Traditional Chinese shoes plays an important role in ancient Chinese cluture. Just like modern people, ancient Chinese wear different shoes for different purpose and in different occasions. What's different is there are many etiquette to follow when it comes to shoes wearing, and ancient Chinese's shoes also indicates their social status.

Ancient Chinese shoes can be made by straw, cloth, leather and wood. Different type of shoes in different times have different names, like ju(屦), lv(履), ji(屐), xi(舄). The word "xie(鞋)" appeared in Sui Dynasty(581-618) became the general name of shoes and is still in use today.

Ju(屦) was referred to the single sole shoes made by linen and leather, later it became the general name of shoes before Han Dynasty(202 BC – 9 AD; 25–220 AD).

Lv(履) started to become the general name of shoes in the Warring States period(475–221 BC) , and continue to be used until Tang Dynasty(618–690, 705–907).

Ji(屐) is a type of shoes that has wood soles, so the wearer can walk on the muddy road.

Xi(舄) is the shoes that use bird's feather as the upper, and has wood in the sole. Xi was mostly wore by emperors and ministers in formal occasions.

We keep offering all kinds of traditional Chinese shoes. For now, we have Chinese cloth shoes, Shaolin monk shoes and Wudang Taoist shoes.

Rubber Sole of Chinese Cloth Shoes

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