Manchu platform shoes

What they are

Manchu platform shoes are the tall shoes that Manchu women wore during the Qing dynasty. They sit inside a wider set of Manchu dress called Qizhuang, and the shoes themselves belong to a group known as Qixie, or Manchu shoes. Two broad kinds are described. The gaodixie have a high heel, while the yuanbaodi are lower. The upper part of the shoe is cloth, and the raised base is wood. A pair could be worn indoors or kept for special occasions, and the shoes were not shaped to left or right, so either one fitted either foot.

Shapes and make

Inside the high-heeled gaodixie, the sources name two further types. The huapenxie take the outline of a flowerpot, and their soles are thick, thinning toward the toe and the heel. The matixie have the curve of a horse's hoof. Each of these shoes is raised by a block of wood with sides that curve inward, fixed under the sole. The sources also give the forms huapendi and huapendixie for the flowerpot shoe, and matidixie for the horse-hoof shoe.

Stories of origin

Wooden shoemaking was a long-standing craft among the ancestors of the Manchu. Two folk stories explain the tall shoe. In one, a goddess wanted to keep insects and dust away while crossing mud, so she walked raised above it. In the other, Princess Duoluo Ganzhu told her soldiers to cross a marsh on wooden stilts. The trick let them attack by surprise and take their capital back. From then on, the story says, Manchu women wore the stilt-like platform shoe. According to this account, the shoe carries a memory of a victory rather than of fashion alone.

Foot binding and change

When the Manchu took China and founded the Qing dynasty, they told Manchu women not to bind their feet in the Han way. Some writers think the platform shoe copied the walk of Han women whose feet were bound. Others argue the height came instead from life in the cold Northeast, not from Han custom. By the early Qing both the flowerpot and the horse-hoof forms were in use. In the middle of the 19th century a woman's outfit was the platform shoe, the Manchu robe and the liangbatou headdress. Late in the dynasty some Manchu women bound their feet loosely for about a month, a practice called liutiaojiao, or willow branch feet.

How Manchu platform shoes is kept

The shoes were part of how a Manchu woman dressed, not a ceremony with set steps. She put the wooden-soled pair on with her robe and the liangbatou headdress, and the cloth upper sat against the foot while the base raised her above the ground. Because the left and right shoes were the same shape, either could go on either foot. The cotton padding built into the sole suggests the shoes were worn indoors or brought out for special events rather than for long walks. Both the flowerpot and the horse-hoof styles were in use from early in the Qing dynasty.

When and where

There is no festival date attached to these shoes. They belong to the Qing dynasty, appearing in its early years and still worn as it came to an end. In the middle of the 19th century they were worn as part of a full set of Manchu women's dress, alongside the robe and the liangbatou headdress.

The shoes are tied to China under Manchu rule, and to the Manchu people, whose homeland lies in the Northeast. The sources place the making of wooden shoes with the Manchu ancestors, and describe the platform shoe as one part of Manchu dress. Beyond that, no single city or province is named as its home.

What Manchu platform shoes means

For the women who wore them, the platform shoe stood beside a choice about the body. The Qing court barred Manchu women from binding their feet as Han women did, and the tall wooden base marked them out as Manchu. Some read the shoe as an imitation of a bound woman's gait; others read it as a habit shaped by the northern homeland. The stories told about it, a goddess above the mud and a princess on stilts, give the shoe a memory of protection and of a battle won.

Questions people ask about Manchu platform shoes

See also

Traditional tattooingThe ancient custom of marking the skin for protection, healing, status and sacred ritesQizhuangThe traditional attire of the Manchu people, characterized by riding coats, trousers, and horse-hoof cuffs.DoppaAn embroidered cap, square or round, that Uyghurs and Uzbeks wear across Central AsiaCheongsamA fitted one-piece Chinese dress with a high collar and side slits, worn since the 1920s

Good reading and sources

• Manchu platform shoes on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-10.