The Liberation Of Body: The Exploration Of The Hair Wearing And Foot Releasing Order In Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

The hair wearing and foot releasing order, as an important component of TaipingHeavenly kingdom`s legal system, had received an enthusiastic response at the beginningof enactment, which maximize public support for the new born regime. But it becamegradually departed from the main purpose of reviving the Han tradition and liberatingpublic body，and was imprinted with politics and power，which accelerated the collapsingof the regime. The exploration of these two orders has important implications for us to geta more comprehensive and profound understanding of the dominator`s administrativepolicies and legal theories. This article can be divided into five parts：The first partconsiders the meaning of liberating man`s body through foot hair wearing order. It alsoexplores the social and legal significance of hair in ancient times, the reasons for theenactment of hair wearing order, and the context of the order. The second part considersthe meaning of liberating woman`s body through foot releasing order. It also explores thesocial and legal meaning of foot binding in ancient times，the reasons for the enactment offoot releasing order, and the context of the order. The third part makes a comparisonbetween the hair wearing and foot releasing order. Through the social responses andimplement results of the orders, it explores the diversity of public responses and the reasonwhy the hair wearing order confronted a rigorously enforcement till the end of the regime，yet the foot releasing was leaved unfinished. The fourth part explores the influences ofthese two orders on plaits cutting and foot releasing movement in Chinese early modernperiod, as well as relative legislation. The conclusion part evaluates the historicalsignificance of these two orders，and contends that the state should guarantee the basic personal freedom when it imposes modifications on the body of citizen through criminallaw.