In the Neolithic age(from about 10,000 years
ago to about 4,000 year ago), ancestors of
China used grass, hemp, or kudzu vine to
make shoes. There were many ways to name
shoe, such as Jü, Lü, Xi and so on. Xi is
the most valuable.
Ancient shoes were classified into three
types in terms of material, i.e. grass,
cloth and leather.
Cloth shoes refer to shoes made with hemp
fiber, damask silk, brocade and so on.
In the Han Dynasty (206BC-23AD), the toe cap
of cloth shoe was usually biforked, and the
tread was made with linen thread. Such a
shoe was called "Shuangjian Qiaotou Fanglü
(square shoe with double tips and a rising
head).
In the Wei and Jin Dynasties (220-316), the
front tip of a shoe was usually decorated
with a double-beast pattern. The color
matching was harmonious, and the whole shoe
looked very graceful.
In the Northern Song Dynasty (550-577), Ji
was popular among all people, from the
emperor to common people. The so-called Ji
was a shoe with wooden teeth and consisted
of three parts: Bian (the shoe body), Xi
(the lace) and Chi (the teeth).
In the Song Dynasty (960-1297), most men
wore leather shoes with a small toe, and
women usually wore shoes with a round toe,
flat toe or rising toe, sometimes decorated
with various patterns such as flower or
bird.
In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), men's shoes
usually stressed thickness and strength, and
the materials and fashions were varied. In
general, in the north people wore lozengepatterned good-looking shoes, and in the
south people wore palm fiber shoes. Besides,
in the period from the Yuan Dynasty (12711368) to the Ming Dynasty, a kind of female
cloth shoes was popular, which was
characterized by a high rising toe and a
flat and thick tread. It made its wearers
especially slim.