Hair symbol

 

Hair symbol

 

The horse dealer Fang Shidi listened to Agudengba's story about how Huang Taiji had forced all Han people in Liaodong to follow the order of shaving their hair and changing their clothes in the early days of Huang Taiji's accession to the throne. I don’t understand the “service” policy.

As a result, Agudengba continued to chat with Azhuo about "shaving your hair and changing clothes". He further explained this:

Before the Qing troops entered the customs, Huang Taiji was so easy to distinguish between obedience and disobedience that he forced the conquered or surrendered Han people to shave their hair and change their clothes. In 1623, a cap-top system for both officials and civilians was established; in 1631, Huang Taiji issued an order when he won the Battle of Daling River. "The surrendered officers and soldiers will wait for Nagifa". In 1632, the color system was established. In 1636, Huang Taiji issued an order: "All Han officials and civilians, men and women, must dress according to the Manchu style... Anyone who uses other countries' clothes, hair, or feet will be severely punished." When the Manchus attacked Korea during the Tiancong and Chongde years, they also North Koreans were once required to shave their hair and change their clothes. Han officials who had earlier surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, such as Li Yongfang, Kong Youde, Zu Dashou, Hong Chengchou, etc., also had their hair shaved and modified.

In the first year of Shunzhi (1644), Dorgon and the young Emperor Shunzhi defeated Li Zicheng's peasant uprising army and occupied the capital. Soon Dorgon issued an order in the name of Shunzhi to shave off hair and change clothes, requiring the Qing Dynasty to All Han people in Guan under the rule must abide by the order of shaving their hair and changing clothes.

In the early days of the Qing army's entry into the Pass, neither the common people nor the officials were so resistant to the Qing Dynasty. After all, their lives remained the same after the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass. Officials only had to surrender and continue to be officials, and merchants continued to do business. The Qing Dynasty did not plunder their wealth, and the landlords' fields were not taken back, so the lives of officials, gentry, and common people did not change much.

But as soon as this "order to shave your hair and change your clothes" came out, it completely changed everyone's life. You must know that the Han people have attached great importance to clothing and hairstyle since ancient times. There is a saying in "The Book of Filial Piety" that "the body's hair and skin are affected by "Don't dare to damage your parents, this is the beginning of filial piety." Therefore, the Han people have attached great importance to hairstyle since ancient times, never shaving their hair, and only leaving it tied up in a bun.

Hair shaving was a form of punishment in the minds of the ancient Han people. In the Ming Dynasty, there was the punishment of Kunshou. The so-called punishment of Kunshou was to shave off all the victim's hair. This was considered a relatively severe punishment in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's implementation of the "hair shaving and easy service order" immediately encountered collective opposition from the Han bureaucrats and gentry. Their passionate resistance to the Qing Dynasty was to destroy the traditional customs of the Han people.

Since the Qing Dynasty had just entered the customs at that time, and the Nanming regime still existed in Nanjing, after Dorgon introduced the "order of shaving hair and changing clothes", he saw the resistance of the Han people in the ruling area. He was worried that the Qing Dynasty had just entered the customs, and the people's hearts would not be stable. However, Nanming still posed a great threat. He was afraid that the people would turn against the Nanming court, so Dorgon had to postpone the implementation of the "hair shaving and easy service order".

In addition, among Han Chinese, hair also symbolizes the continued incense of a family. The ancients believed that cutting off the hair of descendants would end the inheritance of incense, so individuals are not allowed to cut off their hair without authorization and must follow the ancestral system. These are one of the reasons why ancient people valued hair so much.

Agudengba further explained: During the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, hair became a symbol of Han people's resistance to foreign aggression.

After the Manchus entered the customs, in order to show their dominance over the Han people, Dorgon issued an order to shave their heads. This unacceptable policy met with strong resistance from the Han people. Faced with the resistance of the Han people, Dorgon ordered a brutal suppression. As a result, the Jiangnan area, where the resistance to the "order to shave hair and change clothes" was the most intense, was caused by the Qing army to cause many massacres.

Among them, the resistance of the people of Yangzhou was the most intense. After the local people learned about the announcement of the hair-shaving order, they decided to drive away the soldiers defending the city in Yangzhou and collectively boycott the hair-shaving order. Dorgon was furious when he learned about it and immediately ordered the dispatch of regular troops to return to Yangzhou to quell the rebellion. He issued a cruel and inhumane death order in response to the Yangzhou rebellion: after capturing the city, the Han people's hair was forcibly shaved. Anyone who dared to disobey the order would be killed without mercy. The old, weak, women and children would not be spared. The people of Yangzhou knew that shaving their hair was a violation of the loyalty and filial piety of the Han people, and they vowed to fight this order to the end.

