Who was the first woman with foot binding?

 

Who was the first woman with foot binding?

 

In the spring morning, the soil is particularly soft, and the green weeds cover the ground like a thick green carpet. Agudengba came to the river with Adhuo, Dawa, Chu Sanxing and Xiang Qima.

Dawa and Xiang Qima went to play by the river. The rapeseed flowers by the river are blooming with dazzling yellow flowers.

Agudengba, Adhuo, and Chu Sanxing sat under a big tree, drinking tea while continuing to chat about the foot-binding custom of ancient Chinese women.

Azhuo said: I heard that footbinding was probably popular in the Song Dynasty. Many people think so. Is it credible?

Agudengba said: In fact, foot binding did not begin in the Song Dynasty. As early as the Five Dynasties in the Southern Tang Dynasty, women had their feet bound. "Three-inch golden lotus" was used to describe a woman's small feet in ancient times. There are many legends, one of which is related to Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Empress Li of the Southern Tang Dynasty was the concubine of the palace. She was slender and good at dancing. Some people say that "Yao Niang" is "the originator of the bad custom of foot-binding among women" and "the first woman in history to bind feet."

During the Five Dynasties period, Empress Li of the Southern Tang Dynasty had her daughter Yao Niang, who was beautiful and talented, good at singing and dancing. Empress Li specially made a six-foot-tall golden lotus and decorated it with jeweled silk ribbons and tassels. Make a crescent shape on your slender body, then put on plain socks and dance on the lotus platform, making the dance more beautiful.

Yao Niang was good at dancing the golden lotus. It is said that when she danced, she looked like a lotus flower, her pitching and swaying movements were graceful and moving, so she was very favored by Li Yu. One year during the Lantern Festival, in the main hall of the palace, Empress Li carved a lotus flower out of gold and surrounded it with precious necklaces, making it dazzling. In the center of the lotus, another beautiful auspicious lotus sprouted, and Yao Niang danced gracefully on it to the sound of soft music. Empress Li and Empress Xiao Zhou admired it side by side. Later generations had a chant in Miyagi City: "Amidst the stacks of red flowers" On the Bailuo layer, the light from the river at the corner of the eaves is clear; the blue sky is falling, which is a rare coincidence tonight, and the rippling waves are dancing wonderfully, and the moon is rising."

However, there was no foot binding in the Five Dynasties and the Southern Tang Dynasty, and neither was Yao Niang. There was no foot binding before the Song Dynasty.

Agudengba also said that foot binding in the Song Dynasty and later did not originate from the Yao Niang of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties. There are five reasons:

1. It is interrupted in time, because Yao Niang was in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which did not cause people to follow her example, and foot binding did not occur in the early Northern Song Dynasty;

2. Yao Niang was a member of the palace of Li Yu, the Empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty. She was born as a commoner and was originally a lotus picker. She entered the palace through a beauty pageant when she was sixteen. It is said that her eyes are different from those of the Central Plains people, so she was named "Yao Niang". Yao Niang's status was low, and under the social conditions at that time, her actions would not be imitated by others.

3. The Southern Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the Northern Song Dynasty. Empress Li surrendered to the Song Dynasty and was later poisoned by Song Taizong. The behavior of such a subjugated king who could not protect his wealth and life was something that the people of the Northern Song Dynasty disdained to imitate.

4. Yao Niang's bound feet are "bent up to make a crescent shape". This shape is completely different from the "slim and straight feet" of the Song Dynasty, and there is no historical data to prove the evolutionary relationship between the two.

5. Yao Niang's feet were bound with cloth only occasionally during singing and dancing. It was not a permanent behavior since she was a child. Moreover, real foot binding is contrary to the way of dancing.

Therefore, there was no foot binding during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and Yao Niang was not the origin of foot binding.

Chu Sanxing said:

You are right. But as far as I know, the custom of foot binding already appeared in the Tang Dynasty, and there are poems to prove it. Wen Tingyun's "Ode to Brocade Shoes": "Yaocan Weaver Girl's bound feet"; Du Mu's poem: "The tin ruler is cut by four points, and the slender jade bamboo shoots are wrapped in light clouds." All describe women's slender feet.

