 Islamic and Christian missionaries among the Chinese were strong advocates of shorter male hair for their converts . Around the Destruction of Four Olds period in 1964 , almost anything seen as part of Traditional Chinese culture would lead to problems with the Communist Red Guards . Items that attracted dangerous attention if caught in the public included jewelry and long male hair . These things were regarded as symbols of bourgeois lifestyle , that represented wealth . People had to avoid them or suffer serious consequences such as tortures and beatings by the guards . More recently , long hair was ridiculed in China from October 1983 to December 1983 , as part of the short and unsuccessful Anti @-@ Spiritual Pollution Campaign . 
