Tradition and concern for hair

In ancient China, men tied their hair into bundles or rolled it into rolls, because this was the requirement of Xiao Jing, an ancient Confucian school in China. Therefore, in ancient China, people were not allowed to shave their hair at will, and naturally they could not keep long hair, which was not in line with the ethical code. It is not correct to say that ancient foreigners kept their hair, because ancient foreigners all had short hair.

China Confucian classic "The Book of Filial Piety" clearly stipulates that "the skin is long and is influenced by parents", and the hair is given by parents. Therefore, children should not shave their heads at will, which is disrespectful to their parents. Just like when the Qing dynasty entered the customs, the Qing government asked the Han people to shave their hair, but it was strongly opposed. Shaving hair was not accepted by orthodoxy in ancient China. Then long hair naturally needs to be dealt with. If men have long hair, they will look nondescript. In addition, in ancient times, due to the lack of water resources, people could not always take care of their hair, and the messy hair did not conform to Confucian ethics. Tie your hair has become the best choice.

So why is it wrong to say that ancient foreign hair was covered? Looking at ancient foreign portraits, sculptures and murals, we can see that all foreign men have short hair, and the famous Julius Caesar and Octavian also have short hair images. Short hair was also the mainstream in the Middle Ages. Including the earliest image of Jesus was short hair, and the BBC also restored the image of Jesus and got the same short-haired man. Even many Christians don't recognize Jesus with long hair.

So why do we have the illusion that ancient foreign men had long hair shawls? This is because there was a French king, Louis XIII. One of the characteristics of this king is that he is bald. In order to maintain his image, Louis XIII began to live with a wig. Later, wigs became popular, so people had the illusion that all foreign men wore wigs in ancient times.