Court Costume Of Qing Dynasty High Soled Shoes

The small feet of ancient women were called "three inch golden lotus", and this extreme aesthetic began in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It is said that Li Yu, the late leader of the Southern Tang Dynasty, played politics in a famine, and was obsessed with beauty all day long. In order to get Li Yu's favor, a concubine tied her feet with silk and bent up to form a crescent to complete a dance dancing on the golden lotus platform. Since then, in order to maintain this unique skill and maintain the favor of Empress Li, the concubine used white silk to wrap her feet tightly. As time passed, she wrapped her feet in "red diamond" and "crescent" shapes. As soon as this example was given, people tried to imitate it. After five generations, it gradually became popular and became popular in the market. By the Song Dynasty, women's golden lotus feet, together with the beautiful peonies in Luoyang and the fragrant tea in Jianzhou, were regarded as the wonders of the world. In the Yuan Dynasty, if women did not bind their feet, it would be regarded as a great disgrace. Empress Ma, the empress of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was ridiculed because of her big feet.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, foot binding was particularly popular, and Han women wore bows shoes However, Manchu women do not bind their feet. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty were extremely disgusted with women's foot binding and had not yet entered the pass. Taizong Huangtaiji decreed in the third year of Chongde (1638) that "effective clothing, hair and feet binding in other countries, and serious crimes". The Empress Dowager of the Empress Dowager of the Later Xiaozhuang ordered that "those who enter the palace with bound feet will be beheaded", which is the most severe punishment for Manchu women with bound feet. In the seventeenth year of Shunzhi's reign (1660), an imperial edict was issued to require all women in the world to stop foot binding, but the ban was later lifted due to persistent habits. However, the ban on women in the Eight Banners was never lifted, and Emperor Daoguang reiterated the ban in 1838.

After the Qing Dynasty took over the Central Plains, although Manchu women never bound their feet, according to common aesthetic standards, big feet were definitely not beautiful. In order to solve this problem, Manchu women invented a kind of high soled shoes, which hid their feet in female clothing It will not appear easily.

　　 Manchu There is another explanation for the origin of high soled shoes worn by women. It is said that the Manchu people have had the custom of "cutting wood into shoes" since ancient times. In the past, Manchu women often went up the mountain to collect wild fruits, mushrooms, etc. To prevent insects and snakes from biting, they tied wood blocks on the soles of shoes. Later, they became increasingly sophisticated and developed into high soled shoes. Another story is that in order to cross a muddy pond and recapture the city occupied by the enemy, the Manchu ancestors learned to look like white cranes, tied high branches on their shoes, and finally won the victory, achieving the goal of revenge and development. In order to remember those miserable days and commemorate the contributions of high foot wooden shoes, women put on these shoes and passed them on from generation to generation.

Manchu women are wearing Ensign It usually matches with flag style Kun shoes. The flag style Kun shoes mentioned here can be divided into several types, one of which is high in height and slightly lacking in front and back, called "inch sole shoes". There is also a kind of shoes with the middle of the soles several inches higher, medium and fine, and the lower end is square, which is called "high soled shoes". There are two shapes of high soled heels, one is open up and closed down in the shape of an inverted trapezoidal flower pot, so it is called "flower pot bottom"; The other is thin on the top and wide on the bottom, flat in the front and round in the back. Its shape and landing marks are like horseshoes, so it is named "horseshoe bottom". Its wooden bottom heels are generally 5 to 10 cm high, and the highest ones can reach 25 cm.

High soled shoes are decorated with cicada and butterfly on the upper Embroidery In addition to patterns or decorative pieces, the part of wood that does not touch the ground is also often decorated with embroidery or beads. Some shoes are also decorated with spikes made of silk thread, which can reach the ground. The high heel wood sole of this kind of shoes is extremely strong, and the vamp is often broken, but the sole is still intact. High soled flag shoes are mostly worn by noble young and middle-aged women over the age of 13 or 14. Wearing these shoes, people walk in a graceful, graceful, dignified and beautiful way. Flag shoes worn by elderly women and working women have flat wood soles, which are called flat embroidered shoes, also known as "net cloud shoes".

After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, the ban on foot binding for Manchu women has become a piece of waste paper. Manchu women imitate Han women's foot binding in order to make a living, mainly for the need of intermarriage with the Han people, but at this time the wind of foot binding is at the end of its tether. However, the court costumes of the Qing Dynasty have completely different characteristics compared with those of other dynasties.