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When the Qing conquered China, the order went out that their male subjects would lose either their hair or their heads. While a potent tool for demonstrating social control, a Jesuit reported that more Chinese fought and died for their hair than for their kingdom. To them, shaving the forehead was a violation of Confucian filial piety, or simple tonsorial castration for the less literate.

Would the Qing have an easier time controlling China without the order? Hair as a symbol of defiance or loyalty keeps cropping up in the rhetoric of rebellion; without this basic affront to their culture, would the Han have rallied to leaders like Hong Xiuquan in such numbers?
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