She looped a piece of thread, knotted into a circle between her index fingers and thumbs, and ran the double strand across her forehead. When she closed her fingers as if she were making a pair of shadow geese bite, the string twisted together catching the little hairs. Then she pulled the thread away from her skin, ripping the hairs out neatly, her eyes watering from the needles of pain. Opening her fingers, she cleaned the thread, then rolled it along her hairline and the tops of her eyebrows. (1233)
In the above text, the author called it "caught by the short hairs", and believed that the expression meant a captive held with a depilatory string. However, Jiaolian is not simply "a captive held with a depilatory string", it is a traditional ceremony before women get married, which contains good blessings for women.
In some southern minority areas of China, the cosmetology of Jiaolian is still popular. Women's first Jiaolian ceremony is held on the day before their wedding ceremonies. The older women, usually the relatives of the brides and who come from happy families, would help the brides-to-be clean their faces with strings.
The tools of Jiaolian are very simple: two strings of thread, eyebrow tweezers, and powder. The masters of Jiaolian will first brush the powder onto the brides' faces. Then they make the strings to a figure eight knot, holding the knot with their index fingers and thumbs of right hands, and with the two ends of strings in their left hands and their mouths. After that, the masters will use the string to pull the little hairs on the faces through cooperation of their hands and mouths.
The Jiaolian ceremony is very important for women. Throughout women's lives, no matter whether they divorce or remarry in the future, this ceremony will only be conducted once before their first wedding ceremony. It symbolize the turning point of their lives--from young girls to women. As "lian" means face in Chinese, Jiaolian contains blessings that women's polished faces would help them attract their husbands, and bring them good luck in marital lives.
In China, most traditional customs have their original folktales. The custom of Jiaolian originate from Sui Dynasty in ancient China. The Emperor Suiyang Di, who's a despot in Chinese history, always grabbed young beauties from his people.To protect their daughters (who were going to be brides) from grabbing by the despot, parents thought of an idea that would pull out all the little hairs of their daughters and cover their faces with powde, to make their daugthers look like the City Goddess (Chinese goddesses are always with very white and silk-like faces). Then they would send the disguised daughters to their grooms' places. Jiaolian and make-up helped the young girls escape from the searching of the soliders and get married safe and sound. As time passed, it gradually became a traditional custom.
