Cutting off the past

By Cheng Anqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-14 15:27

Barber Lu Zhidong, 86, strolls along hutong alleys, greeting customers with his hair-cutting tools (above). [China Daily]

Deep inside the lane of Dongsi Qitiao in downtown Beijing, an old barber greets a customer. After a brief exchange, Lu Zhidong, 86, puts a towel on the customer's shoulders casually, clips the hair dexterously with rhythmic clicks and locks of hair scatter onto the ground.

Before shaving the face, Lu soaks a towel in hot water and covers the customer's cheeks and jaws with it. He sharpens the razor on a piece of leather and it meets little resistance as it glides slowly along the face.

As an on-street-haircut expert, Lu also provides other services like cleaning the ears. It is a tricky business - the shoulder and arms must be steady, the weight of the hands has to be just right and you must know exactly how far in the ear to go!

Finally, Lu massages the client's head and shoulders.

"Haircut requires good eyesight and hand skills," he says. "Pushing the clippers around the head must clear all the hair without the need go over the same area again."

Although modern Beijing has impacted greatly the old city, many people are striving to save things from the past. Unlike young people who are willing to spend hundreds of yuan on one trip to the hair salon, the elderly are more comfortable with the simple - and cheap - version.

Lu was born into a family of barbers. In the 17th century, his ancestor, who had been a blacksmith in southern China, passed Beijing on his way to trying his luck in the Northeast.

He learned that the Manchurian rulers of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) had ordered all men to shave their hair except for the middle area behind the head, which had to be bound into a single plait.

In previous times, Han ethnic men had kept their hair naturally grown and tied it into a knot behind or above the head. However, the Qing rulers, who came from northeastern China, introduced the new hairdo as a symbol of the new order - the new style symbolized clearing all four sides of its borders and conquering the middle land.

The imperial order decreed that if any member of a family or a village refused to obey, everyone in the family or the village would be beheaded. The haircutting industry boomed and barbers could be seen everywhere, carrying a shoulder pole with an iron clipper in their hands.

Lu's ancestor seized the chance and learned how to be a barber. The skill was passed down through the generations and Lu himself started learning at the age of 10.

He says that barbers of old had to be adept in nine skills: combing (the hair), braiding (the hair), shaving (the head and beard), cleaning (the ears), trimming (the nose hair), dyeing (the hair), brushing (patch), setting (the bones) and relaxing (the muscles).

Chinese people have a long tradition of shaving a baby's hair on the day he or she turns one month old or 100 days old. One lock is then treasured in crystal seals or other fancy souvenirs.

"To shave babies requires even greater skills, because their skin is thin and soft, very vulnerable during the shaving. The youngsters in the hairdressing salons are not qualified for this kind of work," Lu says.

With his shoulder pole, Lu strolls along hutong alleys with a copper washbasin on one end and a box stacked with scissors, razors, clipper, leather, shaving cream and towels on the other.

Despite his great skill, Lu charges his customers a surprisingly low price. Since last year, he has raised the price all the way from 2 yuan to 3. Most barbers in the city normally charge 25 yuan for a haircut, while in bigger salons, prestigious hairdressers demand 100 yuan or more for per cut.

Lu's customers are mostly elderly neighbors. They don't ask much in terms of style - all they want is shorter hair and a clean face. "I like to be alive, I like to work," Lu says. "And I'd like to give people around the world unique haircuts during the Olympics!"