Foot binding The ancient records of foot binding have been described in detail before. In the early years of the Republic of China, the Tianzu movement became popular. From then on, girls no longer bound their feet. It should be that no one sang its praises anymore. The beauty of foot binding. But in fact, there are still people who are attached to the interest of small feet. There are several famous people who are good at this and even talk about it or describe it in writing. They are listed below. Gu Hongming's original name was Tang Sheng, and Hongming was his nickname. He was born in the seventh year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1857) and died in the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928). His father was a representative of the Chinese community in Penang and started his business growing pepper. When Hongming was ten years old, he went to study in a British school. He later obtained a master's degree in literature from the University of Edinburgh, and then went to the University of Leipzig in Germany to study civil engineering. He also lived in Paris for a period, so he was proficient in English, German, French and Greek. Gu Hongming returned to China, studied Chinese literature again, and translated "The Analects of Confucius" and "The Doctrine of the Mean" into English, which made him famous both at home and abroad. During Zhang Zhidong's Westernization period, Gu Hongming often wrote and sent it to Shanghai's "Zi Lin Xi Bao" and London's "The Times", and his reputation continued to grow. In the thirty-third year of Guangxu's reign (1908), he served as a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was promoted to Zuo Cheng. After the founding of the Republic of China, Gu Hongming served as a professor at Peking University. Zuo Shunsheng once made the following comments about him: After Gu entered the Republic of China, he was even more famous for his stubbornness and conservatism. Although conservatism is also one of the virtues of human beings, it is not too much to keep it together with small feet, pigtails, and concubines... … Gu Hongming’s words are often weird and interesting. He praised China's concubinage system and praised the beauty of footbinding. Therefore, he was constantly interviewed by Chinese and foreign reporters and was widely circulated. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, he became the object of discussion among Chinese and foreign people. I remember that in the early days, Beijing's "Shishi Vernacular" translated an interview published in a foreign newspaper. I once cut and saved the manuscript. Unfortunately, I can't find it now, but I remember the content very clearly. I believe that for people around the age of sixty, , everyone knows that the conservative representative Gu Hongming drank a pot of four cups and praised the small feet. This strange story is roughly as follows: A British newspaper reporter saw Gu Hongming drinking tea at Jinyuxuan Tea House in Beijing's Central Park (today's Zhongshan Park - Editor's Note), so he came up to visit him. Both parties talked in English. The reporter asked: "Concubinage is very popular in China and is forbidden by the laws of the Qing Dynasty. However, in the eyes of us Westerners, this is an act of toying with women, and it is regarded as a strange story in all countries around the world. What do you think of Mr. Gu?" Gu Hongming replied: "As far as the world's population is concerned, there are originally more women and fewer men. If there were no concubines, there would be surplus women. How could they spend their lives alone? The method of concubinage can solve the problem of the remaining women. Survival problem." When talking, Gu Hongming pointed to the teapot and teacups on the table and said: "You see there is only one teapot on the table, but there are four teacups. Using one teapot and pouring four cups will not be a problem for the teapot. "There is tea in a cup. This is a normal phenomenon in physics. Why is it so strange?" The British reporter laughed loudly and said, "Mr. Gu, you said this as a joke, which is really shocking. "It's a bit far-fetched to say," Gu Hongming said with a smile: "According to the British, although a certain emperor in the first century had only one queen, he actually had such and such a number of mistresses; the next generation of emperor so and so also had such and such a mistress. Several people. There is also a certain Earl who has seven or eight mistresses, and his descendants have been passed down for five generations without a mistress. As for the common people, they have one wife and one mistress, and they are countless. They are found in a certain book... "He said this passage. All the names of the emperor and the names of the earls have their origins, and they are treasures in every family. The British reporter was stunned when he heard this. After a while, the British