Why did men in Qing Dynasty braid their hair?

In the Qing dynasty, men usually shaved off the first half of their heads and left a long braid at the back. The reason why people in the Qing Dynasty wore long braids was mainly because the rulers at that time were Manchu, that is, nomadic people, and their hair styles were generally braided. At that time, there were more Han people. Therefore, in order to consolidate his ruling power, the emperor at that time issued a tough order that everyone must wear braids, so braiding became a common hairstyle for men in the Qing Dynasty.

We all know that the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were Manchu, and the living environment of ethnic minorities was usually difficult. Most of them are nomads and have no fixed place to live. It is very inconvenient for their daily activities if they have all their hair, so most of them braid their hair. In order to move more conveniently, their hair styles gradually evolved into what we saw later, leaving only one braid at the back of their hair, and everything else was shaved off.

Because of the Manchu rule at that time, many Han Chinese were very angry and wanted to overthrow the rule of the Qing emperor anytime and anywhere. So on the one hand, it is to suppress the rebels, on the other hand, it is also to consolidate its own regime. At that time, the emperor thought that all Han people should shave their hair in front and braid their hair in the back, which means that all people's hairstyles should be the same as Manchu's, which can be said to consolidate the imperial power ideologically.

Although there were many people who opposed the pigtails at that time, since ancient times, people have never fought against officials, so gradually all people's hairstyles have become like this, and such pigtails have formed our fixed impression of men wearing pigtails in the Qing Dynasty.