With the development of history, different periods will present different social phenomena. Today we talk about the performance of women in different dynasties. As early as the Han Dynasty, the status of women has been greatly improved, and some talented women can even split the land and be marquis, for example, Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, once named the wife of his brother who had followed him for many years as the Marquis of Yin'an. Moreover, at that time, women did not have to abide by the three virtues and four virtues, and it was also common for widows to remarry. It can be said that in the Han Dynasty, the status of women was the highest status of all dynasties except modern times. After saying that the status is high, is there any low status? The answer, of course, is yes.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, for women, there was also a strange phenomenon - raising thin horses. Of course, the "skinny horses" here are naturally not real horses, but those women who have been bought since childhood, who are cute-looking, good at singing and dancing, and when they grow up, they will be sold to rich merchants or qinglou at high prices to make a profit. Skinny horse is an insulting word for women, meaning that women can be destroyed and ravaged at will, just like a servant abusing a weak horse.
This phenomenon began in the Ming Dynasty, and in the Yangzhou area, there appeared a large number of specially trained young women who were well-trained, graceful and able to sing and dance, and were always ready to be bought by rich merchants to become concubines, most of whom were slim and emaciated, and who were pitiful. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "the world's beautiful women are out of Yangzhou", so they are also called "Yangzhou Skinny Horses". In fact, the so-called "skinny horse" refers specifically to those poor women who are bought and sold, and the Ming and Qing dynasties even developed into a profiteering industry, and there are many people who specialize in this industry, buying at low prices and high prices, and making huge profits from it. There is a very strict identification procedure for the selection of skinny horses, and the most important thing for merchants is the judgment of the small feet of skinny horses. There is also a set of extremely detailed methods for identifying this "three-inch golden lotus", and people have also formulated seven standards for this purpose, such as "thin, small, pointed, curved, fragrant, soft, and positive".
The reason for this phenomenon, in addition to the drive of interests, is actually the heartache and helplessness of the people. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chinese population grew rapidly, and the level of productivity at that time was low. Many people do not have enough to eat, in order to make a living, but also in order not to let their daughters starve to death, forced to sell their daughters. Even so, there are still many poor families who still don't have enough to eat, and a cute-looking girl will only sell for twenty or thirty yuan at most. But after buying them, these "skinny horses" can not produce immediate benefits, they still need to go through a lot of training, as to what kind of person they will eventually become, it still depends on their own talent and efforts. If all aspects are excellent, the talent is outstanding, that is to say, no matter how high the price will be bought, if the appearance is ordinary, the talent is also average, the price will be lower, the profit margin is not so large.
Seeing here, do you think that the "skinny horse" is actually not bad, not only to avoid being starved to death, but also to learn the art of singing and dancing, to have a skill, and even to be a concubine for rich merchants, such a life seems to be quite complete. But if that's all there is to it, it's really good, but the reality is often counterproductive. Although they look glamorous and beautiful, most of them are actually very miserable, and they are directly reduced to playthings after being bought. Some lucky people will marry rich merchants and become concubines. But there will also be some who will enter the Green Building and fall into the dust from then on. Or there will be some exceptionally good "skinny horses" who will continue to be traded and change hands, but they cannot resist.
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A scholar of the Qing Dynasty recorded in his writings that within three or five years of thin horses, he would change a master. Like the role of Yang Mi in the movie "Embroidered Spring Knife", it is a "Yangzhou skinny horse". The painting skills she mastered were only learned during training, not by her parents. It can be seen that the ugly phenomenon of "Yangzhou skinny horse" appeared in the feudal era, and the fundamental reason was also due to factors such as the backwardness of productive forces and the concept of inequality between people.