Is grey the new black? Five Politburo members snub a dyeing tradition
Five Politburo members have grey hair in their official portraits, in a departure from the tradition of Chinese leaders sporting mops of shiny black hair
For years the challenges of high office have turned the locks of Western politicians grey. Now, after a decade-long bias against publicly sporting salt-and-pepper hairstyles, China’s political leaders are discovering the value of keeping a little silver on top.
At least five of the newly elected Politburo’s 25 members appeared in official portraits released last week with grey hair. That marked a departure from a tradition of Chinese leaders sporting mops of shiny black hair despite being in their 50s or 60s.
Most of the Communist Party’s leaders preferred jet-black hair when former leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao were in power.
Even at the party congress this month, there was hardly a white or grey hair on the head of the 91-year-old Jiang and 74-year-old Hu.
Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based historian, said that since Jiang’s era, more party leaders had resorted to dyeing their hair black to appear more youthful.