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An Itinerant Barber

An Itinerant Barber.jpg Blacksmiths Working in the Open AirThumbnailsAn Itinerant Barber waiting for a customerBlacksmiths Working in the Open AirThumbnailsAn Itinerant Barber waiting for a customerBlacksmiths Working in the Open AirThumbnailsAn Itinerant Barber waiting for a customerBlacksmiths Working in the Open AirThumbnailsAn Itinerant Barber waiting for a customerBlacksmiths Working in the Open AirThumbnailsAn Itinerant Barber waiting for a customer

These itinerant barbers are quite an institution in China, going, as they do, from village to village and from monastery to monastery, in pursuit of their calling. They look so picturesque, as one meets them about the country, wearing, as they do, broad-brimmed straw hats, loose jackets, and long flowing trousers. These men carry a miniature chest of drawers, in which they keep their razors, brushes, combs, and earnings, suspended from one end of a thin bamboo pole which rests on their shoulders. From the other end a wooden washstand and basin are suspended. I have not mentioned soap, as none is used in Chinese shaving. The tiny chest of drawers serves as a seat for the customers.