I don't know if you have found that the grandmothers who are now a hundred years old are almost all "three-inch golden lotus", they are often forced to break the soles of their feet by their parents when they are four or five years old, and then wrap them with thick long cloth, and wrap their feet only, so that the bones of the feet cannot grow normally, gradually become deformed, and finally become "three-inch golden lotus".
According to Gao Hongxing's "History of Foot Binding" and a large number of documentary records, foot binding originally originated in the late Northern Song Dynasty and developed into the Southern Song Dynasty before gradually flourishing. However, during the Southern Song Dynasty, foot binding had not yet developed into the modern "three-inch golden lotus", and although the woman's feet were wrapped in a thick shroud, it was only a little smaller than normal. According to the "Crane Forest Yulu" record, during the Song Dynasty, there was a woman who claimed to be a princess, but people saw that she had big feet and suspected that she was impersonating. It can be seen that the custom of the small feet of royal women has been introduced to the folk.
In addition, the "History of the Five Elements of Song" records that during the Lizong Dynasty, the palace people tied their feet and straightened their feet. This is strong evidence of the foot binding of the women in the palace. For some reason, the literati of the Song Dynasty were very fond of women's foot binding, even Su Shi and Xin Zhiyi were no exception. Xin Zhiyi once wrote in "Bodhisattva Man": Pale yellow bow shoes are small, and the waist and limbs are only afraid of the wind blowing down. In their eyes, women with feet wrapped in their feet will take a special step when they walk, giving people a feeling of shaking and weak wind, and their "chuchu pitiful" often arouses men's desire to protect.
In the Ming Dynasty, foot binding once became a symbol of social status and noble rank. Historical records record that in the early Ming Dynasty, in order to crack down on Zhang Shicheng's old department, Zhu Yuanzhang not only organized them into "beggar households", but also ordered them to "not read books for men and no foot binding for women." From the current point of view, those women who did not wrap their feet were blessed by misfortune, but only suffered those men who could not read. In addition, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty were also very obsessed with small feet, and Ming Wuzong often pageanted women with small feet. Therefore, Hu Shi listed foot binding, eight strands of literature, and opium as the three major diseases of the Ming Dynasty.
During the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Taiji ordered the abolition of the custom system of women's foot binding, and even established a separate punishment to punish the family of women who tied their feet. However, despite the severe punishment and heavy law, it is still impossible to prevent the prevalence of foot binding, and foot binding has even become an important indicator to judge whether a woman can marry into the rich, and Liu Niang in the Republic of China period is a vivid example. Liu Niang has been a beautiful billet since birth, and her family has said that she will be able to marry a good family in the future, provided that she wraps her feet well.
When Liu Niang was 5 years old, her parents forcibly wrapped her feet in thick cloth strips, allowing her to cry uncontrollably, and at the same time she still had words in her mouth: This is all for your own good, what is your name! In this way, Liu Niang also fell victim to foot binding. When she was 15 years old, she married into the local local tycoon Wang family, and a few years later gave birth to 3 big fat boys, and the Wang family praised her. However, Every time Liu Niang washed her feet, the pain was unbearable, and she looked at her little feet and felt very sad.
What is infuriating is that her husband not only did not feel sorry for Liu Niang, but praised her small feet for good looks, and said that the small feet could only be shown to him alone, and that to show them to others was chaste and unsafe. It can be seen from this that the horror of feudal thinking is vividly reflected in the "three-inch golden lotus".