ABSTRACT
Originally a common Manchu hairstyle, it required that a man shave his pate, leaving only an area on the back of the head unshorn. He then grew the hair in this spot on the back of his head long, braided it, and allowed it to hang down his back. The common Chinese hairstyle through the end of the Ming dynasty in the mid-seventeenth century was the knobbed fashion. The hair was tied at the back with a piece of cloth so that it would not appear disheveled. Yang Xiuqing's order carried a great deal of weight. Cutting off their queues and letting their hair grow was nothing short of announcing that they were all rebels. When the Manchus conquered China in the middle of the seventeenth century, they forced the custom of the queue on Chinese men as visible proof of submission.
