As one of the earliest people to wear shoes, ancient Chinese once created a very rich Hanfu shoe culture. Among them, there are many “secrets” on the shoe tip, even more unexpected.
Regardless of left and right feet
Shoes are divided into left and right feet, which is now known as common sense. But if time can go back to 1000 years ago, the shoes are divided into left and right feet, which is quite another phenomenon.
Are left and right shoes hard to wear? No! Most of the materials used to make shoes in ancient times were very soft. For example, straw shoes, flax shoes, even with animal skin can also be handled very softly. What's more, the Hanfu shoes worn by the ancients were relatively loose and large in size, so they would not be worn or worn.
Although shoes are not divided into left and right, the ancients still talked about left and right when buying shoes. When trying on shoes, usually try on the left foot first, as long as the left foot can be put on, and no need to try on the right foot. This is because the left foot is generally a little longer than the right foot, which is the opposite of the hand.
In fact, western shoes are divided into left and right feet, which appeared in the United States in 1818. The first pair of leather shoes divided into left and right feet in China was born in 1876 by Shen Binggen, a Shanghai native.
Why didn't the ancient Hanfu shoes be divided left and right? It may be related to the ancient people's taboo of wearing “mandarin duck shoes” with different colors and styles. In ancient times, two shoes must be the same, and two different “mandarin duck shoes” are regarded as unholy.
In ancient times, the classification of shoes and shoes was strict. For example, in the Wei, Jin, Southern, and Northern Dynasties, even the color of shoes was strictly regulated. As for the businessmen who do business, the court of the Western Jin Dynasty stipulated that they must wear white shoes and black shoes, which are called “mandarin duck shoes”. Because some businessmen like to collude with the officials, the relationship is complex, and then derived a derogatory meaning.
High “Xie Qiao (curved toe)” on the Hanfu shoe
Mandarin ducks are regarded as “birds of love”. It is not uncommon to embroider patterns of birds such as mandarin ducks on shoes for decoration. Especially after the Han and Tang Dynasties, women used to decorate shoes with mandarin duck patterns, which became a trend. ” The “mandarin duck shoes” here are not mandarin duck shoes of different colors, but a kind of exquisite female shoes with exquisite workmanship and Mandarin Duck embroidered on the toe. The feature is that the toe of the shoe is curved, which was called “curved toe (鞋翘)” by the ancients.
Although it is not unique to China, it is a representative feature of ancient Chinese shoes. In ancient times, men's shoes (square) and women's shoes (round) were all curved. In the Han Dynasty, there was a revolutionary design of shoe tips separation. The Mawangdui Han tomb, Changsha, Hunan Province, and the 168 Han tomb in Fenghuang mountain, Jiangling, Hubei Province have been unearthed shoes and boots with a double curved toe.
Why did the ancients care about the shoe curved toe? First of all, the curved toe and the sole are tied together, so that the sole and the upper are not easy to crack; moreover, the ancients often wear skirts and robes, and the curved toe can hold the skirt edge, not fall down because they step on the skirt. In fact, the design of the shoe curved toe also contains the good wishes of the ancients. It means to rise step by step with the high shoe warps. In addition, the design of curved toe and the architectural design of ancient roof warping are actually a concept, which makes the light style of shoes outstanding.
Use shoes to divine in ancient times?
Shoes were also a kind of divination tool in ancient times, and the ancients were quite keen on them.
After wearing straw shoes for a trip, they would take off to see the wear of sole, toe, shoe, and heel, to see which section is first worn out and which section is solid and undamaged, so as to predict the disaster and blessing in life.
Ancient women used it to predict when and whether their long-distance husband would return. The result is good or bad, depending on the orientation of the toe and the mouth.
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