Tang Dynasty woman’s feet and shoes

 

Tang Dynasty woman’s feet and shoes

 

Agudengba, Adhuo and Chu Sanxing were sitting under a big tree, drinking tea and chatting about the custom of foot-binding among ancient Chinese women.

Dawa and Xiang Qima went to the river to play and admire the yellow rapeseed flowers blooming by the river. Because the soil was particularly soft in the spring morning, Dawa and Xiang Qima's shoes were wet with morning dew. They could only carry their wet shoes back to the big tree with bare feet.

Under the big tree, Agudengba, Adhuo, and Chu Sanxing were sitting there, drinking tea, and chatting about the foot-binding custom of ancient Chinese women.

Agudengba smiled and said to Adhuo and Chu Sanxing: Did you see the shoes Dawa and Xiang Qima were holding? Do you know the difference between men’s and women’s shoes in ancient China?

Chu Sanxing smiled: Please enlighten us, wise man.

Agudenba said:

Women's foot binding began in modern times. Modern times refers to a certain period of the Northern Song Dynasty, but it will not be the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty. Wen Tingyun's "Jin Xie Fu" describes "The Charming and Weaver Girl's Binding Feet". The style is "Fu" and it is not a chronicle. Naturally, it cannot be regarded as a reliable history. The so-called "Charming and Weaver Girl" may not be a real person. It is likely that she was written by Wen Tingyun. A fictional literary character cannot be regarded as a real example in the history of Chinese women's foot binding. But looking at the full text of "Jin Xie Fu", except for the "Charming and Weaver Girl's bound feet" mentioned at the beginning, there is no description of "bound feet" below. Therefore, we have no way of knowing what the specific image of "bound feet" is. .

However, women's "foot binding" reminds me of men's "foot binding". "Historical Records" has the words "Du Kou bound his feet, no one dared to go to Qin" and "He bound his feet and refused to enter Qin", and "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" also had the saying "bowed his head and bound his feet", here "bound his feet" refers to "bound his feet and stopped moving forward" , and those who "faltered" were all men. "Wu Yue Chun Qiu" "King Liao of Wu sent Gongzi Guang" said: "He was drunk, Gongzi Guang pretended to have a foot disease, and went into the dressing room to bind his feet." Foot binding is to protect the injured feet. "This is derived from this.

In ancient times, men also bound their legs for convenience when traveling. This kind of situation still existed in the Three-inch Golden Lotus era and was called "foot-binding." People at that time clearly pointed out that it was two different things from women's foot-binding. It makes no sense to insist that the bound feet of Charming and Weaver Girl are the foot binding of later generations.

Chu Sanxing asked Agudengba again: Are you sure that footbinding was a custom after the Northern Song Dynasty?

Agudemba replied:

It is recorded in "Zhou Rites·Tianguan Zhongzai" that Yi people are in charge of the shoes that the king and queen should wear with various costumes. Make red and black embroidery, etc., make red embroidery, yellow stitching, green embroidery, etc. to decorate the embroidery, and make white embroidery and Ge embroidery. Distinguish between the outer, inner and outer attire that the husband and wife should wear. It can be seen that the shape of shoes for men and women is the same.

"Historical Records·Funny Biographies" records that it was getting dark and the wine was almost finished. The remaining wine was put together, and everyone sat down together, men and women sharing the same table. Shoes and clogs were mixed together, and cups and plates were in a mess. We should know: How can women’s shoes with bound feet be placed side by side with men’s shoes if they never leave their feet?

"Jin Shu·Five Elements Chronicles" records that in the fifth year of Emperor Xiankang's reign, someone came to Zhizhi's carriage door and said that Wang He's daughter Wang Ke had seven stars under her right foot. The stars were all hairy and seven inches long. This Wang Ke woman obviously doesn't bind her feet either.

