What is the significance of facial hair in Chinese culture?

[Lu]

"Markus J. Rantala of the Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, said humans evolved by "natural selection" to be hairless when the trade off of "having fewer parasites" became more important than having a "warming, furry coat""

 

We just don't like parasites.

But why do we still have armpit hair? It's not like that spot was ever in danger of getting cold, not since we started to walk on two legs.

[Angelina]

To attract mates with our fragrance perhaps

[Cake]

 

 

Confucius says (really!): "身體髮膚，受之父母，不敢毀傷，孝之始也". i.e. It is a filial obligation to not hurt one's own body (including hair) because it is given by one's parents.

So probably since the time Confucianism became the official state ideology in the Han Dynasty till the Ming Dynasty, people do not cut their hair (supposedly some trimming for tidiness is acceptable). And even before that, not having a beard were considered a weakness (劉備 was ridiculed by 張裕 in 《三國志．周群傳》 for having no facial hair).

Thank you for this, I had a hunch about beards having some kind of significance when I was studying when I came across the symbol 需. It has the radical for Rain pronounced yu but which is close enough to the sound of xu that that could be why its there but the beard thing I just didn't understand. Is it possible the beard radical is present in this character to show that it is important and that's why it's there?