Foot binding causes physical and mental distortion to women, which is rare in the world. From the records, it can be seen that this foot binding was done with a strip of cloth 5 feet long and 2 inches wide. It was tightly wrapped around the girl's feet. The instep and four fingers were bent downward and pressed to the sole of the foot. The person who was bound was so painful that she broke out in sweat. It rained, and even blood dripped. It is often the mother who does it herself. She wraps it up one layer and applies some saliva to prevent it from slipping and tightening it. No matter how her daughter mourns and cries, the mother shows no mercy and says that "a delicate girl is not delicate enough." When they grow up, their feet are squeezed by muscles, their nails soften and become embedded in the muscles, and their muscles and bones deform into arch shapes. Their legs cannot develop normally and become as thin as sticks. The length of the feet is preferably three inches, so they are called "three-inch golden lotus" and "bent bow". The so-called "a pair of small feet brings a vat of tears" truly reflects the pain of women being tortured by bound feet. This kind of vulgar custom that violates human nature is not without criticism. As early as the Song Dynasty, Che Ruoshui pointed out that women have been "innocent and innocent since childhood, and they have suffered infinite suffering. What's the point of not using them if they are so entangled?" Zhang in the early Qing Dynasty The patriarchal clan denounced the harmful effects of footbinding, saying: "Today's customary footbinding harms the essence of heaven and earth, and harms one's own virtues in life. The unhappiness and longevity of future generations are all due to congenital injuries." The famous poet Yuan Mei denounced this as the mastermind of men. : "Three-inch bow shoes have not existed since ancient times, and Guanyin, the great master, went barefoot. I wonder where foot binding came from? It started from a cheap husband in the world." It really hit the nail on the head.
The reason for foot binding
In ancient times, mothers shed tears and wrapped their daughters' feet tightly layer by layer in order to find a foot for her
A good husband. "I'm asking you to endure the pain for a while so that you won't have to endure hardship in your life." Perhaps people today think that the women who bound their feet
at that time were really ignorant, but if they didn't bind their feet, their Life is often very miserable. There was a nursery rhyme like this in Shandong: "Marry a scholar with your small feet bound, and eat white buns, only meat and vegetables; marry a blind man with your big feet bound, and eat spicy rice with chaff." There is also a nursery rhyme in Zhejiang: "A sister-in-law with big feet is carried around and no one wants it. Even Taiwan is no exception. Some people say: "Big feet are maids, small feet are mothers." Sichuan people are even more vivid: "Don't be a big-footed woman, eat sweets and eat vegetables like a horse and mule, my family will think I have feet." My son is Kuo, and my husband calls me Big-Footed Goose. I sit on different benches during the day and sleep separately under blankets at night."
Looking back at the purpose of foot binding, it was originally just for dancers to make their dance steps more graceful. So simple. But slowly it developed and became a social trend. The reason is not as Western observers say. For the sake of beauty, they confuse the 19th century American women's corseting with the binding of our women's feet. The matter is not as simple as they think.
The foot-binding of women in ancient my country has profound social roots. It is a product of the times, and its reasons are multifaceted.
First of all, the size of the bound feet is a sign of noble family status. People at that time regarded small feet as beautiful. The smaller the feet, the more beautiful they were. And foot binding should start when the child is 3-5 years old, and the younger the better. Ordinary families are already busy enough to make a living and feed the whole family, so how can they spend their energy on forcing their daughters to have their feet bound? Moreover, most farm girls share the family income. Once their feet are bound, it means they become a burden on the family and cannot work. Let me ask, how can a poor family have spare rice to feed idle people? Rich families, on the other hand, had no worries about food and clothing, and footbinding had become a social fashion at that time, and everyone was competing with each other. Parents make their daughters tie their feet, firstly so that they can marry into a wealthy family, and secondly, to show their noble status.
Secondly, the size of the bound feet is the standard for choosing a mate for men and women. In ancient times, the first criteria for wealthy families to choose wives was virginity; the second criterion was whether they had feet bound. When a matchmaker comes to a daughter's home, the first thing she sees when she sees the girl's appearance is her embroidered shoes and birth date. The male's family will judge the quality based on whether the feet are bound and the size of the bound feet. Even when the red sedan is delivered to the door, you still have to look at the bride's feet before deciding whether to let her in.
Third, foot binding caters to distorted aesthetics. In ancient times, women had little productivity and were just vassals and playthings of men. They seemed to exist in the world only to cater to men's needs. After foot binding, the contact area between the feet and the ground is reduced. When standing on both feet, the weight of the body is downward, making it difficult to stand. The waist must be straightened out to stabilize the body as much as possible, making it harder to lose weight when walking. , balance the body, and then you can walk with a kind of willow waist, step by step, weak, needing support, and lovable temperament and pace. The man feels sorry for the woman's courage and perseverance and the pair of bound feet, so his love and pampering for the woman deepens... It seems that the size of the embroidered shoes determines the beauty of the woman in the boudoir, and also determines the beauty of the daughter's in-laws. No matter how wealthy they are, no wealthy family is willing to accept a woman with big feet or feet that are not small enough. The aesthetic concept of "taking bound feet as beautiful and natural feet as ugly" came into being. The popularity of this fashion caused more people to bind their feet, and the fashion became more and more popular. It eventually became the absolute aesthetic standard at that time, forcing more people to cater to it.
Fourth, foot binding is to control women, which is the fundamental reason for the phenomenon of foot binding. In ancient times, the "three cardinal principles and five constant principles" were used as moral standards. The social trend at that time was for women to abide by women's conduct, and foot binding clearly distinguished "men and women." The addition of foot binding made it difficult for the woman to move. This allowed Chinese men in ancient times to enjoy polygamy more freely. Men could control the possibility of escaping or having an affair with others due to the inconvenience of their wives and concubines.
To put it more deeply, the purpose of small feet is to completely lock women at home. Women can just walk in the bedroom hall, and the farthest place can only be their own back garden. Women do not need to know the world outside the home, and do not need to get to know each other. The lack of talents of men other than her father, husband, and sons made her believe in her father's instructions to her husband, the way of a woman. There is not a single word about principles of right and wrong in being gentle, courteous, thrifty and yielding. All a woman can do is to be obedient. She only needs to be obedient and obey her husband without obeying the truth, because she is ignorant of the truth.