Confucius has clouds: "Only women and villains are difficult to raise." ”
All along, whenever a man despises a woman, he will always take this sentence as his fulcrum, you see, even Confucius thought that women were difficult to raise.
But in fact, there is a sentence after this sentence, "The near is not inferior, and the far is resentful." Taken together, these two sentences mean that only the concubines and servants of the family are the most difficult to raise. If you are close to them, he will not give in, and if you are far away from them, they will resent you.
These two sentences have nothing to do with the upbringing of women in the world. However, looking at the "new translation" given to it by the public, it can be seen that in the subconscious of the world, the status of women is still lower than that of men.
Look at the ancient literati admiring the woman's three-inch small feet, it is precisely because of the man's preference for the three-inch golden lotus that the world is pursuing the three-inch golden lotus and persecuting the woman's heavenly foot.
And in China, there is such a woman, because of a pair of small feet and married into a large family at the age of 16, for 90 years, her feet have only been seen by her husband, and she does not let her children and descendants wash her feet.
The shroud that imprisons the woman
If you want to understand foot binding, to understand why people are so obsessed with wrapping women's feet, you have to start from the source. There are many theories about the origin of women's foot binding, some of which are said to be from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and some of which are said to be from the Tang Dynasty, but after looking at the women's shoes unearthed in many dynasties, people can know that foot binding originated in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Su Shi once chanted the poem "Bodhisattva Man", "Tu Xiang Mo Xi Lian Chengbu." Long sorrow Luo socks Ling Bo went. Only to see the dance back to the wind. None of them were found. Stealing through the palace is stable. Juxtaposition of double-sided sleep. It should be difficult to say that it is delicate. Must be seen from the palm of your hand. This was the first poem in history dedicated to foot binding, and from then on, the literati's preference for small feet became uncontrollable.
In addition, because of the Song Emperor's admiration for foot binding, this also made everyone go up and down. First, royal women began to bind their feet, and then spread to aristocratic families, and then small feet became a common name for women.
I thought that at the end of a dynasty, its customs would also be interrupted, folk women would no longer bind their feet, and it was expected that the foot binding would continue for several generations, until modern times, people expelled this bad custom. If the Yuan Dynasty after the Southern Song Dynasty had banned foot binding, perhaps the custom of foot binding would have been severed.
However, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty held an appreciative and supportive attitude towards foot binding, and in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, there was also the concept of not tying feet as a shame.
In the Ming Dynasty, at this time, its imprisonment of women was particularly serious, and it was also from this dynasty that the idea that small feet must be three inches. At this time, people still regarded foot binding as noble and lowly, and in the Ming Dynasty, Zhejiang and Eastern Zhejiang stipulated that beggar women were not allowed. Objectively speaking, people's fascination with foot binding at that time had become morbid.
During the Qing Dynasty, there were voices against foot binding, but unfortunately, the custom of foot binding has been developed for hundreds of years and is deeply rooted in Chinese soil, so even with the explicit prohibition of several generations of emperors in the Qing Dynasty, people are still happy to secretly wrap their feet.
In the seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the imperial court had no choice but to strike the ban, and later in the Republic of China period, due to the awakening of the people's thinking, this vice was expelled.
How is the "three-inch golden lotus" entangled?
People talk about the three-inch golden lotus now, probably very surprised and curious, how can the feet be wrapped to become three inches? Were people so sick in ancient times? The author has also seen the picture of the old man's little feet on the Internet, never felt that it was beautiful, I am just sad, in the end her feet, her heart has been hurt how much, only to become so small?
According to the data, foot binding is roughly divided into five stages, namely test winding, test tightening, wrapping tip, wrapping thin, wrapping bending. The trial will not be very painful, it will take about a few days to two months, and at this stage, the four little toes twist as far as possible to the center of the foot, so that the girl is used to this restraint. Try to tighten, without me saying that I know, you need to slowly wrap your feet tightly.
The wrapping tip is to wrap the shroud to the tightest extent with the greatest force. And after the wrapping is done, the shroud is sewn up with a needle. The process was painful, and it also required women to walk around in small shoes, and the pain was indescribable. Wrapping is as painful as the tip of the wrap.
In this way, it took several years of hard work to make the little foot into the shape of a "three-inch golden lotus". And if a woman's feet are not as "beautiful" as the "three-inch golden lotus", her family will also use special means to break the foot into a three-inch golden lotus.
According to records, these special means include oleander pieces, pressed stone slabs, wrapped porcelain, etc., all kinds of things here, bamboo is difficult to read! It is impossible to imagine how a woman could have made this journey through purgatory.
Little-footed old man Liu Niang
Yes, there are no people in this world who have feet wrapped around them, but there are still women with small feet in this world who are still alive, such as Liu Niang. Liu Niang is 105 years old this year, she was born in the Republic of China, although some people in the Republic of China are ideologically progressive and no longer wrap their feet, but some people are still swayed by feudal ideas, Liu Niang's parents are such people.
As a result, Liu Niang began to wrap her feet, and her parents thought it was for her own good. Perhaps Liu's father and mother Liu really wrapped their daughter's feet out of good intentions. And Liu Niang was also a beauty when she grew up, and with those small feet, her parents got their wish and married her into a rich family when she was 16 years old.
Because of her small feet, Liu Niang could not do housework. Of course, because she married into a wealthy family, her food, clothing, housing and travel were all served, and she did not need to do housework. It had been about 90 years since the day she walked in the door, and she hadn't let anyone but her husband see her feet. After she had children, she did not let her children wash her feet.
The reason is that, as the author said, foot binding not only hurt her body, but also hurt her heart. The male superiority and female inferiority in feudal thinking still remain in Liu Niang's heart, which is the idea that her parents have implemented for her since childhood, and it is difficult to remove.
I suspect that another reason is probably that she is ashamed to let everyone see her feet. In this society, there are not many foot-binding women anymore, and Liu Niang, as one of the few people, may also know that she has become an "outlier". Although most people in society have good intentions towards her, she can't bear the eyes of everyone.
Today, Liu Niang still lives in her husband's family, although she has not suffered hardships in her life because of this pair of small feet and married into a rich family. But because of these little feet, she couldn't go far. It is reported that after marrying, the farthest distance Liu Niang has traveled is from home to the mouth of the village. In this life, she has been imprisoned in this village and has not traveled to the north and south of the great river, which has to be said to be a sadness.
Looking at Liu Niang's story, the author is both relieved and sad. In fact, the author also understands that if you want to pursue equality between men and women in the practical sense, you still have a long way to go. And looking at the ancient women's foot-binding customs, the author is very happy with the modern openness and tolerance.
I only hope that Liu Niang's story will not be repeated in modern times, and I only hope that everyone will not focus on pleasing others and live their own lives. Doing that would make life too sad.