Traditional ways

[Randy W]

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from the Global Times

 

Hairy times for barbers

 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2011/429d2fad-e7e7-488e-b5c6-7d80b19b8f74.jpeg

 

Traditional hairdressing salons such as Guoji and Yunxing in Yunnan's capital of Kunming are curiously State-owned and are fondly frequented by elderly people who have been getting their hair cut there for decades. But sadly, these salons are slowly disappearing from across China.

 

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"All of the barbershops used to be State-owned, so we cannot say our business was 'very good' because citizens had no other place to go at that time," said hairdresser Zhang from Yunxing, adding that they only received a large number of customers during festivals.

When China was a planned economy, there were not enough barbershops and people had limited choices.

However, after the central government opened up the economy in 1983, private barbershops began springing up.

"We are too old to learn new things, and we really have difficulties following trends. It's difficult to change so we can only rely on the traditional way and do it well," said Zhang, adding that Yunxing is very cheap, meaning they have little money to develop the business.