"I hate pressing gold threads every year and making wedding clothes for others."
The women of china's ancient feudal society, as vassals of men, always appeared in literary works with a tragic and miserable image. Qin Taoyu, a Poet of the Tang Dynasty in China, portrayed the image of a poor woman in his poetic work "Poor Girl", and the poet placed her in a contradiction and conflict with the social environment of feudal China, revealing her deep inner pain through monologues. Step by step, I plunged myself into the feudal regulations, into the cage of the abyss. This last cry of the psalm portrays the typical image of oppressed women in ancient China.
If we look at women and vassals of feudal society, because women's status has long been located in the downstream of China's ancient feudal autocracy, it is precisely for this reason that the ideas of generation after generation have been passed down, which can be said to be one of the most profound main aspects of the poisoning of human nature under the feudal system, and it is also the main mountain of oppression of women in ancient China and modern times.
However, in the thousands of years of ancient China, many female characters were born who were unwilling to endure and swallow their voices. From the emperors and generals to the ordinary people of Li, there were many outstanding female representatives, who used their lives and their own values to launch a time and against the unfair etiquette of ancient China. In modern times, there has even been a phenomenon of using one feudal etiquette against another.
Women in feudal society, when they became adults, took the initiative to curl up their hair section by section, looking clean and sharp. In ancient times, a woman's hair curled up meant that she had been married as a human woman. Not married but take the initiative to curl their hair, which means that they are in opposition to the traditional feudal etiquette, no longer listen to the opinions of their parents and families, under the limited historical conditions at that time, more and more women take the initiative to curl their hair, and even form a custom passed down, they have a unified name: "self-combing women." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > the origin of the ancient self-combing woman</h1>
The ancient Chinese self-combing women originated in the second half of the Qing Dynasty and have a historical origin of nearly 300 years, mainly in the Guangdong region and are a special group unique to southern China. The group of self-combing women focuses on the Pearl River Delta region, mainly in the coastal cities of Guangdong, and its specific location is similar to the current Guangzhou-Foshan urban agglomeration. The earliest was in the second half of the Qing Dynasty, guangdong opened the port, slowly there was the development of the silk industry, Guangdong has a record of "self-combing women".
According to the "Shunde County Chronicle", at that time, the silk industry in Guangdong was developed, and many female workers in silk workshops were able to go to factories to work and gain economic independence, and these women obtained jobs to realize the value of their lives, but heavy work also bound them, and the situation of self-combing women in other districts and counties in Foshan was similar to that of the place.
Self-combing women comb up their hair, must take care of their own bodies, can no longer contact with other men, produce any emotional and physical connection, if found, will be abandoned by the clan, the light will accept the unbearable insults of the clan, and even be beaten by the villagers, pulled to the river to soak the pig cage. Therefore, under normal circumstances, this self-combing woman will be more self-loving and independent. After these comb girls have held the ceremony, they represent independence, and in the future, they can break into society alone, cultivate alone, do business, and work as women, and no longer be blamed by the village.
Ancient women who had decided not to marry had to participate in a traditional ancient ritual of bundling, which is called "self-combing". According to records, the traditional custom is usually held in the self-grooming women and many "aunt houses" where they are gathered, and the women who prepare to comb themselves on the day must prepare new clothes, walks, mirrors, socks and incense, candles, and dishes in advance, and wash their bodies, worship their ancestors and worship the gods, and they must swear that they will not marry again, and they will not be emotional, and then the elderly self-combing women will comb their braids into buns, change new clothes and shoes, and salute other self-combing.
After the custom is completed, the woman officially becomes a self-combing woman" and cannot be regretted for the rest of her life. "Self-combing women" can continue to live in their parents' homes in their daily lives, but they have to live alone for themselves, and they can also party with other self-combing women, who will form a group and take care of each other's living and living after they are older.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > the current situation of self-combing women in ancient times</h1>
In the 1930s, the silk industry in the coastal areas of Guangdong declined, and these women workers became more and more unable to make ends meet. They heard that southeast Asia was richly paid, so they went to Nanyang to work, and did not talk about marriage, but they brought the previous custom of combing women to the past, still adhering to the previous habit of independence and autonomy, and carrying forward the traditional charm of Chinese women.
With the continuous development of the women's liberation movement in modern times, the abolition of the feudal system, the feudal mountains that have constrained Chinese women for more than 2,000 years have finally been lifted, and the founding of the Republic of China has brought about the idea of emancipation. As more and more new ideas were introduced into China, the custom of self-combing was gradually eliminated, and in the early days of the Republic of China, when China's traditional silk industry was attacked by foreign capitalism, and it was devastated by the war, it was more and more difficult to continue to be sustainable, and self-combing women could not continue to make a living, and some people went to Hong Kong to be "self-combing domestic maids", that is, mother sisters; now the seven sisters in the east of Hong Kong's North Point are also along the self-combing women.
With the continuous development of society, there are now many strong women in various industries in our country. Female politicians, economists, and cultural scholars have quantitatively approached men. Even in the construction industry and various agricultural and animal husbandry industries, many strong women can be seen. The status of women became more and more important, so the custom of combing women slowly faded away.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > summary:</h1>
"The wandering of the boy is the responsibility, and the daughter wandering depends on the barrenness." The previous "self-combing women" were chosen to comb themselves because of feudal etiquette, for the livelihood of the family, for their own independence, and for the sake of anti-feudal and anti-oppression. These hard times of leaving home alone, along with the changes in society, slowly disappeared and slowly disappeared.
According to the latest statistics, as of now, there are still 15 recorded "self-combing women" in foshan, Guangdong. Time is like an arrow, the sun and the moon are like shuttles, with the continuous passage of time, the "self-combing women" in the southern region of Guangdong, the special group of women will slowly disappear in the horn of the years, sometimes will be recalled, sometimes will be used to study, but will eventually withdraw from the historical stage, this culture will slowly no longer be inherited.
In recent years, the coastal areas of Guangdong have begun to reminisce about the old history, and various exhibition halls, memorial halls and history museums related to "self-combing women" have been prepared. These include the Bingyutang "Self-Combing Women" Exhibition Hall in Jun'an, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, and the Self-Combing Women Exhibition Hall in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, which show the history of this special group of women to the world.
References: General History of China, Zizhi Tongjian