Before reading this article, I would like to ask readers and friends a question, have you heard of the "Seven Wonders of the Republic of China"? The story we are going to tell today is related to one of the "strange things". Before telling the story, we have to understand a bad habit called "three inches of golden lotus".
The three-inch golden lotus, also known as "foot binding", is an ancient Chinese bad habit that refers to women wrapping their feet tightly with cloth to make their feet deformed and smaller, in order to be beautiful. What is the most terrible thing, the average ancient woman began to wrap her feet from the age of 4 or 5, until the bones were wrapped to a fixed shape when they grew up, and then the winding cloth belt was untied, and there was no shortage of lifelong wrappers.
In the Warring States Policy, it is written: "Soldiers die for those who know themselves, and women are tolerant for those who please themselves." From this sentence, we can see that ancient women dressed up carefully in order to like their own people (of course, some people say that women dressed up in order to please themselves), in ancient times thousands of years ago, women did most of them live dependent on men, and it is this kind of thinking that the "three-inch golden lotus" was born.
According to historical data, the bad habit of "foot binding" began in the late Northern Song Dynasty and became popular in the Southern Song Dynasty. "Mozi" wrote: "The king of Chu has a thin waist, and many people in the palace starve to death." This means that the King of Chu Ling likes people to have a very slender waist, and men are no exception, and the ministers of the DPRK are afraid that they are not favored because of obesity, and they dare not eat more, although they do not starve to death, but they are basically hungry and thin, and they are malnourished. It can be seen that since ancient times, the ancients in our country have a high pursuit of stature.
In the Song Dynasty, there is such a sentence - "Lizong Dynasty, palace people tie their feet straight", which means that in the Royal Family of the Song Dynasty, women in the palace need to wrap their feet to achieve a small and straight appearance. To modern women, and even men, this kind of demand is very excessive and incredible, but in that era, women had no choice.
In the Song Dynasty, even literary tycoons like Su Shi wrote poems that appreciated foot binding: "It is difficult to say that it is difficult to say, and it must be seen from the palm of your hand." It means that the woman with her feet is so delicate and wonderful that it is difficult to describe, how to describe it? The woman must be held in the palm of her hand to see her feet. With a person's foot in the middle of the palm of your hand, how small do you think about how small it is?
People who have watched costume TV dramas know that usually the ladies and ladies have to be helped by people, not just because of their honorable status, but the "three-inch golden lotus", which cannot walk normally at all, so at that time, it was often said that "the waist and limbs are only afraid of the wind blowing down", and when the wind blows, they will fall, so that men feel "ChuChu pitiful" and very fond of it.
Such a deformed "aesthetic" lasted in the Qing Dynasty, in 1638 AD, the Qing Taizu Emperor Taiji ordered that women be prohibited from "tying their hair and wrapping their feet"; when the Shunzhi Emperor arrived, it was stipulated that whoever wrapped his feet was to resist the will and exiled 3,000 miles away; the Kangxi Emperor once again reiterated that foot binding was not allowed, but the terrible thing was that foot binding developed to the "peak" state in the Qing Dynasty, from noble concubines to ethnic minority women in the far northwest, they all began to wrap their feet, because they felt that "weak" would hurt, and the shape of the feet at that time. Size is the boundary between beauty and ugliness for a woman.
Until the Republic of China period, there were still "three inches of golden lotus", and at that time, "arranged marriage" was still popular, what woman did parents like most in the old era? Of course, it is gentle and virtuous, it is best to have another "three-inch golden lotus", will not go out and walk around, obediently stay at home to teach their husbands and children.
So one of the "Seven Wonders of the Republic of China" happened, and the master of traditional Chinese studies, Hu Shi, married Jiang Dongxiu, the lady of the little foot. Hu Shi did not agree to the marriage at first, but he was an advocate of the new cultural movement, how could he marry a lady with bad habits in the old era? But the two old ladies have already decided, and you can't help but refuse.
Jiang Dongxiu was born in a famous and prestigious family in Jingde County, Anhui Province, but was bound by feudal etiquette, did not receive any cultural education, attended a private school for several years, knew a little about writing, and wrapped his feet from an early age; Hu Shi was an advocate of China's new cultural movement, a chinese literary master, and actually took a small foot lady from the countryside, and people at that time ridiculed him as "Hu Shi is famous in the universe, and the lady's little foot is also followed." "Become one of the "Seven Wonders" that everyone talks about.
In fact, it is very sad to see here, Jiang Dongxiu has been wrapped in her feet since she was a child, is it her own choice? Jiang Dongxiu has no culture, is it that she is willing? People made fun of her with this, how sad. Even her husband Hu Shi is also very disgusted with her "three-inch golden lotus", Jiang Dongxiu is a strong woman, every time she washes her feet, she is in unbearable pain, never says anything to Hu Shi, she survived, and their marriage lasted until the death of the two.
"Foot binding", which destroys the normal development of women's limbs, has long been abandoned, and modern women no longer have to wrap their feet for the so-called "soft and weak beauty", women should live for themselves and live wonderfully!
References: "New Explanation of the Causes of Foot Binding by Han Women", "Dictionary of Chinese and Foreign Folklore"