Beards are seen in some way as a symbol of men, and bearded people always feel full of masculinity, so they always leave some inertial thoughts on bearded people, such as: only tall and mighty men will grow beards, or bearded men must be very manly, obviously these ideas are too absolute.
And not only in our country, but also in many foreign countries have the tradition of men's beards, and the style of these beards has left a deep impression on the world. In many literary or film and television works, beards are always used to symbolize men full of masculinity, but not every man will grow a beard. So why do men have beards, and whether there is anything special about beards, these questions have left people with great confusion. The culture of beards and the purpose of beards have also caused many controversies in history, and many misunderstandings have been left behind, and today let us uncover these misunderstandings one by one.
Did the beard of the ancients really have anything to do with status?
In many costume film and television drama works, it is often seen that many high-powered or prestigious men have beards, so many people will associate beard growth with the lowliness of identity, and many people will wonder whether only people with noble status can grow beards. In addition, some people have questioned whether men in ancient times had to grow beards, and even many experts and scholars do think so, but according to the investigation of history and the study of cultural relics unearthed in various dynasties, this is not the case.
It is not that famous officials will grow beards, but on the contrary, after research, a large proportion of bearded people in history have been relatively low-status people. From here, it can also be seen that whether or not to grow a beard is actually not related to status. Specifically, it can also be studied and proved according to the cultural relics left over from previous dynasties.
Among the many cultural relics unearthed, it can be found that the phenomenon of men's beards has appeared as early as the Shang Dynasty. Judging from the carved jade human head preserved in the Forbidden City, the copper-topped human head unearthed in Hunan, and the ceramic slave figurines in Henan, the men in the Yin Shang period did not pay attention to any rules for bearding. Judging by these artifacts, some rulers may have an empty chin or a large beard.
Rulers are at the pinnacle of power, and since rulers do not all have beards, it is natural that they cannot absolutely say how beards relate to positions of power. From the two white jade moments unearthed in Anyang, it can also be seen that whether or not to grow a beard at that time has little to do with personal status and status, from the appearance of these two stone carvings, it can be seen that these are two people with completely different social status, obviously dressed gorgeously is the nobleman of the time, while the other ragged is a slave, it is such two images but have a common feature, that is, the chin is light.
If, as some people say, there is a certain correlation between the beard and the identity and status of the person, this discovery is not a slap in the face. Therefore, it can also be seen from here that at least in the Shang Dynasty, whether or not to grow a beard is not related to identity status.
Later, in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, there are more vivid examples to prove this view. In the two humanoid pottery fans unearthed in Houma, Shanxi, and in the figures in the painted lacquer unearthed in Xinyang, Henan, it can be seen that these people have a prominent status, but they are not seen to have beards. Therefore, it can be further deduced that growing a beard or not does not represent a person's status.
Judging from the large number of wooden figurines unearthed in Changsha in the Warring States period, these wooden figurines are about twenty years old, and they all have more or less beards, some have a pinch under the chin, some are slightly upturned, and some do not leave traces of beards. This further overturns the assertion that only the elderly, respectable and respectable have beards. And this image is found in the local area, no less than a hundred and ten kinds, so it can be known that there was this social atmosphere of bearding in a certain area at that time, as to which period, and when this atmosphere gradually disappeared, it is necessary to conduct more in-depth exploration.
In addition, in other cultural relics research has found other different situations, in short, it can be seen that in the period from the Shang Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, men did not grow beards mainly based on personal wishes, and were not too restricted, which can also show that not all ancient men had to grow beards, which is obviously too absolute.
In addition to this misconception, there are several other misconceptions about beards, that is, people often associate beards with the handsomeness of ancient men, and they even think that beards are unique features of beautiful men, which is nonsense.
In ancient times, the bearded man must be a beautiful man?
Zhang Liang in the early Han Dynasty looked like a woman, Chen Ping's skin was white and beautiful like a crown jade, if in ancient times really measured a man with a rough image of a beard, then these two people should be ridiculed, but in fact, although the historical data did not praise these two people too much, but there was no irony, so it can be preliminarily seen that beard is not the standard for measuring men's beauty.
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, society became increasingly morbid, and at that time, the "feminine feminine posture" was used as the criterion for judging beautiful men. It is conceivable that the rugged man with the beard in that period could not be compared with the image of a beautiful man. But this is only the aesthetic standard of that period, and later there are indeed people who prefer to grow a beard, and over time as a way to add points to the male image, but this phenomenon has only been circulated for a while, in the long river of years, people's aesthetic standards are also constantly changing, never with a fixed standard to stipulate what a beautiful man should be, so leaving a beard naturally can not represent whether a person is handsome or not.
It can only be said that growing a beard or not is only a person's personal will, and it is too extreme to regard it as a symbol of beauty. From the cultural relics unearthed from various places, we can see many grinning teeth, fierce gods, and terrifying images, and most of them have beards, do we want to call this part of the people beautiful men? Obviously not, on the contrary, there are many historical records of beautiful men with empty jaws, but they are recognized as beautiful men, so whether they grow a beard or not has much to do with beauty.
There is also an even more absurd claim that it is believed that every man who walks with a burden has a beard. This statement can be said to be even more unfounded, and those who carry the burden can be regarded as the working people of ancient times, but in the excavated cultural relics, the working people of no matter which dynasty have different images, some people may have long beards, and some people have empty jaws, from this fact, this statement is also nonsense. And there is really no factual basis for the convenience that the beard of working people can bring to them. So it's not that all men who walk with their burdens have beards.
However, through the investigation of history, a large number of bearded men have been found, which is not an isolated case, but a widespread existence, so if bearding is not a symbol of beauty and is not a mandatory regulation of society, why are so many ancients keen on bearding? This can only show that in a certain period of ancient China, under the influence of social customs and aesthetics, there was a certain degree of emphasis on bearding, but this is also based on the will of individuals.
And not every bearded person can be called a beautiful man, but in their view, bearding can make it look more in line with the aesthetics of society, or add points to their own image. Just as during the Tang Dynasty, women loved to paste a flower tin in the middle of their eyebrows, and it was widely circulated for a time, and women competed for similarity, it was just a social custom. After a period of popularity, it may slowly fade away.
In short, it is always easy for people to have some inertial thinking, which can easily lead to overly absolute thoughts about an objective thing. In the case of men with beards in ancient times, it is because we are influenced by many inherent literary characters and film and television drama images that we associate beards with a certain part of people, but this is not the case. A social phenomenon cannot be identified by a statement that is too absolute.