The evolution of professions in the past 60 years

• Source: Global Times
• [17:36 September 27 2009]
• Comments

The rise and fall of professions is dependent on the demands of society. As Chinese society is moving forward, many old vocations have disappeared and new ones are springing up. The rise and fall of occupations in the past 60 years can be seen as a microcosm of the changes society has undergone.

Vanishing professions

No. 1: Old barber

Giving haircuts and shaves is considered one of China’s oldest traditional jobs. For many, this profession stirs images of a barber with an old-fashioned razor working in the alleyways and backstreets and his customer sitting facing a mirror on the wall in a high-backed bamboo chair with a white sheet draped around his neck with shaving foam. Barbers did not have their own shops; they carried their haircutting tools and worked from place to place. Unlike hairdressers who can create fashionable hairstyles, these barbers only shaved hair and beards.