At the moment, if a young man has a long beard, then it will be regarded as nothing more than two possibilities: one is a person who does not pay attention to the image and does not trim the edges; the other, it will be regarded as an artist: for example, performance art. Because at present, even middle-aged uncles try to shave every day and strive to establish a better appearance image.
But in ancient times, the opposite was true: in ancient times, it was normal for adults to grow beards, otherwise they would be regarded as abnormal manifestations.
So, why do Chinese rarely grow beards now, but many people have beards in ancient times? Personally, I believe that it mainly lies in the following aspects:
strength
China's ancient society was dominated by farming - taking the male character as an example, the so-called male, the strong man in the field is marked by the person who has strength in the field. In ancient times, most of the occupations of men were farming or soldiers, and this required strength. The beard is a symbol of the male, the beard is dense and bright, can be regarded as a man has strength, otherwise, it is different. Therefore, in ancient times, beards were to prove that they had strength, and those without beards were either some unspeakable diseases or eunuchs, which were not glorious things. Under this value, of course, it is necessary to grow a beard.
Aesthetic
The so-called "beauty since ancient times loves heroes". What is a hero? Since ancient times, they have all been heroes based on success or failure. Success or failure is mostly measured by wealth. In ancient times, relying on the imperial examination to turn over was a small probability event, and doing business was an act that was suppressed by the imperial courts of successive dynasties. Therefore, the magic weapon that most successful people in ancient times relied on was the strength mentioned above. And powerful people turn over easily, after forming a concept, will inadvertently affect the aesthetic - for example, think that the image of successful people are Kong Wu powerful, and Kong Wu powerful standard, is to keep beautiful hair.
Therefore, under the guidance of aesthetic concepts, ancient men would also choose to grow beards in order to pursue beauty. In such an atmosphere, those who do not grow a beard belong to a different kind.
Cultural concepts
In ancient China, Confucianism was practiced by successive generations of officials and became the guiding basis of social values, and the influence of the teachings of Confucian sages was even stronger than the will of ancient emperors.
Confucianism pursues the idea of loyalty and filial piety, and even Confucian classics such as the "Book of Filial Piety" have been handed down to this day, and the famous "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties" story is actually an extreme embodiment of Confucian culture.
In the Confucian culture of filial piety, the human body and life come from their parents and do not belong to themselves (of course, when there is a conflict with loyalty to the Son of Heaven, loyalty takes precedence over filial piety), and the body includes hair and beard.
Therefore, under the influence of this value, in ancient times, shaving hair was also one of the punishments, which was culturally equivalent to damaging a person's body, with the purpose of making the person bear the charge of filial piety and be spurned. When the Manchu Qing entered the customs, the reason why it encountered many years of resistance from the spontaneous forces of the people was not that the Han people missed the Ming Dynasty much, but because the Manchu Qing shaving order was culturally difficult for the Han people to accept.
Under the guidance of this cultural concept, the beard has also become something that cannot be shaved, so the ancients were keen to grow a beard.