"Southern History: Biography of the Liang Clan" records that during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang, King Xiao Hong of Linchuan had an affair with Princess Yongxing, daughter of Emperor Wu of Liang, and attempted to murder Emperor Wu. He promised to make Princess Yongxing the queen after the incident was completed. Princess Yongxing asked two male servants to put on the clothes of the maids and sneak in to do it. The manservant dropped his shoes when he crossed the threshold. The commander-in-chief became suspicious when he saw the shoes... The two menservants rushed behind Emperor Wu, and the eight people behind the scenes hugged them and took them down. Emperor Wu was frightened and fell on the screen. Knives were found from the two men and they were told to be ordered by Xiao Hong.

Agudengba laughed and said: Male servants could wear maid's shoes, and the shoes were not too small. They would fall off their feet, which shows that women's feet were not small at that time.

If you travel to the Tang Dynasty, whether in the streets or in the fields, the clothes of the Tang people you see should be mainly cloth clothes and hemp shoes. Don't be surprised, there was no such thing as cotton shoes and cotton clothes in the Tang Dynasty, so even the nobles of the Tang Dynasty would wear hemp shoes like the common people, even those with prominent family backgrounds. Since they were nobles, they naturally could not dress the same as commoners. People in the Tang Dynasty would use the color of their hemp shoes to distinguish civilian nobles.

According to the records of "New Book of Tang Dynasty·Chefu Zhi", there was a decree in the Xuanzong Dynasty of Tang Dynasty that stipulated that civilians "are not allowed to wear five-color thread shoes", which means that only nobles can wear hemp shoes made of threads of more colors, and civilians can only wear hemp shoes made of threads of more colors. Wear hemp shoes. Of course, the privileges of the Tang Dynasty nobles were not limited to the color of their shoes. They could wear shoes made of better materials than hemp shoes.

Agudengba smiled again and talked about foot binding in the Tang Dynasty:

At that time, foot binding was not allowed in the Tang Dynasty. "Tongdian·Li82·Kaiyuanli" records that at that time, women in court were required to take off their shoes and put their shoes on the west steps. In order to facilitate the women to take off their shoes and put them there, special places for shoes were set up under the east and west steps. If the women at that time were foot binders, they would never ask women to take off their shoes.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Empress Li of the Southern Tang Dynasty carried shoes with her and wore socks on her feet. This shows that the Queen did not bind her feet. We can also know from women’s socks that foot binding was not allowed before the Song Dynasty. For example, in Liu Keming's poem about cattails, "Just follow the fragrant dust with Luo socks". Putting on "Luo socks" and walking on the ground, naturally the feet are not bound. Regarding socks, there is a special situation that needs to be explained: although women with bound feet also wear socks, they sometimes refer to a kind of bottomless thing, also called "knee pants".

Historical records of the Tang Dynasty also prove that women in the Tang Dynasty often wore men's shoes. Women in the Tang Dynasty obviously did not have the custom of foot binding. It can also be seen from ancient poetry that foot binding was not practiced at that time. Xie Lingyun's poem "Which housewife is pitiful, fate washes her bare feet", Tao Qian's poem "I wish to wear shoes on silk, and my bare feet are enough to get around", Li Bai's poem "A pair of gold-toothed shoes, two feet as white as frost", Han Yu's poem "A maidservant is old and barefoot" Toothless", he said it very clearly. Judging from ancient paintings, sculptures and ancient women's shoes discovered through archaeological excavations, it is also proven that women did not bind their feet before the Song Dynasty.

In order to verify that women did not bind their feet before the Song Dynasty, Agudengba told the story of a prostitute who took off her shoes and threw them at others when she was drunk, and sang a song called "Drunk Dancer":

 

A beautiful drunken dancer,

Her appearance is as beautiful as the peach blossoms blooming for the first time,

Jade fingers play with the long sleeves like embroidered curtains,

Following the fragrant dust, my steps are as light as a swallow,

The pomegranate skirt is elegant and closes and opens.

Before the banquet, dancing continued.

 

The drunken dancer suddenly bent down,

Gently take off an embroidered shoe,

The embroidered shoes are thrown to the passionate man in the air,

Lecherous men fight over embroidered shoes,

The drunken dancer threw herself into the winner's arms,

The banquet suddenly became full of obscene laughter.