Local legend has it that German wig makers first came to Xuchang almost 100 years ago to collect the queues of Chinese republican revolutionaries who had emancipated themselves from the Manchu empire.
Today it is the wig-making capital of the world and an oasis of prosperity in the centre of Henan, China's most populous province.
The largest of the city's wig makers is Henan Rebecca Hair Products, which is 26.7 per cent listed on the Shanghai stock exchange and a popular recipient of foreign investment through the qualified foreign institutional investor scheme.
The company's shining factories hum with the toil of 6,000 young labourers busily churning out wigs, weaves and toupees for heads halfway around the world in America, Africa and Europe.
It turns out eight million human hair weaves and three million synthetic weaves a year, as well as 2.7 million wigs and 200,000 mannequin wigs.
With its efficient workforce and profits that jumped 37 per cent in the first half, Henan Rebecca seems like a model of China's economic development and Xuchang certainly seems to have benefited from its prosperity. The Rebecca Hotel is the premier hotel in town and there is even a Rebecca Street.