ABSTRACT
The Chinese pigtail is an appendage which the progress of European civilisations now threatens with extinction. He maintains that the pigtail, like many other national customs, owed its origin to hygienic motives, and in one aspect formed the basis of China’s ancient civilisation. He assures us that the effect of the pigtail is a more active circulation of the blood, which benefits the brain. He writes: ‘The observations we hear now and then that Chinese without pigtails show less intelligence strikes me as not altogether unreasonable, as an active circulation of the blood will not fail to influence the nourishment and development of the brain.’ He relates how the Chinese give special care to the head even of a newly born baby, and how it is shaved, and no cloth, cap, or soft pillow is allowed to interfere with the circulation of the scalp. When the child grows bigger, the hair is tied together in bunches, so as to expose the skin to the air, and thus promote perspiration. Later the hair is grown so as to form a pigtail, and superfluous hair is shaved away. The effect of the pigtail is a high and smooth forehead, and a face free from wrinkles; and so even old Chinese show smooth faces and a juvenile appearance. When rolled up on the top of the head, the pigtail acts as a substitute for a cap, and protects the head from the glare of the summer sun and the cold of winter. It also serves as a neckcloth and a pillow. As a cord, it is ever at hand to check haemorrhage. In addition to these virtues, the author attributes to it an inner and a moral meaning, for it is the symbol of the common nationality of 400 millions of people. Thus have Europeans, in dread of the power of China, adopted a method of protection by enticing the Chinese to become Europeans, and cut their pigtails off. This is the opinion of a European who, as we see, is more Chinese than John Chinaman himself. He neglects to remind us that the pigtail was only introduced by the Manchus somewhere about the middle of the seventeenth century of the Christian era, although it seems to be the fact that at an earlier date Chinese men let their hair grow long, and gathered it into a knot at the top. Still it remains for Dr Budberg to convince us that the European Delilah is really devising the ruin of the Chinese Samson by tonsorial methods.
