[General_Zhaoyun]

Why do ancient chinese guys had beards and long hairs?

Many of their beards are long.. and they don't cut their hair short.. was it a custom in the past to have such appearance. Wasn't there any invention of scissors in the past?

Or was beard a symbol of status?

[Tyler]

Some people today like beards. And many boys as well as teachers (male teachers) in my school prefer long hair. I guess thats the new look right now. I also am starting to get longer hair.

[janz]

孝经: "身体发肤，受之父母，不敢毁伤，孝之始也"
in "Xiao Jing" (principle of filial obedience ?) Confucius said(roughly translated) "body,hair and skin all came from parents, not dare to damage, that's the beginning of filial obedience(xiao).

[General_Zhaoyun]

janz, on Aug 17 2004, 12:57 PM, said:

孝经: "身体发肤，受之父母，不敢毁伤，孝之始也"
in "Xiao Jing" (principle of filial obedience ?) Confucius said(roughly translated) "body,hair and skin all came from parents, not dare to damage, that's the beginning of filial obedience(xiao).

Oh.. I see.. probably confucianism's filial piety had a great influence..

For your information, during the chinese funeral, we are not allowed to shave or cut our hair, I guess, that also had to do with this.

[Ghost_of_Han]

Its a sign of power. I think no different then Samson. Buddhists shave their heads, but still want a beard. I can't think of anyone that doesn't want a beard in China (males that is). Guan Yu had a beard, for starts, and many other power figures, are usually shown with a beard. Also that guy Sephodwyrm mentioned, Tong Guan was a eunuch and even he had a beard. All warrior figures idealy have beards, or thats at least how a warrior is hypothetically depicted.

[Yun]

Han Chinese were not allowed to cut their hair because of filial piety, all the way until the Qing dynasty forced them to adopt the Manchu shaved-head-and-pigtail look. That was part of the reason for the fierce Han oppostion to the pigtail policy during the early Qing, which resulted in several rebellions. Men would tie their hair up in a topknot and enclose it with a headdress or cap (guan), while women would coif or plait it in various ways. However, shaving the beard or moustache was not considered unfilial, because one only developed them at puberty. Many Chinese men chose to grow out their beards and/or moustaches simply because they felt it looked good.

Imagine this - to the ancient Chinese, a person with short hair was probably an uncivilised barbarian!

[Kulong]

Europeans in ancient times didn't exactly have regular haircuts and shaving either... it simply isn't convinent to cut hair and shave beard without modern tools.

[Yun]

Actually, the Romans usually cut their hair short - to them, it was both fashion and a mark of civilisation. In the 18th century, high-class Europeans also liked to shave their heads and wear powdered wigs. In the 19th century, the fashion shifted to short hair, parted at the side, and full beards. This was the fashion that spread to Japan after the Meiji Restoration, but the Chinese stuck to their pigtails until after the 1911 revolution. By that time, most had become very attached to their pigtails, and cutting the pigtail off was a momentous event. Kang Youwei, for example, was very reluctant to do so after fleeing to Japan following the failure of the 100 Days' Reform in 1898, even though the Japanese were perceiving him as some kind of cultural oddity, and only cut off his pigtail after an elaborate ceremony in which he announced his intention to the imperial ancestors and asked for their forgiveness.

I believe that if the Chinese had not been mentally prepared for the idea of cutting their hair by the experience of the Qing dynasty, they might still be leaving their hair long like they did in the Ming. The filial piety ethic, after all, is extremely strong in Chinese society and it took much coercion by the Manchus to separate filial piety ethically from the practice of keeping one's hair. It can probably be said that there was no such occupation as a barber in pre-Qing China. Today, the only people who still refuse to cut their hair or even shave their facial hair are the Sikhs, and they do so for cultural-religious reasons as well.

Also, the traditional hairstyle of Xianbei, Khitan and Japanese men was to shave the top of the head and leave only the fringe and a topknot. The Tuoba Xianbei were slightly different - they tied their hair in several pigtails, like the Xiongnu did, and so were called "Ropeheads" (suotou or suolu) by other peoples. I'm not sure whether the Jurchen kept a single pigtail, like their descendants the Manchus did. Can anyone clarify on this, or suggest when the Manchu hairstyle started?

[Tyler]

Ghost_of_Han, on Aug 17 2004, 09:27 AM, said:

Also that guy Sephodwyrm mentioned, Tong Guan was a eunuch and even he had a beard.

So a eunuch had a beard. How can that be eunuchs are casterated :ph43r: ......

[Bryan]

Liu Ce, on Aug 17 2004, 04:26 PM, said:

So a eunuch had a beard. How can that be eunuchs are casterated :ph43r: ......

Well, not all eunuchs were hairless... it would depend upon what stage of life he was castrated in I think...

[Ghost_of_Han]

Well in the article it implies that, one if it was done later in life when they already had a bread it quite possible to have a bread for some time, and also implying that when they were castraded they didn't do a clean job, if you get what i mean. :blink:

[Tyler]

*Ahem* Back on topic :unsure: . When did ancient chinese men start having regular hair cuts.

[snowybeagle]

Liu Ce, on Aug 17 2004, 10:08 PM, said:

*Ahem* Back on topic :unsure: . When did ancient chinese men start having regular hair cuts.

I think of three main factors.

(01) Climate - when the ancient Chinese started spreading southwards, they realize that uncut hair is quite uncomfortable in the warmer climates, not to mention attraction of lices etc.

(02) They notice well-kept hair is an added attraction to women.

(03) They develop reliable cutting tools.

From pictures of ancient scenes, I think it will be sometime after the establishment of the Western Zhou dynasty.

[Yun]

Snowybeagle, you are half correct - the "barbarian" peoples of the south, such as the Yue and the Chu, are known to have cut their hair short for practical reasons. But the Han people of the north continued to keep their hair uncut after expanding southwards - simply because cutting one's hair was considered not only unfilial but also uncivilised. Similarly, Europeans did not discard their clothing after coming to the tropics, even though the native peoples wore only loincloths or sarongs because of the heat and humidity. Instead, wearing next to nothing was considered a sign of barbarism itself. It was only from the Qing dynasty onwards that Chinese people got used to cutting their hair - or, in the case of men, shaving their heads since the hair on the back of the head was still left uncut to form the pigtail.

[Edit: I forgot to point out that Buddhist monks and nuns were actually the first Chinese to shave their heads - and this was one of the big reasons why some Confucian scholars condemned Buddhism for being very unfilial... the other reason being the vow of celibacy which prevented a monk from carrying on the family line.]

[yehzhaofeng]

Anyone thought of this? Northen CHinese kept beards to keep warm. heh..

I personally think that having a beard, please don't leave one like Santa, and for a mustache, I lite one, but not like Saddam's.