Chapter 38 second quarter

In the Republic of China, people still wear braids. Why is it so absurd that they are called "monsters"?This has to start with the history of braids in China. After the Qing army entered the customs, Dorgon, in the name of the young Shunzhi Emperor, ordered in 1645 that Han men must shave their hair and braid it, announcing that "from now on, both inside and outside the capital, as well as in Zhili provinces, must be shaved within ten days." End. If you avoid sparing your hair and argue cleverly, you will never lend money lightly." Ministers are not allowed to discuss and shave their hair, otherwise "kill without pardon."This is the famous "shaving order" in history.

In the troubled times at the end of Ming Dynasty, when the Qing army entered the pass, the ordinary people did not feel much pain of "surviving the country", because life was hard enough, and it had nothing to do with the common people who would be the emperor. Are we better off?Anyway, who will be the emperor, we are all ordinary people, and our living conditions will not change, so there is no such thing as "subjugation", that is, "change of dynasty". But this "hair shaving order" has received unprecedented resistance.People were horrified to find that what they changed this time was not the name of the dynasty and the emperor, but their own way of life; Destroyed, forcibly changed.

Yangzhou tenth day, Jiading three massacres, and Jiangyin eighty-first day, the earth-shattering and weeping ghosts and gods' resistance in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, where the folk customs are originally weak, is to resist this braid.The slogan at that time was: "It is better to be a hair-tying ghost than to be a head-shaving man!" When Jiangyin City fell, Yan Yingyuan, who led the residents of the city to fight against the Qing Dynasty, wrote a couplet: "Leave your hair allegiance on the 80th day, and represent Taizu The figures of the seventeen dynasties; 60,000 people united to die righteousness, save the Ming Dynasty for three hundred miles."Whether or not to keep dreadlocks has become a major political issue, especially an issue of national dignity.

After rounds of bloody suppression, the people were finally conquered.This braid has remained on the heads of the Chinese since then, and it has remained for more than 260 years. It has become a part of Chinese historical tradition from something that was desperately resisted. Aesthetically speaking, this braid, which originated in the nomadic era and was formed for the convenience of riding and archery, has never given a sense of beauty to first-timers: a thread is drawn in the middle of the top of the head, the hair in front of the thread is shaved, and the hair behind the thread is kept in a bundle It is braided, just like the word "Q" in English.By the time of the Opium War, the closed door of the country was finally opened. Foreigners came in and some Chinese went out. The unique braid of the Chinese became the focus.

The British who came to China in the middle of the 19th century said: "The Chinese are the most absurd and peculiar people in the world: their shaved hair, braided hair, slanted eyes, strange clothes and women's disfigured feet have long provided those who manufacture Funny cartoonists use their subject matter.” And Sun Yat-sen, a young man studying abroad in Honolulu, has excellent grades. Every time someone asks: “Who is the first?” in the exam, someone answers: “It’s the one with the pig’s tail!” Braids, together with China's poverty and weakness, have become a disgrace to the Chinese people.

The braid-cutting movement must have arisen in the late Qing Dynasty.The earliest one was of course the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising. The Taiping army was called "long hair" because they did not wear braids; One of the official responsibilities is to strictly restrict the cutting of overseas students' braids; since 1895, the overseas members of the Tongmenghui led by Sun Yat-sen began to cut their braids. , and published in the newspaper advocating collective braid cutting. The first official discussion of braiding began in the summer of 1898.During the reform movement, Kang Youwei wrote to Emperor Guangxu, bluntly suggesting that the braids should be cut off.He mentioned cutting braids to the level of reformation and strengthening the country, and thought: "Although hair cutting started in hot land India, and was created in martial arts Rome, and Taibo is the most virtuous, and he is appointed to rule Wu, why not cut hair first?" Moreover, the reforms of Russia's Peter I and Japan's Meiji Restoration "both cut hair and change clothes first." Therefore, he asked Emperor Guangxu to order the cutting of hair and changing clothes when the political, economic, and cultural changes were comprehensively implemented, so as to "invigorate the spirit of the people." ".

