helplessness about it.
For example, Liu Yin, an ordinary woman during the Qing Dynasty, suffered greatly because of her foot binding.
When Liu Yin was four years old, her fate began to change. When her mother wrapped her feet for the first time, she was in pain, but she didn't back down. Over time, her feet became deformed, but those around her began to praise her for her "beautiful feet".
Liu Yin is very small, fair-skinned, and her small feet have won her countless envious eyes. When she reached the age of discussing relatives, the people who came to ask for marriage heard about her "beautiful feet", and finally she married an official eunuch, which was a very rare thing in the era when the family was right.
Although she endured more than ten years of pain, the final high marriage made her feel very satisfied, and she also won the envy of countless people.
Although Liu Yin has lived a rich life, the pain caused by foot binding has always been with her. Whenever she heard the sound of water in the footbath, she felt terrified. Although she could order her subordinates to wash her feet, she always did it herself.
This was not because of her lowly status, but because the pain of washing her feet was unbearable. In order to maintain the beauty of the "three-inch golden lotus", Liu Yin has always insisted on binding her feet, which causes her feet to often swell and deform.
Even in the daytime, her feet look beautiful as long as she wears shoes and socks. But once it's time to wash her feet, her pain is exposed. The shape of her feet was distorted, and the pain when washing her feet made her afraid to rub the surface of her feet, so she had to soak them in water and gently wipe them off with a soft cloth.
Liu Yin's life, whether lucky or unlucky, is difficult to measure by modern standards, it is not her choice, nor is it something that the women of that era can decide independently.
Even if Li Yu and Miao Niang did not create the trend of "foot binding", there would be other ways to restrict the freedom of women in the old era. At the end of the day, it's a matter of vision and thinking.
As a vulnerable group, women are physically limited, and in order to further control them, there is even an absurd concept that "women are virtuous if they are not talented". Although we cannot judge the current situation of ancient society from a modern perspective, we must still be glad that we live in a beautiful era of equality and freedom.