China ‘Comb Sisters’ style hair into buns or long queues as pledge to lead unmarried life

The so-called comb women phenomenon arose out of the economic necessities of the times. Photo: Getty Images

• Motivated by economic necessity of work, custom most prevalent in country's southern Pearl River Delta region

A tradition used to exist in China which saw women mark their commitment to remain unmarried for the rest of her life in an unusual manner.

Known as zi zhu, or "self-combing", the practice flourished between the late 19th and early 20th century in the Pearl River Delta area, a network of cities that covers nine prefectures in Guangdong province, southern China.

It involved women of marriage age arranging their hair into buns or long queues to signal that they would stay single.

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Village elders selected an auspicious day to preside over so-called hair-combing ceremonies.

The women would style their hair into buns or long queues and the occasion would be as celebratory as a wedding.

The Post delves more deeply into the ritual.

Origins and significance

The custom originated during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and flourished towards the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), with Shunde in Guangdong province being its key point of origin.

In the 1930s, there were more than 10,000 confirmed comb sisters among a population of 400,000 women in Shunde.

The reasons for choosing this path were complex and often rooted in economic necessity and a desire for independence.

Many such women were eldest daughters who needed to help with farm work and household chores plus share the responsibility of caring for younger siblings.

As a result, they chose not to "marry out" but stay in their original families.

Also, some women rejected arranged marriages after witnessing the challenging lives of daughters-in-law, who were expected to devote their lives to serving their in-laws.

Scholar Xu Jingjie also cited another reason: "If a woman passes the age of marriage without marrying, it can delay the marriages of her younger siblings. However, after self-combing, the taboos would be broken."

Professor Ye Hanming from the Chinese University of Hong Kong said that at its peak, comb sisters in the Pearl River Delta area accounted for 10 per cent of the female population.

"These women had a strong sense of ancestral respect and family ethics. Supporting the family was considered their sacred duty and families regarded them as no different from sons who maintained the family's livelihood," said Ye.

Gupo House

This was a residence arranged by comb sisters for their final days, existing primarily to manage their affairs after death since they could not die in their own home or that of their brothers.

In some villages with more taboos, comb sisters were not even allowed to die in the village.

Typically, a Gupo House was initiated and funded by one or several comb sisters.

Gupo means "great aunt" but is also a colloquial phrase for "spinster".

Tradition dictated that after one of their number died, fellow comb sisters would cover the house door with a plank, lay down a straw mat, and dig a pit for burial.

If there were no comb sisters in the village to take care of a funeral, villagers would throw their bodies into a nearby river.

Decline

In the 1930s, due to the decline of the silk industry in the Pearl River Delta region, on which the majority of comb sisters had relied to make a living, such women chose to move away to places in Southeast Asia for work.

Many, still unmarried in their fifties and sixties after years of working in Southeast Asia, performed a so-called self-combing ritual, thus becoming the last known generation of comb sisters.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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