This proposal was not approved, but the trend of braid cutting is unstoppable. In 1900, overseas Chinese in Singapore cut their braids in batches; in 1903, led by returned students, some young students in the Mainland began to cut their braids; At the opening of the first Standing Committee of the Zizhengyuan established in the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty, a member named Luo Jie proposed the motion of "Cutting Braids, Changing Clothes and Harmony with the World", and then Zhou Zhenlin, a member from Hunan, proposed "Cut Braids and Improve In the end, the two motions were passed with the majority of members in favor.However, some princes and aristocrats strongly opposed it. Some nobles said: "If hair braids perish, although China will not perish, the Qing Dynasty will perish!" braid.

After the Revolution of 1911, countless people happily and happily cut off the slave's braid.Some people choose auspicious days in advance, light incense candles, worship and pray to ancestors, and then solemnly cut off and burn the cut braids.Some even cut braids on the same day with many people, set off firecrackers, and held a public banquet to celebrate.For a time, the wave of braid cutting swept across the country like a storm. However, this braid has existed for more than 260 years, and it has also become part of the historical tradition. Out of inertia or out of maintenance of this "tradition", there are some people who are unwilling to cut their braids, and some radicals forcefully Others cut their braids, and in some places even killed people for it.

In order to promote braid cutting, the group society in Xiaonanmen in Shanghai launched a voluntary braid cutting activity. The recipients can choose their own hairstyle, and all cuts are free; those who keep parted hair can ask professional barbers to cut them for only 10 cents.There is an endless stream of people who come to cut their braids.A hairdresser named Xu Zhitang offered rewards for braid cutting. He announced that those who came to him for a braid cut within three days would not only not be charged, but would also be given a bowl of big meat noodles. As a result, more than 300 people were attracted to come to have their braids cut.Since then, consciously cutting braids has gradually become a trend in Shanghai.

After the establishment of the provisional government of the Republic of China, the decree of compulsory braid cutting was promulgated. In the braid cutting order issued by Sun Yat-sen, it said: "The Qing court has now been overthrown, and the Republic of China has succeeded. All my compatriots are allowed to wash away the pollution of the old pollution and become citizens of the new country... ...All those who have not removed their braids will be cut off within 20 days from the date of the order, and those who are disrespectful will be considered illegal..." Braids, finally came to an end.A new and civilized life style has been established, and the Chinese people have a new look. Wearing braids is a behavior that is obviously out of fashion and resisted by society. At that time, a magazine called "Yue Feng" published an article saying: "If you don't cut your hair, you can't go to the big yamen to talk, and you can't go to the school to study."

This braid is so disgusting that even the relatives of high officials in the Qing Dynasty and even Emperor Xuantong Puyi himself did not like it.Before the Revolution of 1911, Duan Fang, the governor of Liangjiang, had a son who was studying in the UK. He sent a telegram saying that he had suffered a lot abroad for dragging his braids. Stop it; my son will send another telegram... In the end, Duan Fang reluctantly agreed.For this matter, the telegraph fee cost 8,000 yuan.Later, someone joked that Duanfang's son's head was so precious that it would cost 8,000 yuan to cut a braid. The last emperor Puyi, after entering the Republic of China, saw that most people had their braids cut, clean and tidy, and energetic. He was very envious and thought of cutting their braids.But his idea was strongly opposed by the concubine and his masters, who believed that as an emperor, he had to abide by the tradition of keeping the braids of his ancestors: whoever cuts you can't cut it! Puyi asked Cambridge University Master of Arts Johnston, an Englishman, to teach him English.Johnston also didn't understand why Puyi had to drag a braid behind his head, and laughed at it like a pig's tail, which was very irritating to Puyi.Under Johnston's persuasion, until 1919, Puyi finally made up his mind to cut off the braid.He called the barber eunuch and told him to cut his braids; the eunuch was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he kowtowed that he didn't dare, and begged the emperor to ask someone to cut his braids again;This cut braid is still in the Palace Museum. Against this background, Zhang Xun, the patrol envoy of the Yangtze River of the Republic of China (equivalent to the governor of the Qing Dynasty) who governed several provinces, has been in the Republic of China for more than six years, and he is still clinging to the national humiliation that has become a historical relic. Don't let the braids go, isn't it a monster?