Why did women in the Qing Dynasty tie their feet?

Because in the eyes of many people in the old society, the feet should be about three inches to look good, this is the origin of the three-inch golden lotus, I have to say that this concept is indeed the dregs of Chinese culture.

Because the thinking at that time was relatively rotten, the feet were all small and beautiful, which was very bad.

Yes, all bound feet. During the Qing Dynasty, Han women needed to wrap their feet, and Manchu women also wrapped their feet in private.

After the Manchu rulers came to dominate the Central Plains, they at first vigorously opposed the Han people's custom of binding their feet, and repeatedly ordered that women's foot binding should be forbidden. However, the practice of foot binding had become deeply rooted, and it had to be banned in 1668 AD (the seventh year of Kangxi). It is precisely because of this that women's foot binding reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty, and women from all walks of life, regardless of rich or poor, all bound their feet.

Even some ethnic minorities in the far northwest and southwest have been infected with the custom of foot binding.

At the same time, women's small feet have received unprecedented worship and attention. During this period, the shape and size of the feet became an important criterion for judging the beauty and ugliness of women. At that time, people from all walks of life married wives and were ashamed of women's big feet and proud of their small feet.

The saying of "three-inch golden lotus" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and there are even those that are wrapped to less than three inches. so that there is a "hug lady" who wants others to hug in and out.

Disadvantages of a woman's feet after binding:

1. Foot binding seriously affects the normal development of women's feet, resulting in foot deformities.

In the era of foot binding, women mostly compared themselves with "legless crabs". The most direct cause is the deformity of the little toes, which leads to the development of foot deformities.

2. Foot binding brings great pain to women.

The pain of foot binding, layer by layer of bone cutting, painful, especially in the initial stage of entanglement. Every time it is entangled, the severe pain is unbearable, and it is inevitable to whimper and cry. Binding is mostly in the morning and evening, so the sound of girls crying and wailing in the morning and evening has become a major tragedy in Chinese society in the era of foot binding.

3. Foot binding makes women inconvenient to move and causes acquired disadvantages.

The feet are small and difficult to walk, and they must support the wall and touch the wall at every turn, and hold the pole with a cane, and if there is a condition, the maid supports, and even 'the maid can only go to the atrium', and it is also heard from time to time that those who completely rely on others to carry their backs, if they are isolated and helpless, then it is difficult to move from this room to the adjacent other room. As for going out, even if he held a staff to support his maid, he would not be able to go far before he was out of breath.

Foot binding causes women to suffer and suffer for no reason. Difficulties hinder women's normal participation in social work and prevent women's social activities. Women are trapped in the boudoir, lonely and unheard, and lose their ability to make a living, which breeds women's dependence, arrogance and inferiority, which makes women's social status even lower.

Foot binding has been a thousand-year-old tradition in history and has caused unspeakable physical and mental harm to women. Men regard the "three-inch golden lotus" with broken bones and toes as beauty, and even develop a set of so-called "golden lotus aesthetics" among literati.

When it comes to bad habits, the most prosperous era was the Qing Dynasty. With the blessing of etiquette, it has spread to all corners of society, causing countless women to suffer deeply.

However, due to the vast territory of the Qing Dynasty and the great differences in customs in various places, the wind of foot binding is not monolithic, and the situation is slightly complicated. Specifically, some women don't need to wrap up, ignoring the story of changing their losses and binding their feet; Some women want to pack, but if they don't, they will be blamed; Some women are not qualified to pack, and if they do, they will be despised.

What does it mean that some women don't need a package? There are two groups. One was the Manchu banner of the Qing ruling class of the Qing Dynasty. They entered the Central Plains from the frontier and were not bound by rituals. They don't like and don't accept female foot binding.

The banner people not only do not regard foot binding as beauty, but think that the labor force has been invisibly reduced. The emperors of the Qing Dynasty issued decrees prohibiting the binding of the feet of the women of the standard-bearers, and violators were punished by their parents and local **. Other ethnic minorities also rarely bind their feet.

Another group that does not bind their feet is the Hakka women, a major branch of the Han Chinese. In Hakka areas such as Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi, because of the harsh living environment, both men and women have to go into production to support their families. For thousands of years, men and women have been in the same stream, cultivating both inside and outside, and women "do not do their jobs, but obey their orders".

Such living conditions naturally do not allow women to bind their feet.

What are some women to wrap up? In Shandong, Zhili, Henan, Shanxi and other northern provinces, the concept of foot binding is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and both men and women believe that foot binding is one of the signs of female beauty. Until 1923, this atmosphere still did not change much in Shanxi, and the people of various counties generally said that "it is not good to see the sky".

Women of all social strata, rich and poor, bound their feet when they were girls. If it is not packaged, it is difficult to be accepted by society. Not only is it ugly, but it is more likely to affect your marriage and find your in-laws.

What does it mean that some women are not eligible for packs? This question fully illustrates the complexity of the practice of foot binding. As mentioned earlier, Hakka women in Guangdong are all Tianzu, but according to Wu Zhenfang's book Lingnan Miscellaneous Notes:

Most Lingnan women do not bind their feet, but they are entangled in the boudoir of rich families. Slave girls and slaves walked barefoot in the market, and women from inferior families bound their feet harshly, believing that there was a distinction between good and cheap. ”

The Manchu rulers entered the Central Plains, and the women of the Eight Banners began not to bind their feet, and then they also had the habit of binding their feet, and their method of binding their feet was different from the "three-inch golden lotus", but to wrap their feet to "be both thin and straight, thin and as sharp as a blade, hence the name 'knife strip'." "Later, although it was banned many times, it intensified. It is precisely because of this that the women's foot binding of the women's defense clan can be said to have reached the peak in the Qing Dynasty.