Three-inch golden lotus - Image and text (Image and text)

Author: Feng Jicai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: People say, in tiny feet, there's a hidden history of China. This is mystical! Three-inch feet, slightly longer than a cigarette, endured a lifetime wrapped in tight bandages, suffocated by the fabric, aside from the smell, what else could there be? History unfolds in segments. A dynasty rises, another falls; a fallen dynasty rises again, and a rising one falls. Rise and fall, rise and fall, constantly tormenting the common people, hindering eating, drinking, dressing, and wearing. But it never affected the practice of foot-binding. From Li Houzhu to the Xuantong Emperor, women's foot-binding flourished for a thousand years, through countless dynasties and reign names, yet it never stopped. What did history have to do with it? From empresses and concubines at the top to fisherwomen and village girls at the bottom, from literary figures like Li Qingzhao to martial women like Liang Hongyu, none were exempt. Monkeys don't bind their feet—I believe that. When the Qing Dynasty entered the empire, it issued an edict prohibiting Manchu women from binding their feet and ordering Han Chinese to go barefoot. At that time, the Qing was ruthless, but even its ruthlessness couldn't surpass the practice of foot-binding. Moreover, whether it was ruthless or not doesn't matter in the long run. In the end, Han Chinese continued to bind their feet, while Manchu women secretly deceived their parents and elders, secretly wrapping their feet into "gourd-shaped" forms. Now, does this suggest that foot-binding holds some magic? Magic or not, let's leave that aside. In Three Inches of Gold, one intention is to use abundant historical details—photographs of actual artifacts—to reconstruct the once-living, bizarre history, recreating the unimaginable world of the three-inch golden lotus. It sheds a bright light on the hidden, locked, and dark corners of this culture. The ghost of history always lurks behind some veil, unwilling to leave, subtly influencing things. Therefore, when a scene of history passes, what we should do is pull back the heavy curtain.