In daily life, there are various types of shoes, such as leather shoes, cloth shoes and rubber shoes, etc., but in the ancient society where material life was not developed, the types of shoes were very monotonous, which can be summarized as nothing more than two, namely grass shoes and hemp shoes. Interestingly, both shoe experts have unearthed, which kind of shoes are more comfortable to wear? If you also want to know, the following Xiaobian will reveal it.
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As the name suggests, pucao shoes are shoes woven from puddle, and today they are still an intangible cultural heritage in the Jiangnan area. Experts say that it is an aquatic plant that is widely distributed in riverbank swamps, and because the leaves of the grass are tough, it is very suitable as a weaving material, such as shoes, mats and bamboo baskets.
Judging from archaeological findings, the ancients have been weaving with puddle grass as early as 1,000 years ago. On the vast Gobi sand dunes in Sanbao Township, Turpan, Xinjiang, there is an ancient tomb group from the Jin and Tang Dynasties, that is, the Astana Ancient Tomb Group. Since the 1950s, archaeologists have excavated the Astana tomb complex, cleaning up more than 400 tombs and unearthing a large number of paintings, silk fabrics and carved figurines, including the earliest pair of grass shoes to date. This grass shoe looks like a women's shoe, about 26 cm long and about 6 cm wide, the toe is slightly upturned, like a small boat, the front of the shoe is hollow, and there are neat laces, but the sole and heel have been worn.
Archaeologists said that according to the documents in the tomb, this grass shoe is a relic of the Wuzhou period of the Tang Dynasty, which has a history of more than 1300 years, and it is not easy to preserve it intact to this day. In addition to the grass shoes, experts have also unearthed one of the earliest hemp shoes.
In 1975, on the Phoenix Mountain in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, archaeologists discovered 185 ancient tombs from the Qin and Han dynasties, which caused great discussion in the academic circles for a time. After several years of investigation and research, experts excavated the Han tomb numbered 168. Tomb 168 is relatively well preserved, the passage, pit and burial chamber are clearly recognizable, and experts have also found coffins and a large number of burial items in the burial chamber. Among the many burial items in the burial chamber, experts found a delicate linen shoe, about 29 cm long and about 11 cm wide, lined with grain, and the sole had traces of wear, so experts speculated that this was the hemp shoe worn by the owner of the tomb.
Prior to this, no intact hemp shoes had been unearthed in archaeological discoveries, so the hemp shoes unearthed from the Han Tomb of Fenghuangshan were also praised by experts as "the first shoe in the world". For hemp shoes, perhaps many readers are also unfamiliar, in fact, hemp shoes are shoes woven with hemp, and the difference with grass shoes is that the materials used are different. In daily life, hemp is also a common plant, in some places is also a crop, hemp is rich in skin fibers, is the main raw material for making hemp rope, because hemp is very wear-resistant, so it is also used to weave shoes.
Seeing this, perhaps you also have a question, is it comfortable to wear grass shoes, or hemp shoes to wear? In order to answer this question, of course, we must not imagine it out of thin air, but must be through our own trial practice to come up with an accurate answer. Nowadays, we can also buy grass shoes and hemp shoes in some remote market towns, of course, these shoes are all hand-knitted, and some shoes are not cheap.
We put on the grass shoes barefoot, the first feeling is very light, walking can obviously feel that the sole is very thin, walking for a while the heel hurts. In addition, if the edge of the grass is not handled well, it will also be uncomfortable to wear, and the most important thing is that the grass shoes become very loose after wearing for a long time, and they cannot hang on to the feet at all. Looking at hemp shoes, barefoot hemp shoes are slightly more comfortable than grass shoes, after all, the fibers of hemp are very soft, but the hemp shoes will become red, swollen and itchy after wearing for a long time. The most uncomfortable thing is that once the hemp shoes are wet by the rain, it is not easy to dry, and the whole wet wrapped on the feet is particularly uncomfortable. All in all, grass shoes and hemp shoes are uncomfortable to wear, and the experience is very poor.
However, we can not use today's feeling to evaluate ancient shoes, after all, in that era when many people did not have shoes to wear, it was already very good to have a pair of grass shoes, or hemp shoes, so for the ancients to wear shoes, there is not much attention at all. In today's society, our material life is greatly enriched, and there are all kinds of shoes to meet people's needs, so we have begun to become picky, but we can't look at ancient things with modern eyes, because our ancestors came in hardship, they are really great.
Resources:
"Huaxia Yiguan" author: Sun Ji, publisher: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written by: Special History Writer: Liu Lijiang's