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At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong, especially in the Nanhai, Shunde, Panyu and other areas, there was a group of women who longed for independence.
In the old society, women's social status was low, and feudal arranged marriages caused many women to lose themselves and become "slaves" to their husbands' families.
With the rapid development of the silk industry in coastal areas such as Guangdong at that time, many women were able to obtain stable economic resources through silk weaving.
As a result, more and more women began to realize that they could live well without being attached to men and relying on themselves. They began to rebel against this feudal marriage, and in their hearts, the seeds of longing for independence and freedom began to sprout.
This group of women is called "self-combing women", which refers to the marriageable age, self-coiling long braids, combing into buns, indicating that they will never marry for life. Self-grooming women usually gather and live together in a place called "Aunt's House".
An oral excerpt from Approaching Xiqiao's Self-Combing Woman reads:
"At that time, blind marriages were dumb, unlike now, when they were still in love, there were none." With a husband, you don't know whether it's a cripple or a cripple, and then you quarrel and fight, and your husband annoys women outside. At that time I said, I don't marry. ”
The self-combing women, who are not bound by the world, bravely choose a path that seems shocking at the time, they comb themselves without marrying, and they rely on themselves, which can be described as an awakening of women's self-consciousness.
The movie "Self-Combing" is a free and independent special female "Self-Combing Woman" as the depiction object, describing the life of self-combing women under the traditional patriarchal society, and what is even more touching is the true feelings of two women through 50 years of time and space in the movie.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" >01 spans 50 years without fading love</h1>
Yi Huan (Yang Caini) was sold by her father to a landlord to pay off the debt because the family could not pay the money, and she vigorously resisted, choosing to curl her hair and become a "self-combing woman".
"One comb of blessing, two combs of life, three combs of ease, four combs of innocence, five combs of firm heart, six combs of Jinlan sisters love each other, seven combs of great luck, eight combs of no difficulties and no disasters."
However, the family and the landlord still did not let her go, and chased her to her aunt's house to ask for someone. At this time, yuhuan (Liu Jialing), a prostitute in the Xinghualou building, who passed by, threw down the money bag to break the siege.
The prostitute Yuhuan Congliang, married to the local weaving factory owner Chen Yaozong (Dong Wei) as the eighth aunt, and constantly fought with other wives, and at a critical moment, Yi Huan, who was working in the silk weaving factory, blocked the slap of others for her.
From then on, the two quickly became confidants. Boss Chen gave the jade ring to the warlord for his own business. Yuhuan saw through her powerless marriage and chose to leave the Chen family.
At this time, Yi Huan reunites with his first love Wang Cheng (Qian Jiale) on the night of Ah Huan's purchase threshold, and the two fall in love again.
After Yuhuan noticed that something was wrong with Yi Huan, she asked why. When she learned about Yi Huan and Ah Cheng, she left a sentence of "I thought men would disappoint me" and chose to leave.
Soon, Yi Huan found out that she was pregnant. This is a major disaster for self-combing women.
And because he was afraid of being immersed in a pig cage, Ah Cheng did not dare to take responsibility, and also rejected Yi Huan's suggestion to elope. Therefore, Yi Huan, who was as dead as ashes, decided to cure the palace and induce labor.
In order to save Yi Huan, Yuhuan did not hesitate to give up all his family property. After being reborn, Yi Huan walked out of this wrong love and plucked up the courage to accept the jade ring. Together, the two opened a small shop on the docks in Guangzhou and began a life of blandness and hardship.
However, the situation is turbulent and the war is continuous, Yuhuan meets Boss Chen at the dock, he remembers his old feelings, and gives Yuhuan a ticket to escape to the United States.
Yuhuan tore the ticket in half, trying to take advantage of the chaos during the ticket inspection and flee with Yi Huan.
But Yi Huan's ticket was snatched away, and looking at the jade ring that had already boarded the boat, Yi Huan said goodbye to her with tears.
But Yuhuan jumped from the deck of the ship and swam back.
However, the war of the times has devastated them beyond recognition.
In the end, they were separated in the war...
Huangu (Gui Yalei), that is, the elderly Yuhuan, after 50 years of painstaking searching, finally saw yuhuan on the platform of the train.
At the end of the movie, the camera turns, pulling back to the young Yuhuan and Yi Huan walking side by side on the railway station platform, as if after years, the two are still young, holding hands to see each other and smiling, leaving a shadow on the back of this red dust to this red dust mortal world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="62" >02 "self-combing woman" who rebelled against feudal marriage</h1>
Yi Huan is a changeable female character, although she has a rebellious spirit, but it is not decisive enough.
For love, she wants to give up her life, from which she can see her more cowardly side.
However, in that era, she was also quite "rebellious".
She fought hard because she did not want to be sold to the landlord, chose to comb herself in order not to marry someone she did not like; she also bravely proposed to elope in order to pursue her love without fear of the world's eyes.
When she was reborn after all the rebirth, she also faced her own heart, no longer escaped, loyal to herself, and accepted the love of Yuhuan.
For a rural woman, these behaviors are shocking enough.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="64" >03 Independent and strong "modern woman" jade ring</h1>
In Yuhuan's body, we seem to see a figure that belongs to contemporary women. Independent, brave, decisive, strong...
Although she is a prostitute in Qinglou, she does not succumb to the injustice of fate and tries her best to be good; in the face of her husband's betrayal, she still stubbornly resists and does not hesitate to choose to leave.
When she realized her inner feelings for Yi Huan, she also had no fear and bravely expressed them; when Yi Huan did not succeed in boarding the fleeing ship, she gave up her safety and money and jumped back to her side.
When the relentless war separated them, she never gave up searching for Yi Huan's whereabouts for fifty years.
How can such a colorful female figure not be impressive?
With the turning of the cogs of history, today, the story of the self-combing woman has begun to fade slowly, and gradually become a dusty history.
However, some traditional ideas such as "no one wants to marry before the age of 30" and "men should marry when women marry" are still active in today's society and have become a nightmare that contemporary women cannot get rid of.
Fortunately, more and more contemporary women have awakened their sense of independence, they are not willing to marry, and they are obsessed with the pursuit of true love. They understand that marrying for the sake of marriage is a blasphemy against love and marriage.
Mr. Yang Dai once sent a message to young people:
The most important thing about the union of men and women is the degree of mutual understanding between the two sides, and only by understanding each other can they appreciate and attract each other, can they support each other, encourage each other, and be happy with each other.
I think that whether women are married or not, only their own happiness is the most important. After all, life is only a few years in the world, so why should we seek perfection for the sake of an unhappy marriage?
Why not try to pursue your own life!
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About the Author:
Ah Lan, a southern girl after 95, even if she is every inch of the world, she must live freely and freely.