This Day, That Year

Item from Jan 5, 1989 in China Daily: "... Han Chinese had followed a Confucian teaching that the hair ... should not be tampered with."

Visitors to Beijing might remember the amusing sight of a barber plying his trade on the roadside in the open. Few would have known that the tradition originated from an order by the Manchu conquerors, who swept down the central plains from the northeast, took over the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and forced the vanquished to adopt their customs. In 1645, the Manchu rulers ordered men nationwide to have their heads partially shaved and the hair at the back plaited into pigtails. Authorities set up sheds at crossroads in Beijing. All passers-by who had their hair in the Han style were dragged inside for a close shave. Those who resisted were executed and their heads displayed on the spot.

Nobody expected the coerced cuts to evolve into a new form of occupation - the street barber. Cheap and swift, the barbers' services included cutting hair, shaving beards and even massaging.