Fashion
For the first and only time in Chinese history, a "national" fashion was mandated and severely (lethally) enforced.
Qing Dynasty was founded and ruled by Manchurians who (males) wore their hair in a queue. When they established the dynasty, they required all males to wear this hairstyle.
Unfortunately, it was considered "sacrilegious" by Confucian traditions: hair should not be cut (身體髮膚，受之父母，不敢毀傷，孝至始也). Unfortunately, the Qing decreed: lose your hair or lose your head (留髮不留頭，留頭不留髮).
Besides hair style, the "national" dress was also enforced. The pre-Qing (Han) Chinese style dress are robes: the Korean Hanbok and and Japanese Kimono descended from the Hanfu (漢服). The Manchurian dress was designed and evolved around their nomadic life on horseback, and the Qipao (旗袍) or Cheongsam (長衫) became the "Chinese" national dress. Again, wearing these were strictly enforced.
Millions died in the name of fashion.
Because it was during the Qing Dynasty that the West encountered China for the first time, Europeans think this is China:
Whereas during every other dynasty in China, people looked more like this:
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