On queues and contract-enforcement through hair in the Qing dynasty
 On queues and contract-enforcement through hair in the Qing dynasty by crout.eth12 🥝 • 3y • 0 views • 0 clicks | |
AI summary of the linked articleThe author's central claim is that the Qing queue hairstyle was a loyalty-enforcement technology: a visible marker that let the Qing identify villagers who had cut their queues to appease invaders. The essay draws on Lu Xun's story "Storm" (風波), in which villagers who shaved their queues wait to learn whether the Qing will execute or forgive them. The piece says a shaved queue takes three or four years to regrow, so anyone who betrayed the dynasty would need that long to appear loyal again. It also contrasts the queue with a face tattoo, arguing the queue is the harsher method because it requires daily reaffirmation of allegiance. | |
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 Been interested in China for some time but never heard this story. Great post! The haircut is such an elegant solution: > "This is the mechanism of this technology of enforcement: when bandits invade the village, queues signify loyalty to the Qing. Any man allowing his queue to be shaved thereby breaks his symbolic allegiance to the Qing. When the Qing retake the town, they can readily identify who has betrayed them. Ideally, the male villagers are expected to resist unto death, never to forfeit their queue. Where the enforcement announces itself: anyone who betrayed the Qing will need another three or four years before they can pass themselves off as Qing-loyal again, until their hair has fully regrown." <<< PS: On social media, people show their loyalty to crypto projects by adding a ticker to their bio or emojis to their names. Sometimes even changing their pfps (laser eyes, hats and so on)  This is like the human physical version of a verifiable delay function (VDF): - It takes some linear time to compute (or in that case: grow the hair out) - It‘s instant to evaluate whether someone was loyal in these X years Plus, the amount of growth signifies how long someone has been loyal. So cool! | |
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