reporter changed the subject and asked: "Does it go against the physiology of the human body for Chinese women to bind their feet and concentrate their weight of less than 100 pounds on a pair of small feet? And I heard that Chinese men like to sniff their small feet. What is Mr. Gu's opinion?" ?" Gu Hongming replied with a smile: "The highest art of the British is toe dancing (later known as ballet). It is like a flying dragon and a phoenix, flying and circling. It is really the highest expression of female beauty. However, you are on the stage for the public to see. "The small feet of our Chinese women are just for private appreciation and have different tastes from your country." Then he added: "As for the fact that it will cause physical deformity, it is not only our country. The British arrived in the seventeenth century. In the 18th century, women had the habit of 'loin-binding'. They used extremely heavy waistbands, one foot high, to clamp the waist like a wasp's waist. Will this also cause physiological deformities, and will the internal organs in the waist be affected? Degenerate?" The British reporter had nothing to say, and the two sides just exchanged hands. The British reporter suddenly came up with a sentence and asked: "Why do Chinese people like to smell the smell of little feet?" Gu Hongming laughed without thinking and replied: "That is not the case for everyone. Just like Westerners like to eat smelly feet. You have to smell the smell of cheese before eating it. This is an olfactory art. Only those who love smelly cheese understand this art." Gu Hongming was a figure in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The smelly feet of women with bound feet can be forgiven because they were influenced by the previous generation. In the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), the Tianzu movement had already been widely advocated, but some literati still had this habit, which is really puzzling. Yao Lingxi Beginning in the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China (1936), Tianjin Yao Lingxi edited "Tianjin Daily" and published articles praising foot-binding continuously, occupying a full page of the supplement. The published words about foot-binding became popular for a while. In November of the 10th year (1941), "Caifei Essence Record" was published in two thick volumes as a single volume, followed by another volume of "Caifei Record", which was then printed as "Caifei New Edition".
At that time, he lived at No. 58, Yiqing Lane, Bombay Road (today's Tongguan Road - editor's note, the following place names are editor's notes) in the British Concession in Tianjin. He concentrated on writing these books and printed them at his own expense. Finally, One was published in the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942). The price was extremely high, but the sales were very wide. It seemed that a lot of money was made. It can also be seen that the preference of northerners for women with bound feet was still very widespread at that time. Li Shoumin is the master of Huanzhu Tower, famous for his martial arts novels. He is from Sichuan. His father traveled to Suzhou as an official in his early years, so he can also speak Suzhou dialect. One of his most famous martial arts novels is "The Legend of Shushan Swordsman", which is still regarded as a classic by martial arts novel writers and has been sold all over the country, as far as Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. His hobbies include smoking opium and liking women's feet. He wrote an article "Pin Lian Shuo", and the original text is as follows: Qi Donghou Hou placed a golden lotus on the ground and asked Pan Fei to walk on it. He said that lotus flowers were born every step of the way, so later generations called women's feet golden lotus. Today, people also call the bound feet golden lotus. The shape of the bound feet is divided into three categories, good and bad. The finest golden lotuses are divided into three categories: (1) The two feet are upright, with narrow bows, and are wrapped up to three inches in size. This is called the four-photo golden lotus. However, when the two feet are put on wooden-soled bow shoes, their footprints on the ground look like lotus petals, so they are called lotus petals. The front of the two legs are sharp, like water chestnuts, so they are also called red water chestnuts. (2) The two legs are entangled and slender, shaped like bamboo shoots, so it is called the Golden Lotus with Hairpin Head. (3) The two feet are entangled so that the soles of the feet are very narrow and the insteps are very straight. Its shape is like the curve of a bow, so it is called the single-leaf golden lotus. However, the little feet are padded with high soles, so they are called Golden Lotus. If the little feet are pushing on high soles, they are called Bitai Golden Lotus. Medium-sized golden lotus can be divided into five