Queue (hairstyle)

Queue
Chinese-American men with queues in Chinatown, San Francisco, 1880s
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese辮子
Simplified Chinese辫子
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinbiànzi
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingbin1 zi2
Southern Min
Hokkien POJpīⁿ-á (辮仔)
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese頭鬃尾 or 毛尾仔
Transcriptions
Southern Min
Hokkien POJmn̂g-bué-á/mn̂g-bé-á or thâu-chang-bué/thâu-chang-bé
Manchu name
Manchu scriptᠰᠣᠨᠴᠣᡥᠣ
Romanizationsoncoho

A queue or cue is a hairstyle worn by the Jurchen and Manchu peoples of Manchuria, and was later required to be worn by male subjects of Qing China.[1][2][3][4][5] Hair on top of the scalp is grown long and is often braided, while the front portion of the head is shaved. The distinctive hairstyle led to its wearers being targeted during anti-Chinese riots in Australia and the United States.[6]

The edict that Han Chinese men and others under Manchu rule give up their traditional hairstyles and wear the queue, the Tifayifu, was met with resistance, although opinions about the queue did change over time. Han women were never required to wear their hair in the traditional women's Manchu style, liangbatou, although that too was a symbol of Manchu identity.[7]

  1. ^ Evans, Thammy (2006). Great Wall of China: Beijing & Northern China. Bradt Travel Guide Great Wall of China. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 41. ISBN 1841621587.
  2. ^ University of Hawaii at Manoa Art Gallery; Chazen Museum of Art; Museum of International Folk Art (N.M.); Evergrand Art Museum (Taoyuan, Taiwan) (2009). Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of South Minorities : a Special Exhibition from the Collection of Huang Ying Feng and the Evergrand Art Museum in Taoyuan, Taiwan. University of Hawai'i Art Gallery. p. 118. ISBN 978-0982033210.
  3. ^ Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Walthall, Anne; Palais, James B. (2006). Pre-modern East Asia: To 1800: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Houghton Mifflin. p. 370. ISBN 0618133860.
  4. ^ Millward, James (1998). Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759–1864 (illustrated ed.). Stanford University Press. p. 305. ISBN 0804729336.
  5. ^ Bromber, Katrin; Krawietz, Birgit; Maguire, Joseph, eds. (2013). Sport Across Asia: Politics, Cultures, and Identities. Vol. 21 (illustrated ed.). Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 978-0415884389.
  6. ^ Rubo, Han; Liu, Hatty (23 July 2019). "Hairy History". The World of Chinese. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  7. ^ Pyun, Kyunghee; Wong, Aida Yuen (2018). Fashion, Identity, and Power in Modern Asia. Springer. ISBN 978-3319971995.