  Agudenba said:

  However, from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, foot binding was only a fashion among upper-class ladies and prostitutes. The vast majority of women in society did not bind their feet. For example, the working women we saw in the "Spinning Wheel Picture" by Wang Juzheng of the Northern Song Dynasty obviously did not have their feet bound. . Some people say that foot binding began in the Sui Dynasty. This statement only comes from folklore.

According to legend, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was looking for beauties when he traveled east to Jiangdu, and a woman named Wu Yueniang was selected. She hated Emperor Yang's tyranny, so she asked her father, a blacksmith, to make a lotus petal knife three inches long and one inch wide, and wrapped the knife under her feet with a long cloth, while also wrapping her feet as small as possible. Then a lotus was engraved on the sole, and a beautiful lotus was printed every step of the way. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was very happy to see Houlong and called her close to him, wanting to play with her little feet. Wu Yueniang slowly untied the foot binding, suddenly pulled out the lotus petal knife and stabbed Emperor Sui Yang. Emperor Sui Yang quickly dodged away, but his arm had been stabbed. When Wu Yueniang saw that the assassination failed, she threw herself into the river and committed suicide.

Afterwards, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty decreed that in future beauty pageants, no matter how beautiful the woman is, "no women with bound feet will be selected." But in order to commemorate Yueniang, folk women bound their feet one after another. At this point, the practice of binding women's feet became increasingly popular.

  Agudengba impromptu sang the song "The Sound of Subjugation":

 

In ancient China, there was Emperor Sui Yang.

His words remain in the edict,

Good words are crowning and grand,

He left behind many famous sayings and aphorisms:

I am not the only one in the world who serves me.

But the emperor wants to serve the people,

If the world cannot be cured,

It's my fault, it's my fault.

He spoke the words of Yao and Shun,

What he did was the unruly thing.

 

Before Yang Guang obtained the throne of the Sui Dynasty,

He once had a simple style and poor financial status.

The corporal is courteous and cautious.

When he ascended to the throne, he changed his reign name.

Showing lofty ambitions is called a great cause,

Set huge goals and build big dreams,

Flashy and false words win the hearts of the people.

Encourage the people to run wildly in their dreams.

 

The coming of all nations to the court began with Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty.

Every year in the first month of the year when all the nations come to court,

Foreign envoys will stay until the 15th,

From outside Duanmen to inside Jianguomen,

It stretches for eight miles and is designated as a theater.

Deliberately creating a new atmosphere for a great country.

At the same time, large-scale external exchanges were launched,

Invite all countries to do business in China.

In order to show off the wealth of the country and the strength of the people,

When foreign politicians and businessmen gathered in Luoyang,

Emperor Yang used 30,000 singers.

The sound of hundreds of operas and music spreads for dozens of miles,

Decorate shop eaves to decorate the cityscape,

The city tree is decorated with silk,

Vegetables should also be sold on a dragon's beard mat.

Hotel and restaurant owners were ordered to

Merchants don't charge a penny for meals.

It caused a huge uproar among foreigners.

The source of the large amount of coins was Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty.

 

Emperor Yang ordered the construction of the Grand Canal.

Let’s leave aside the controversy over the merits and demerits of future generations.

At least you need to find a good reason,

It is definitely not a trip to Jiangnan for the emperor.

Although building rivers consumes people and wastes money,

To fight against heaven and earth, we must unite as one;

Transforming mountains and rivers is a thousand-year plan.

Only by being ambitious can you achieve great things.

In order to surpass his father, Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty

He planned to unify the Liaodong region.

Wu conquered Goguryeo and made great achievements.

Complete dad's unfinished business.

However, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty failed in all three battles.

Who can be frightened by civil and military attacks?

 

On the eve of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty’s visit to Jiangdu,

A musician returns from the palace,

He played the pipa outdoors,

The new song in the palace is Mr. An.

His father was once a court musician.

He hurriedly warned his son:

Don't go with me to Jiangdu.

What you play is the sound of national subjugation,

The palace sound of this song has a beginning and an end,

Gongyin represents the monarch Sui Yang,

So he definitely can't come back.

Then a big incident really happened.

Emperor Yang was killed in Jiangdu.

 

History will also repeat itself.

Yangdi’s undead soul will also appear again.

A person who thinks he will be an emperor for life,

He will also be as arrogant as Emperor Yang,

Welcoming guests with the Eight-Year Dance to show off your extravagance,

I don’t know that eight hundred people worship the spirits of their ancestors.

This is the sound that foreshadows the collapse of the country.