categories: (1) The two feet are wrapped around four or five inches, and their shape is upright. They cannot walk hard when walking, and their feet have no edges and corners, so they are called brocade-edge golden lotus. (2) Although the two legs are swollen but not fat, they look like water chestnuts and goose heads, so they are called goose-headed golden lotus. (3) The two legs are tied up to five inches away, but they are still very upright and can be played with when tilted up, so it is called the Thousand-leaf Golden Lotus. (4) The toes are even and straight. When walking, the toes point inward, forming a figure eight, so it is called the golden lotus with parallel heads. (5) The sharp toes are raised outward, and the toes are pointed outward when walking, forming an outward figure, so it is called the golden lotus with double bases. Any golden lotus that does not fall into the upper or middle categories is not worth talking about. Zhang Huijian is as famous as Zhang Henshui and Zhang Youluan. He once edited "Li Bao" in Shanghai and "Chao Bao" in Nanjing. His content was novel and sharp, and he was able to edit and write. He was a famous newspaperman and writer. After I arrived in Hong Kong, he was still very active in the mainland. In order to make the film "Li Shizhen", a "Li Shizhen Hometown Investigation Team" was organized, with Zhang Huijian as the leader, and he later started writing the legendary "Li Shizhen" story. He also wrote the script for the film "Li Shizhen", starring Zhao Dan. As a Chinese medicine practitioner, I pay great attention to Li Shizhen’s historical events, so I highly appreciate my old friend’s work. But in her early years in the north, Zhang Huijian also had a love for lotus. She once wrote a poem praising the beauty of women with bound feet, saying "I feel pity for them when I see them". The title of this poem is "Miscellaneous Memories of Fragrant Clusters". The poem goes: "The beauty of my youth is far away, and my beauty is still charming as I grow old." Unexpectedly, the spring scenery is here, the fragrant red color is smaller than the pepper. Note: "The lotus on the moon is definitely an outdated scenery, but it cannot be wiped out at one stroke. I feel pity for it when I see it like Pinglaowu (a famous prostitute in Pingjin) who is close to the ground and has double curves. It is exquisite and fragrant." Gu Jiegang's Modern History At first, he followed Hu Shizhi to study "Dream of Red Mansions", and then became his own school, specializing in verifying the authenticity of the most confusing facts in ancient times. He published a long article in "Journal of Yanjing" (January 25th of the Republic of China [1936]) " Examination of the Three Emperors" has aroused responses from new writers. Later, he printed many specialized texts into seven thick volumes of "Ancient History", which became an authoritative work on ancient research. He also punctuated the sentences in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" to help readers overcome some difficulties in reading "Zi Zhi Tong Jian". Gu Jiegang himself is a humble gentleman and a model professor among the professors of Peking University. He compiled "Wu Gejia Collection", which includes a Suzhou folk song. This song is called "Song of Golden Lotus", which was changed by Gu to "Golden Lotus in the Beauty's Room". The first half of the song describes men's worship of small feet, and the second half is the woman's ridicule of men's worship. They think that their women should be the ones who please them. Since men admire them so much, they are willing to wrap themselves around this three-inch thin golden lotus. The lyrics are in vernacular dialogue, which is very interesting. The song says: There are golden lotuses wrapped around the beautiful woman's room, and the talented man moves to express his joy: "Madam, why are your golden lotuses so small? They are like the tips of broken bamboo shoots in winter; they are also like the triangle rice dumplings of the Dragon Boat Festival in May, they are both fragrant and sweet. "It's like the incense bergamot in June. It's exquisite and sharp." The beauty blushed when she heard this: "I'm a bitch who loves flowers and sex. I'll sleep with you tonight. The little golden lotus is next to your mouth. How do you do?" How sweet is the fragrance? I want you to taste the broken bamboo shoots.” Gu Jiegang also added the words “women want to please themselves” in front of this Suzhou folk song. Women would not hesitate to be tortured in order to please men. From the perspective of the new era, were women at that time really "sadistic"? As I write this, I must solemnly declare that this article is not a game article. The next chapter will further analyze the physical photography of foot binding, medical observation, and actual physiological and skeletal anatomy. This is also my purpose of researching this female torture-foot binding.