Is It Weitd If Guys Have Long Nails

In "Vocal in Midnight," a verse by the female poet Chao Chai of the Tang dynasty (618 – 907), a alone adult female leans past an open window, looks wistfully outside, and longs for the lover she hasn't seen for an age. When contemplating how best to show her beloved the depth of her feelings, the narrator doesn't resort to beloved letters or jewelry, but instead gives the well-nigh heartfelt gift of all — her well-groomed fingernails, trimmed off and sent to her lover in a delicate silk bag.

In aboriginal China, this was a serious display of affection, as fingernails carried not bad symbolism. The Classic of Filial Piety, a compilation of discussions between Confucius and his disciples nigh filial piety, attributed to Confucius and written in the Leap and Autumn menstruation (770 – 476 BCE), records that "the hair, skin, and trunk come up from i's parents and nosotros must not harm them; this is filial piety." Portraits of Confucius also oftentimes draw the famous thinker with extremely long nails.

Though information technology'southward unclear exactly when Chinese gained the habit of growing their nails long, there are stories of the significance of fingernails dating back to the Warring States menses (475 – 221 BCE). In one tale recorded in the Hanfeizi, a Qin dynasty (221 – 206 BCE) political and legal text attributed to the philosopher Han Fei, the ruler of the Han state in the Warring States menstruum, Marquis Zhao of Han, tested the honesty of his subordinates by claiming he had lost ane of his fingernails and was in a hurry to find it. Upon seeing the broken-hearted expression on the Marquis's face up, many of his subordinates cut off their own nails and presented it to the ruler, claiming they had constitute Zhao's nail. This proved they would resort to quack means to gain political favor, and the Marquis stayed abroad from those subordinates in future.

A portrait of Confucius. Topic Images/People Visual

Both men and women from the upper classes, especially literati, grew their nails long equally a symbol of wealth: Long nails indicated that their owners did not have to do manual labor. But despite the consensus in ancient People's republic of china that nails were important as function of one's trunk, some leaders proved their commitment to the realm past sacrificing their nails. According to Chief Lü'southward Spring and Fall Annals, written in the Warring States menstruation, Cheng Tang, the first king of the Shang dynasty (1600 – 1046 BCE), cut off his hair and fingernails as a cede to heaven to beg for rain during a drought across his territory.

The importance of nails also led to traditions and superstitions effectually their trimming. In the Tang dynasty, renowned doctor Sun Simiao concluded in Essential Formulas for Emergencies Worth a G Pieces of Gold that it's auspicious to have ane'southward fingernails cut on five detail days of each year, calculated according to the ancient calendar used at that fourth dimension.

When someone died, their nails would be trimmed and buried with them. According to the Volume of Rites, a collection of texts on the ritual principles in the Zhou era (1046 – 256 BCE), the fingernails and nail clippings would be placed in the bury of the deceased or buried separately alongside the dead. It represented a filial gift to one's parents and ancestors in the afterlife. Fingernails could also serve every bit an object of affection, like in the Qing dynasty (1616 – 1911) novel Dream of the Reddish Chamber, when a dying maid chooses to bite her long nails down and gift the clippings to her master to show her love.

Apart from filial consideration, women likewise beautified and accessorized their nails. Nail polish was made from a combination of egg white, beeswax, and flower petals like roses to provide color. This nail art reached its peak during the Tang dynasty when Yang Guifei, the favorite concubine of Emperor Xuanzong and known as one of the iv beauties of ancient Chinese history, was rumored to accept been built-in with dyed carmine nails, leading to a royal court fad for nail smoothen with balsam.

Nails were considered so precious, and took then long to grow, that protecting them was also of great importance. In the Ming (1368 – 1644) and Qing dynasties, nail guards or hu zhi, literally "finger covering," used as protectors and accessories past upper class women, became popular decorations.

Usually fabricated from metal, shells, and even jade, these curved, talon-like objects were busy with diverse designs and motifs. Peonies were a popular choice, as they symbolized practiced luck and wealth. These blast guards were mostly worn on the ring finger or little finger by women of the imperial court to evidence their loftier status.

A portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) painted by Katharine Carl (1862-1938). Courtesy of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives/Smithsonian Institution

The most famous wearer of these nail guards was perchance Empress Dowager Cixi, de facto ruler of the Qing dynasty from 1835 to 1908. Cixi was infamous for her striking 6-inch-long nails, which allegedly cost her over 10,000 taels of silver (over thirty million RMB today) a year to maintain. Groomed, painted, dyed, and protected by lavish nail guards, Cixi'southward fingernails became a symbol of the wasteful, decadent, and detached rule of the Qing elite in the later years of imperial rule—traits which ultimately helped hastened the dynasty's demise.

Hong Rengan, a leader of the Taiping Rebellion confronting Qing rule in the mid-19th century, criticized the obsession with long fingernails as "extravagant and dissipated" in his essay "A New Treatise on Aids to Administration."

Hong seems to have eventually got his wish, with the nail protectors fading away after the autumn of the Qing dynasty in 1911. Though nail polish and manicures remain all the rage today, it's probably best non to copy Chao Chai in sending blast clippings as a romantic gesture for a loved i.

Reporter: Yang Tingting.

This is an original article from The World of Chinese, and has been republished with permission. The article can be plant on The Globe of Chinese's website here.

(Header image: Empress Dowager Cixi poses for a photo. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives/People Visual)