"The folk song goes: 'No haircuts in the first month of the year, or your uncle will die.' Sung for over 360 years, time has blurred its original meaning, and instead, it has given barbers across the land a month-long 'annual leave' every year. To this day, most people still adhere to the custom of not entering a barber shop during the first month of the year. In fact, this folk song is not a prediction that getting a haircut in the first month of the year will definitely cause one's uncle to die; rather, it expresses helplessness towards the Qing government's forced implementation of the 'haircutting edict' with steel knives and bows, through the phrase 'no haircuts in the first month -- thinking of the old days.'"