Although the Manchu soldiers were well-trained, they were still somewhat difficult to defeat when faced with the resolute resistance of this group of people. It was not until the fourth day that the Qing army finally invaded the city and launched a bloody massacre. During these ten days and nights, the people of Yangzhou died unjustly. Corpses were scattered everywhere, blood flowed into rivers, and the horror of the massacre was indescribable. The desperate cries and lamentations of the victims were mixed with the roar of the Qing army's swords, which was extremely tragic.

The famous Jiangyin Eighty-one Day was when the officials and people of Jiangyin County collectively opposed the order of shaving their hair and obeying the order. In the end, Duduo ordered the massacre of the city. At that time, 100,000 people in Jiangyin County, led by Yan Yingyuan, resolutely refused to obey the Qing Dynasty's order to shave their hair and change their clothes, indicating that "the head can be cut off, but the hair cannot be shaved" to maintain the integrity of the Han people. In the end, Jiangyin's military and civilians and the Qing Dynasty The army fought tenaciously for eighty-one days. On the day the city was broken, Duduo ordered the massacre of the entire city's soldiers and civilians. All 100,000 people in the county were killed. Only 53 old, weak, women and children who hid in the temple survived.

There was also the Three Massacres in Jiading. At that time, Jiading also resolutely refused to obey the Qing Dynasty's order to shave their heads and change clothes. Therefore, under the leadership of the local gentry and wealthy families, they began to resist the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty's general general Li Chengdong ordered the massacre and refused to obey the order to shave their heads and change clothes. As for the rebellious people, there were three times in Jiading within two months those who resisted the order of shaving their hair and obeying the order. Li Chengdong also ordered the massacre three times, so it was called the Three Massacres in Jiading in history.

Under the Qing Dynasty's ruthless implementation of the "Order to shave your hair and make it easier to serve", resulting in situations such as the Eighty-one Days of Jiangyin and the Three Massacres of Jiading, which frequently massacred the city or massacred Han people who resisted the order to change their hair, many Han bureaucrats, The landlords and gentry were all afraid. They decided to submit to the Manchus and follow the orders of shaving their hair and changing their clothes. Since they were relatively commanding and influential figures among the Han people, they all succumbed to the Manchus. , so under their leadership, ordinary Han people could only accept the order of shaving their hair and changing their clothes.

Therefore, in fact, the forced shaving and changing of clothes order in the early Qing Dynasty originated from Huang Taiji’s belief that the Manchus could not be completely Chineseized and that they should maintain their own traditional customs and maintain the martial wildness of the Manchus, so that they would not be like the Jin Kingdom. They will eventually decline and perish.

The long history of hair not only records different cultures’ different views on hair, but also records people’s different pursuits of hair in different periods. Nowadays, hair, as a part of fashion, has gradually broken away from the shackles of ancient times. However, the importance of hair and the attention paid to it have never diminished.

Agudenba said:

In short, hair was a symbol in ancient times, representing people's identity, family incense and social status. During the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, hair became a symbol of Han people's resistance to foreign invasion.

Agudemba sang a song about hair, "The Symbol of Hair":

 

In China’s thousands of years of history,

Hair is endowed with profound connotations,

Derived many symbolic meanings.

The soul and body can be separated,

Hair is the medium that connects the two;

It has special mysterious power,

Can replace life or soul.

Wizards can cast spells on hair,

can achieve the purpose of harming the human body.

To destroy the hair is to destroy the soul,

Shaving one's hair was a severe punishment.

 

In Confucius’ Confucian etiquette culture,

The body, hair and skin are influenced by parents,

Hair and filial piety are integrated into one,

Hair belongs to the clan or family.

The spiritual world of hair symbolizes love,

The bride and groom cut off a lock of hair,

Lovingly knotting their hair in a bun, they become husband and wife.

From having black hair all over your head to growing old together,

The happy marriage of a hundred years holds hands and faces each other with gray hair.

 

Hair symbolizes national identity,

It also has cultural and political symbols.

From the late Ming Dynasty to the early Republic of China,

Braids are considered a political symbol.

The Qing Dynasty promoted shaving one’s hair and changing clothes.

This is a violation of the loyalty and filial piety of the Han people.

Women’s hair cutting movement during the Northern Expedition,

It is not only a pursuit of fashion,

It is also a way to express oneself against popular customs.

At the same time, in order to show revolutionary determination.

The slightest change in hair,

It is no longer a simple personal issue.