Chinese cloth shoes (zhōng guó bù xié 中国布鞋) have a history of more than three thousand years. In Houma Shi (hóu mǎ shì 侯马市), Shanxi Province (shān xī shěng 山西省), there discovered the unearthed warrior in West Zhou Dynasty (xī zhōu 西周) wore the cloth shoes, which is the earliest handicraft cloth shoes. The cloth shoes were mainly handmade before the People's Republic of China was proclaimed, such as embroidery shoes. Chinese people are very fond of them for they are handmade, soft, and comfortable and ventilate. After 1949, the Chinese cloth shoes reached its peak period. There were many cloth shoes factories in our country which produced lots of cloth shoes.
Cloth shoes are elaborately made. The soles of the shoes are made up of scores of cloth layer and are completely handmade. During the course of making shoes, more than 20 meters of thread are used, and there are more than 1000 stitches on the layer. What’s more, craftsman spends two or three days on making cloth shoes. People feel comfortable when they wear cloth shoes, especially when people are walking or traveling.
Among the Chinese cloth shoes, perhaps the most famous ones are Xiuhua shoes (xiù huā xié 绣花鞋), namely embroidered shoes. Embroidered shoes are embodies of oriental aesthetics, with beautiful patterns in the shoe cover, toe and heel etc. The basic patterns of embroidered shoes are flowers, birds, animals, sceneries, and figures from the traditional Chinese dramas.
There are also some auspicious patterns such as lotus seeds (lián zǐ 莲子)(symbol of birth of a child), pomegranate (shí liǔ 石榴) (symbol of offspring multiplied), flying dragon and dancing phoenix (lóng fēi fèng wǔ 龙飞凤舞) (symbol of happy marriage).
However, nowadays, people in cities seldom wear cloth shoes. Most people wear sneakers or leather shoes. But cloth shoes is a part of Chinese culture with a long history, they are irreplaceable in Chinese culture together with Confucianism and Buddhism.
