I have seen a lot of strange things on the streets of Nanjing but this was a first for me. It was Guangzhou Lu and I was on my way to lunch with Lynn and was in a bit of a rush having been to the printers and the photocopy shop.
Then I saw a small group of people huddled around a woman sitting on the very dirty curb (always wet with urine as it’s opposite the children’s hospital). There was another woman looming over her and as I got closer I could see that she was cutting all her hair off. It wasn’t just a trim, she was removing the whole lot.
I asked a bystander what was happening and he said that she was selling her hair. He didn’t know how much she was getting for it but someone told me later it was about £10.
As you can see, the hair is long and it must have taken years to grow it this long. I would like to think that she decided to have a change of hair style and thought she could pay for it by selling her hair.
She certainly didn’t look poverty stricken or sad. In fact she was very happy and didn’t mind the attention of the public.
Why didn’t they do it inside and not on the filthy pavement? Who knows.
I wonder where this hair will end up – Europe, Asia…. Whose head will it end up on?
They will never know that it started its independent life lying in the excrement which fills the cracks on Guangzhou Lu, Nanjing’s most filthy street.