Living Customs of Han Chinese during the Republican Period

During the Republic of China period, the changes and development of living customs were more active than other types of customs. It can be said that the change of customs during the Republic of China period began with the living customs. This is because a culture's absorption of foreign cultures often begins at the most superficial level of life. After the Republic of China, with the invasion of primitive economy and the penetration of modern material civilization by the western countries, the Chinese people saw a brand new way of life, which inspired the mentality of pursuing and imitating the progressive way of life of human beings, and consciously or unconsciously remodeled and enriched their own lives with this new way of life, which led to the great change of the traditional way of life. Yan Changhong: A Record of the Eastward Progression of Western Customs, Hunan Publishing House, 1991, p. 152.1. Dress CustomsThe most direct and rapid outward reflection of the changes in Han social customs during the Republican period was the renewal of dress styles. The main signs of this revival are male braids, women's feet, men changing clothes and women's clothes becoming newer.1. Men cutting braids. Men shaved their heads and wore braids. Originally, it was a way of forcing Han Chinese to accept it when the Manchu rulers first entered the Central Plains in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, whether a man kept his braid or not became a sign of Han Chinese society his loyalty to the court. In the Qing Dynasty, men's braiding was not only a matter of customary life, but also a political issue. At this time, Han's men shaved their hair and braided mainly with the help of politics and law, and lacked a corresponding social basis. Entering the period of the People's Republic of China, with the demise of the Qing Dynasty and changes in social and historical conditions, the custom of shaving and braiding men's hair, which had been imposed on Han society by the Manchu rulers, was difficult to continue. Bourgeois revolutionaries believed that the style of clothes and hair was the national emblem of the nation, often associated with the national spirit, and the concept of nationality was born. Wang Jingwei: The National of the Nation, Minbao, No. 1. Therefore, we call upon the people to get rid of the Manchu fence, and we must go to the Manchurian form, so that we can remove this cumbersome and troublesome thing once and for all, so that we can obtain the latter's politics and reform it thoroughly. For those who do not if you do not want to cut their braids, the authorities will punish them. The governor of Zhejiang stipulated that February 17th of the first year, the end of the second month of the lunar calendar, would be the period for cutting off all. , on the cause of hair braids October 8, 1912. Huang County civil affairs bureau chief Zhang on October 16, 1912, November 1, presented his hair-cutting Huangdi soul, Zhejiang Province, widely set up to cut pigtails on the theory. Even the Nanjing government issued an order to cut the braid only gave a deadline of 20 days. In many places, people with pigtails were simply treated as enemies. Some of them with braids were either taunted as dolphin tails or Manchu slaves to be deprived of their right to vote.On November 20, 1912, they were forced to do so. It is recalled that countless Han Chinese at the time gleefully cut off the braids, a symbol of slavery. There were also superstitious people who chose an auspicious day in advance to worship their ancestors and then solemnly cut and burned the braid. Some even joined together on the same day to celebrate by cutting the braid, setting off firecrackers and holding a public **** banquet. Xu Jincheng: Declaration, p. 16. Local government U.S. laws and regulations on braiding and the enthusiastic advocacy of revolutionaries were quickly met with a universal response, and the craze for braiding quickly took off across the country. In Guangdong, no matter what is adoption, no matter how old or weak, young or strong, peasants, workers, merchants, soldiers, will try to cut off the natural yoke. According to statistics, more than 200,000 people cut their pigtails every day, Huang Xian Civil Revolution Continued News, Declaration, p. 456. In Changsha, cutting pigtails was one of the first fashions to develop after the revolution. Everyone thought that not cutting the braids was a clear sign of being a slave and a subjugated person, so they cut the braids of their schoolmates and the braids of passers-by on the street. Tao Juyin: Ta Kung Pao, Wild History of the Republic of China, China Bookstore, 1963, p. 194. Even in Taiwan Province, which was far away from the mainland, the hair-cutting trend began to catch on in various cities and eventually spread to the vast countryside. Wang Wende: Record of Independence in Guangdong, Sources of the Xinhai Revolution, Zhonghua Shuju, 1963, p. 510. The Right of Man and the Value of Right

Because suits and braids are incompatible. A braid on the back of the head of a Qing soldier in a Western-style uniform made for an unorthodox look. Suits and shoes were meant to be more spirited and clean, like a long, smelly, unwashable pigtail at the back of the head that would make people sick. And practicality and aesthetics were the main pursuits of material customs, especially when it came to clothing. Hair braiding facilitates movement and is good for the body. With the development of the commodity economy and the importation of modern Western material civilization, by the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, there appeared in the Chinese people some lifestyles, customs and habits with a European tendency. Chinese people braided their hair in hufu, which really hindered their movement and they were ridiculed by others when they traveled to other countries. It is an anachronism and an inconvenience to the people. Changsha Response to the Uprising Insights, Memoirs of the 1911 Revolution Question 3. had no redeeming qualities, either from a hygienic or aesthetic point of view. By then, people had already seen the advantages of braid cutting, such as strong soldiers, firm planting, easy maintenance and vibration techniques. Cutting pigtails was the general trend, as was the so-called change, and the change was a scale of Taiwan before and after the Xinhai Revolution, the third installment of the Memoirs of the Xinhai Revolution. Rather, the hair is tied up first, the braided hair of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the short hair of Westerners, everything has changed. However, the trend of the world is changing day by day, the degree of evolution is different, I don't I don't know how many thousands. The Jian braid easy to wear denigration,hubei student community. It can be seen that the behavior of men to cut pigtails reflects the Chinese Chinese people the pursuit of Western civilization and the revitalization of China's aspirations, naturally got the response of the vast majority of men in Han Chinese society. Of course, the abolition of an old custom is by no means a quick fix. Many of those who sought stability and conservatism still clung to their long braids in the face of the massive wave of hair braiding. Some of them wore them on their heads, some rode in shoulder dresses, and some wore their tails. Braids were denigrated on June 14, 1912, by the braids. To cite a few examples, in some remote places, people still wore braids until the 1950s. Men were prone to wearing hairstyles that were inseparable from their clothes. With the activity of hair braiding in the early civil period, there was a dress-up fever in the society. The official and commoner's clothes of the Qing Dynasty were as distasteful to the people as the braid because they embodied the hierarchical concepts of feudal etiquette; but the peacock plume, horseshoe sleeves, shawl, and straight beasts of the whole suit had long been disliked by the Han Chinese. After the revolution, most of the costumes symbolizing feudal privilege and national oppression were discarded, and all the official clothes and robes inside and outside the former court were put on the back burner. Cutting the braids and changing the clothes made the old, monotonous and hierarchical situation of clothing replaced by a lively and ever-changing scene. After braiding, most people began the habit of wearing hats. So all kinds of hats, doctor's hats, straw hats, sanitary hats, woolen rope hats, flowed together. Since the Republic, all men have cut their hair, and the trend is growing. The summer straw hat became more and more popular. It is now all over the country. At first inferior goods were used. Since the boycott, the straw hat companies in the country have started. Rushing around day and night, not enough to sell, poor goods almost extinct Hubei student community July 16, 1912 Why wear a hat after you cut your hair? There are many reasons, the most important being that people at the time were not used to not having jewelry on their heads. Instead of braids, hats were used, and although most of them were domestic, the style was imported from the West. It is not difficult to observe the psychological state of this transitional period.