Ordered the execution of the barber, the student’s sentence made Qian Long regret it

Referring to Qian Long, people often know him as a talented emperor who continued the prosperous reign of the Qing Dynasty of Khang Hi and Ung Chinh. Not only that, Qian Long is also famous as the emperor with a lavish life, rich in love with a large number of concubines in the harem.

The stories surrounding this emperor are also very interesting. Including the story of Qian Long’s haircut. He ordered the execution of the barber. But just with the words of his apprentice, the barber made him regret it. What is the truth?

Regulations when cutting hair for the Qing emperor

During the Qing Dynasty, the emperor’s haircut had to follow a lot of rules and regulations. Specifically, the time to cut the hair of the Qing emperors was at sunrise in the Southeast. The Qing court also had very strict rules for who cut the emperor’s hair. Before the barbers performed the haircut, they had to enter the palace to check, take off all their personal clothes and change into the palace clothes.

After that, the barber would be led by the eunuchs to meet the emperor. When he saw the emperor, the barber had to bow his head and ask for a knife. The knife that the emperor specialized in was a knife contained in a sandalwood box, the outside was a yellow dragon and cloud pattern and was always held by the emperor’s bodyguards. While the barber cut the emperor’s hair, the guards next to him would always watch their knife handles.

The palace also stipulates that the barber can only touch the emperor’s scalp with the knife in his left hand and absolutely must not touch any part of the emperor’s head with his right hand. If the emperor was not careful when he cut his hair, he would be taken to Shen Xingxi for questioning.

Whether cutting the head hair or shaving the face, it is only allowed to shave in the forward direction, not allowed to shave backwards. The person who cut the emperor’s hair must breathe lightly, absolutely not allowed to breathe unclean air into the emperor’s head.

Why did Qianlong order the barber to be dealt with?

There is a story that, in January of that year, the Qianlong emperor went to Jiangnan for a tour and stayed at Tian Tan Ve, Bac Ma Street, Lung Dinh (Kai Phong city, Henan). On the second day, after waking up and asking the eunuch, Qianlong learned that today was February 2nd, he said: “Today is the day when the dragon raises its head, so he wants to cut his hair, adjust his appearance a little to may be lucky, ride safe”.

So the eunuch hastily invited one of the most skilled local barbers to come. Then, teach the barber the etiquette of visiting the emperor and disseminate the rules for shaving. This barber, when he learned that he was going to cut the emperor’s hair and heard the strict rules, was very scared.

But he couldn’t help but cut, because that would be a crime against the emperor’s orders and beheaded. While cutting the emperor’s hair, because of panic, his hands trembled, as a result, he cut a knife, injuring Qian Long on the back of his neck. The man was immediately dragged out and beheaded.

Qian Long angrily scolded the eunuch and ordered another skilled worker to come and cut his hair. The second barber who arrived was also scared and injured the emperor. The more angry Qian Long became, the guards immediately pulled out the second haircut and cut off his head.

The eunuch panicked immediately ran into the barber shop and looked for someone to cut the emperor, but everyone was scared and ran away, leaving only one apprentice, about fifteen or sixteen years old. The eunuch had to take him to cut for the emperor. Thanks to his skillful hands, good cutting skills and calm demeanor, he soon cut his hair, shaved and combed his hair, and braided the emperor’s hair.

Qian Long was very satisfied, while looking at his hair in the mirror, he praised the hair-cutting student as a hair-cutting prodigy. At this time, the student dared to say: “Your Majesty, actually the other two barbers have much better skills than me. But because they were afraid of cutting your hair, their hands were too shaky, so they hurt your head. love”.

After hearing those words, Qianlong regretted killing them by mistake. Then, he ordered the local mandarin to take care of the two barbers. For this reason, Qian Long also appointed the student to be a five-level mandarin according to his servants.