Since hair carries such an important connotation, cutting hair has become a punishment. Punishment? Is to punish those who have made unforgivable mistakes by cutting their hair. Cao Cao violated his military discipline by stepping on the wheat field, so he cut his hair to show his military discipline. China paid more attention to hair in ancient times and persisted in it until the Ming Dynasty? Hair is indestructible? Zuxun.
Therefore, people in China have always regarded long hair as a symbol of barbarism. The Qing Dynasty began in Saibei. As a nation on horseback, it has the habit of early compilation because of riding horses. Nuzhen, the ancestor of Manchu, is a nation with shaved hair and braided hair. The hairstyle of Manchu adult men is shaving and braiding. That is, take it? Half shaved and half kept? The method is to draw a straight line at both ends of the frontal angle and shave all the hair in front of the straight line, leaving only the hair at the back of the head hanging behind the head. As for when this custom began and how long it lasted, there is no way to verify it. All I know is that they shaved off the first half of their hair for the convenience of riding and shooting, and in order not to let their hair affect their vision when galloping.
This would have been very suitable for the rider's hairstyle. After the Qing army entered the customs, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty vigorously promoted the system of shaving and braiding hair among the farming people in the Central Plains to show their recognition of their own regime and raise their hair to an unprecedented political height.
1645, the emperor shunzhi issued an order:? Since the announcement, all the provinces in Zhili, inside and outside Beijing, have their hair shaved within ten days. If you avoid being unwilling to pay, argue skillfully and never lend easily? Detainees are not allowed to talk about shaving, otherwise? Kill without forgiveness? . This is famous in history? Shaving order? .
At this point, in order to keep the hair on the head, a big game of life and death was launched between Manchu and Han. The Qing government shouted: Keep your hair, keep your hair, keep your head. ? Enforcement.
This is unacceptable to Han people who have long been influenced by Confucian traditions. A strand of hair, not only influenced by parents, but also became a symbol of loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, which can never be shaved off. To this end, some people do not hesitate to defend with their lives, but also put forward tit for tat: Tie your hair as a ghost is better than shaving Logger Vick! ? Slogan.
In order to solve the hair problem, the Manchu rulers took extremely cruel measures. On the first 10 day in Jiangyin, there were three butchers in Jiading. The Manchu government created a terrible historical tragedy, and many people fell to the ground.
What is the most tragic thing? Jiangyin for ten days? After seeing the haircut order, Jiangyin people swore to heaven: the head can be broken, and the hair can never be shaved! Under the siege of 200,000 Qing troops, Jiangyin people, led by Yan Yingyuan and Chen Mingyu, held fast to 8 1 day, with 75,000 Qing troops killed and 67,000 brave men killed on the city wall. After the city was broken, Boluo, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army who killed the red eye, slaughtered the city crazily 10 days until the city was broken. 170,000 soldiers and civilians died by the sword of the Qing army, and only 53 old and young survived. There are Yan Yingyuan's poems as evidence:
On the 80 th, Defa was loyal to him and represented the people of the 17 th Dynasty.
60,000 people died together, and Daming is 300 miles.
With the constant resistance of the Han people and the continuous suppression of the Manchu people, and the successive collapse of the small court in Nanming, people's hopes of recovery were dashed. People had to accept the reality of Manchu rule, and one braid was left behind. Over time, people have become numb and used to it. They no longer feel unhappy about it, and they no longer pay attention to it as a barbarian custom. Braiding has gradually become a custom in China.
185 1 year, Hong Xiuquan launched the jintian uprising vigorously. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, with the call of anti-Qing Dynasty, dug up old scores more than 200 years ago, and declared in Tian Feng Autumn Tiger that China had the image of China, but now Manchuria ordered a haircut, dragging a long tail behind him, turning China people into animals. China has China's clothes, and now Manchuria has another crown, a monkey's coat crown and a bad crown, which makes people forget their roots in China. ?
Taiping officers and soldiers recovered? Zhongyuan ancient system? Put on Han people's clothes and costumes again, grow hair without shaving, and restore Han people's hairstyles. Wherever the Taiping Army went, it was forced to store hair and change clothes, which was regarded as whether it supported the political attitude of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If you want to keep your head, you have to grow your hair, or you may be beheaded. After the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, all the hair and clothes disappeared, and everything returned to its original appearance.
After the Opium War, when the powers forcibly opened the door of China with their guns, for a long time, people of other nationalities in the world stared at China men's long braids with strange eyes and felt uncomfortable with each other. With the increasing contact with foreigners and the in-depth understanding of modern industrial civilization, some people begin to realize how harmful this vulgar custom of braiding is.
Kang Youwei, who advocated political reform, was the first person to propose a haircut to the Qing authorities. /kloc-in the summer of 0/898, Kang Youwei boldly wrote to Emperor Guangxu, putting forward the idea of breaking, changing clothes and changing yuan, requesting Emperor Guangxu to order breaking and changing clothes when political, economic and cultural changes were fully implemented. Revitalize the national spirit? , but it was not adopted.
19 10, the product of the new policy of the Qing dynasty-the first executive meeting of the senior advisory Committee was opened. At the meeting, someone proposed a motion to cut braids and change clothes. Although it was strongly opposed by some Manchu nobles, it was finally passed with the approval of most members. But braiding is still a free choice at this time, and there is no mandatory social pressure.
After the outbreak of Wuchang Uprising, various provinces responded in succession. Compared with forcing Han people to shave their hair in the early Qing Dynasty, the newly established military government also regarded hair as a symbol of political division. Independent provinces naturally take the braid that marks the Han people's submission to the Manchu court as their revolutionary goal, and cutting off the braid has become a new symbol of getting rid of the old and the new.
Xu Jincheng wrote in unofficial history of the Republic of China: "Countless Han people happily cut off the braid of this slave symbol. There are also superstitious people who choose auspicious days in advance to worship their ancestors, then cut them solemnly and burn their braids. Some people even cut their braids, set off firecrackers and hold a public banquet to celebrate. " At that time, people circulated: "If you don't cut your hair, it won't be revolutionary or fashionable. You can't talk in the big yamen, and you can't go to school. " For a time, the wave of braiding swept across the country.
In view of the fact that there are still many Manchu old people and young people in many places, and quite a few ordinary people resist braiding out of a long-standing habit, after Sun Yat-sen took office as interim president, he ordered the whole country to braid braids, and the wording was very strict: "Anyone who does not braid braids will be completely cut off within 20 days from the date of the order, and those who do not comply will be considered illegal." At this point, big braid, the greasy burden that has plagued China people for nearly 300 years, finally disappeared from people's heads.