From which dynasty did Chinese men start to wear braids?

Beginning in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the rulers of the Qing dynasty forced the men under their rule, including the Han Chinese and other minorities in the south, to change their hair to Manchu scalped hairstyles (or naginata), and to change their clothing to Manchu.

The customs of the Manchurians, who emerged in northeastern China, were very different from those of the Han Chinese. The traditional hairstyle of the Manchurian men was to shave their hair and leave it in a braid with a long plait down the back, and the dress of the Manchurians was to be mainly a flag dress with a waistcoat, characterized by a factory-type cross-necked collar, a pair of lapels, and a platter of buttons.

Chang Taiyan, a scholar at the end of the Qing Dynasty, said that the Manchu costume is the source of Zhuge Liang made the "sleeve armor".

In 1644 (Chongzhen seventeen years), the barge king Li Zicheng led the Da Shun troops captured Beijing, Ming Chongzhen emperor hanged himself. Qing Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui assisted the entry into the customs, and then immediately on the occupation of the region to implement the shaved hair easy order, forcing the Han people to change their hair style for Manchurian hairstyles and wear Manchurian clothing. Because of the great significance of hair style in ancient Han culture, it caused many Han Chinese to fiercely resist.

Expanded:

In 1644, when the Qing army entered the country, the nobles such as Dorgon issued a "hair shaving order". But because of the strong resistance from the Han Chinese people, the decree was eventually repealed.

In 1645, when the Qing army further expanded its dominion, the rulers promulgated the "Hair Shaving Decree" and the "Easy Clothing Decree", which stipulated that all people in the country must shave their hair on the day the decree was issued. The principle is "keep your hair, not your head, keep your head, not your hair", and all ethnic groups are required to wear Manchu clothing.

In Chinese history, the change of dynasties was a normal thing. How to control the people, confine the people's thinking, and then achieve the purpose of stabilizing the regime, this is the ruling must solve the problem. The Manchus adopted the method of letting the people "shave their hair and change their clothes".

Before the Manchus entered the country, they shaved the hair and changed the clothes of those who had conquered them and those who had defected to them in the Ming Dynasty. By doing so, they could know whether these people were sincere in defecting to them or not, and they could also break down the original national pride of these people.

This is when the shaving of hair was first implemented. When Huang Taiji defeated the Koreans, he also ordered the Koreans to shave their hair and change their clothes, and the influence of this system gradually became larger.

The first real implementation of the shaving system was in 1644, when the Manchu army defeated Li Zicheng's army and entered the Shanhaiguan pass, and immediately issued a shaving order in the pass.

Dorgon led the army to occupy the Tongzhou, so in the Tongzhou head shaving order. After the occupation of Beijing, officially issued a shaving order and easy to dress order, requiring all the soldiers and people to shave their hair and easy to dress, as a sign of their allegiance to the Manchu government. But this time, it caused the majority of the people's protests, Huang taiji considering the regime has not yet stabilized, it temporarily abolished the decree.

As the Qing armies moved south, more areas were occupied by them, and in 1645 they attacked the southern part of the country. After occupying the city of Jinling and consolidating his power a little, Huang taiji once again issued a decree to shave his hair and change his clothes.

The shaving of hair and clothing was actually carried out in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties before the Qing Dynasty, but it was not carried out on such a large scale as in the Qing Dynasty, so the shaving of hair and clothing began at the time of the greatest impact.

The record of how many people died from shaving their hair and changing their clothes has been recorded in history since the Manchus invaded the Central Plains. In the forty-sixth year of the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty, Manchu leader Nurhachu led an army that captured Liaoyang, and then issued a "hair shaving order".

But the decree was so unacceptable to the locals that they killed the Manchus who had sent the decree, and then all of them fled to the Yalu River. When the Manchus knew about this situation, they sent an army to the Yalu River.

The local people fought against the Manchu army in order to protect the traditions of their people. But in the end, the struggle was fruitless, and there was no place to go to escape, so tens of thousands of people eventually threw themselves into the Yalu River. This incident is well documented in Korean historical sources.

Songzhen 17 years, the Qing army attacked the Shanhaiguan, immediately ordered the implementation of shaved hair and clothing system. In May of the same year, the Qing army occupied Beijing, the next day issued a "shaved hair and easy to wear order", but this time by many people's strong resistance, and even rose up against.

The Qing government, believing that its rule had not yet been stabilized, repealed the decree. Later, when the Qing army occupied the southern part of the country, it once again introduced the "shaving of hair and changing of clothes", and this time the Qing government carried out a bloody crackdown on those who resisted, which lasted for thirty-seven years.

In the city of Changshu, no less than 5,000 people were killed and thousands taken captive. In Fushantang, the entire township was murdered by the Qing army. More than 30,000 people were killed in the "Jiading Three Massacres". According to incomplete statistics, about 10 million people died directly or indirectly from shaving their hair and changing their clothes.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Hair Shaving