From what I can research on my own, during the tail end of the Qing dynasty ie sometimes before the Xinhai revolution of 1911, wearing a modern short hair is basically an open declaration of a revolutionary. Earlier still, students of various modernizing movements studying abroads would also cut their braid. Also, some Chinese living in territory ceded to foreign power can also wear modern hairstyle eariler still. But those are all modern hairstyles, not the pre-Qing traditional ones.

In Qing controlled territory, of course, exemptions and special cases still exist. For example, Taoist monk would continue to wear Han traditional long hair. And certainly many outlaws throughout the dynasty wear traditional hair as a symbol of their defiance.

But what if I am from a somewhat respectable family living in a big city still under control of the Qing dynasty, thus neither a Taoist monk nor an outlaw? What if I just really like the aesthetic of the hairstyle? Would I get into any trouble beyond being stared at by my neighbors if I actually gone through with it?

More specifically, what happened to the people imprisoned when they were shut down? I've recently learned that the last one shut down in 1958 which would make some of the inhabitants my parents' ages (and therefore potentially still alive today). Do we know where they are today? Have any of them written books about their experiences?

Hello, I have a family member who has long been a conspiracy theorist and is now getting steeped in Holocaust denial. It’s just so overwhelming I don’t know what books or websites or whatever I should first point them to. If I point them to the Holocaust Museum’s website for example, they will believe it can’t be trusted. I would appreciate any help.

Cotton is cultivated since a very long time in the Indian sub continent, however it has very mild success in China until the dual roller gin until 12-14 the century, do we know in which material were the sails are fabricated before that, for example do we know the material of the sails of Jianzhen's boat that brought him to Japan for diplomatic activities during the Tang dynasty?

This is a meta question, but I'm not sure where else to ask: In the past, posts apeared on my general frontpage if they had at least a few answers.

Now, (almost) everytime a AskHistorians post shows up in my flow of content I will only see new but unanswered questions. Since I'm only a reader and don't contribute to answers, I have to check the subreddit manually.

Has something changed in the algorithm? Can I change settings? I don't use any extensions. Reddit sorting is set on "Best" .

As president, Dwight Eisenhower famously coined the term "military–industrial complex" in his 1961 farewell address. In context, it's typically described as a warning to the American people. Given that Eisenhower served eight years as president, and was the first entirely post war president, did he not have significant influence over the landscape in which the military–industrial complex formed? To what extent could he (or did he) act to mitigate "the dangers of massive military spending, particularly deficit spending and government contracts to private military manufacturers"?

The quoted text is Wikipedia's definition of the term but my lack of education is exactly why I came here to ask this. I hope the question is within the sub's rules. I would be extremely grateful for any context or insight offered. Thank you.

Good day Historians!

Is it possibly just semantics?

I also have this (possible mis)conception that Kingdom bears the same idea as a Sultanate and a Khanate, where

King - Kingdom Khan - Khanate Sultan - Sultanate

Thanks!

The kingdom of France was persecutting Protestants at home but helped the Protestants to fight their war in the Holy Roman Empire. Were the Catholics outraged by that or did they think that the interest of the state justified it?

Thanks in advance :)

In WW2, I mean.

I have recently become somewhat fascinated by the apparent disdain for neighboring nations seen in the Balkan states (a term I use somewhat interchangeably with post-yugoslav states, sometimes including Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey due to similar nationalist rhetoric seen online). This hatred seems to go back long before the Yugoslav wars since there are some examples of it in Clark's "The Sleepwalkers" (though I know this is a somewhat contentious book online) and I am just wondering how Yugoslavia was able to become united at all in the first place given this apparent hatred, as well as why it took so long (almost 10 years after the death of Tito) for the state to completely fall apart.

Thank you for your time.

I've watched TV shows and documentaries about the process of making cocaine.

Allegedly it involves gasoline, stepping on leaves with your bare feet, etc. Just to make a small amount.

How did they even figure this out to begin with?

Why was it medically prescribed in the U.S.? What health benefits does cocaine give a person other than feeling really good.

I was reading a wiki article about a creature from Final Fantasy VIII called "Doomtrain" that said:

"Doomtrain's ability to cause a myriad of status ailments and its demonic portrayal may stem from late 19th century superstitions about locomotives within Victorian Era Great Britain and Japan, in where riding or being closely around running trains by the tracks could cause anguish known as locomotive derangement, and to where machines were sometimes viewed with ominous airs or tools of demonic origin."

The claim is interesting, but not sourced and I was unable to find any info on such superstitions online. Were there historically superstitions about trains and other similar inventions and, if so, what are some highlights I should inform myself of?

I can imagine that Rome's political class was well aware of the implications of Augustus' new powers. However, is this something that ordinary citizens would also have fully comprehended? Or would they have truly believed that Augustus was merely the "first citizen" as he claimed, and that Rome remained primarily a republic?

We often see that the outside walls of houses in ancient Rome were painted red along the base and that this was quite common. Why?

I had always assumed these families consisted largely of former mestizo planters, particularly since Spanish surnames (vs Austronesian- or Chinese-derived) seem universal among them. But I learned from this sub that Spanish intermarriage in the Philippines tends to be overstated.

So how did wealthy Filipinos in the 1800s to 1946 get their wealth and power?