Archaeological findings prove that as early as the clan period, shoes with heads up appeared in China. By the Spring and Autumn Period, the ancients had attached great importance to tiptoe, and there were special records. "The Book of Rites and the Funeral of Scholars" says: "Steamed knots are attached to it, which is very gorgeous." The so-called "gorgeous" refers to the decoration on the toes. The decoration of the toe cap in the Han Dynasty was different, and the two prominent sharp corners seemed to be split, which was called "toe-splitting shoes" or "toe-splitting shoes". In ancient northern China, odd shoes were popular for many years. On the reliefs of the 12 Zodiacs in the Tomb of Quyang King in the Five Dynasties, almost all the civil servants who brought animals out wore double-headed shoes.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the toe decoration became more and more abundant, and the styles of shoes became more and more. At that time, there was a custom that "anyone who marries a woman should wear silk shoes first as a gift", which shows that people attach importance to shoes. In terms of texture, there are leather shoes, silk shoes, Ma Xie shoes and brocade shoes. Look from the style, there are Feng Touxie, Juyun shoes, five miscellaneous shoes, pigeon head shoes, platform shoes, split shoes, water head shoes, five-color cloud shoes, rain flower flying shoes and so on. All kinds of shoes, some are named according to patterns, and some are named according to colors. Among them, crested flowers, five-color clouds and flying heads of rain flowers are the styles of women's shoes. Platform shoes is a shoe that can be worn by both men and women. Towering shoes are flower-shaped, decorated with weaving and rich in color. And the thick platform shoes, thick bottom, makes people look very slender. A "scholar figurine" was unearthed from Levin's tomb in the Northern Qi Dynasty in Cixian County, Hebei Province, wearing "water shoes" on his feet. This kind of shoes was named after the toe was upturned like a water board, which was a fashion at that time.