Manchu embroidered shoes

Manchu embroidered shoes are high-heeled "flag shoes" worn by Manchu women. Its biggest feature is that the sole is particularly high, and the shape of the wooden sole is divided into a flowerpot bottom with a wide bottom and a horseshoe bottom with a wide bottom and a round bottom, so people are used to calling "flowerpot bottom" shoes and "horseshoe bottom" shoes, collectively referred to as "high-soled shoes". Its sole is made of wood, which is generally 5-10 cm high, some can reach 14-16 cm, and the highest is about 25 cm. The wooden sole is wrapped in white cloth and set in the middle of the sole. The upper is decorated with embroidery patterns or decorative pieces such as cicadas and butterflies, and the body part of the wooden base is also decorated with embroidery or beads. Some shoes are decorated with tassels woven with silk thread, which are as long as the ground. After the Manchu unified the whole country, the "Eight Banners System" was still implemented, and the "Banners" had the highest social rank, so the high-heeled flag shoes naturally became a symbol of status and status, which were mostly worn by Manchu aristocratic young women over the age of thirteen or fourteen. Manchu people don't wrap their feet, but practice "Tianzu", so flag shoes are generally bigger than Han people's little shoes. There is another legend about the origin of "high-soled shoes": In order to cross a mud pond and recapture the city occupied by the enemy, the ancestors of Manchu learned the appearance of a white crane, tied branches on their shoes and finally won. In order not to forget those miserable days and to commemorate the merits of stilted wooden shoes, women put on these shoes and handed them down from generation to generation. Now, these wooden flag shoes can only be worn in cultural and recreational activities.
Reprinted with attribution： https://cnlocality.com/(Chinese Specialty Products)