Old Foochow Ways : Yisao and YiMei

This is part of a pre-war black and white photo of a working committee of Methodist Church of Sibu. As was the common practice of that time ladies sat in the front. Here I zoomed in on two of the married ladies to show their hair style.

(Photo from my father's collection)

This is a photo from China of my aunt Chiu Ik Chen and her foster mother before she came out to Sibu to join her mother my Grandaunt Tiong Yuk Ging. Note that she has has braid. Her foster mother has cut her hair short as the Communist Revolution has swept across China by then. (Photo : Courtesy of Madam Chiu Ik Chen of Sibu)


Wouldn't it be easier for men these days if they could tell easily whether a woman is married or not?

In early times in Fuzhou City, South China, married women and unmarried women could be distinguished from each other according to their hairstyle. If this happens today many problems would not develop at all.

In the period after theQingDynasty (1616-1911) and at the beginning of the Republic of China (1912-1949), married women there arranged their hair in a bun while unmarried women arranged their hair in a plait, which was a generally accepted custom, and no one should go against it. Those with a bun were called respectfully "Yisao" (married women) while those with a plait were called "Yimei" (unmarried women). So the mark was clear, and the borderline was definite: you can judge at first 

sight, without mistakes.

(Photo : http://www.maiall.com. Note the TAMBUONG as a significant part of rich family's lifestyle then)
In the 1920s and 1930s, married women's hairstyle changed gradually from the bun to the modish perm. On the wedding day, the girl went to the barber's to have her hair permed, accompanied by her female friend or relative. After the perming, when she walked on the street, every one (no matter acquaintances or strangers) could understand that she would become a bride soon. In that period, the boundary betweenYisaoandYimeiwas still clear, so you would not make a mistake if you call someone according to her hairstyle.

Later on, unmarried teenage girls also had their hair permed, and someYisao who had become mothers still plaited their hair, so it became hard to tell aYisao from aYimei according to the hairstyle only.