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Life Etiquette and Shoes
 In
China, there are many established practices concerning shoes, many of which have
become standard life etiquette. For example, shoes are presented to a baby one
full month after its birth; newlyweds have to wear wedding shoes at their
wedding ceremony; shoes embroidered with the Chinese character fu are often
given as birthday presents to elderly people; and at funerals, the children of
the deceased have to wear filial shoes. Among the various shoe-related customs,
wedding shoes have played an extremely important role in one's marriage since
ancient times.
 Presenting shoes when delivering betrothal
gifts
In ancient times, males were referred to as qian (symbol of heaven in the
Eight Trigrams, or the eight energies in the t'ai chi martial art), and females,
as kun (symbol of earth in the Eight Trigrams). Women's shoes are therefore
called kun shoes.
During the Han
Dynasty (206BC-220AD), when a woman was getting married, she usually wore a
pair of wooden sandals painted with colorful patterns and fastened by colorful
ribbons, both of which were seen as auspicious symbols.
During the Southern
Dynasty (420-589), if a man was to take a wife, he had to first present to
the woman a new pair of silk shoes when delivering betrothal gifts. The custom
continued in many places, such as in Ningbo
and Yinxian cities of today's Zhejiang
Province in East China, during the dynasty's Guangxu Period. According to
the local matrimonial customs at that time, when a marriage was settled, the
woman's family would find out the shoe sizes of the man's grandparents and
great-grand parents. Then, the woman would painstakingly make elaborate shoes
for them. When delivering betrothal gifts, the man would give jewelry, silk,
cattle, food, and wine to the woman's family, who would hold a feast to
entertain. Afterwards, the woman's family would give the man the self-made shoes
in return, which were meant to show their daughter's filial piety to her future
in-laws.
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