Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-20
THE WOMEN OF CHINA
THEIR HORIZON IS AN EXCEEDINGLY
LIMITED ONE.
Mnnchu Women Enjoy More Prfvi-
IeEes Than the Others - Lot OF
Daughter-in-Lnw n Hard One.
From the Delineator.

tery and her life mode of thought and &C
tions have mysterious fascination for us
of the occident When we remember all the
wears she has been kept in subsection. and
all that she has endured we almost wonder
that she is as much of woman as she is.
All the women In China must not be
classed as Chinese: there are two races,
each with many subdivisions, the lives OF
whose members are absolutely, separate
and apart from each other. A walk through
the Tartar part of any city will show this
plainly.
The expresses of China have been for
four or more centuries Manchu women.
whose ancestors came in with the victori-
Gus Manchu general who unseated the last
of the Ming emperors and placed a Manchu
prince upon the dragon throne.
The Tartar Women.
These Manchu women are far more vigor-
Gus mentally and physically than the native
Chinese women; they have much more lib
erty and go about with uncovered faces far
more than any, except the coole women,
who are compelled to do so by their pow
erty which always makes for freedom
Then. again, these Tartar women have leet
of natural size The empress feet are not
bound. and so much averse Is the court 10
women with deformed feet that no one
having them is allowed to come within the
palace walls Although the Manchus I'M
posed the queue upon the masculine chi
nese, the fashion of binding the feet or the
women came not from the north with them
On the contrary, they object to the prac-
tice, and those in authority have tried Varl-
Gus methods of putting stop TO II, put
with little result: Emperors nave issued
edicts; governors have passed laws; priests
have Numbered maledictions upon all who
continued the practice, and still the tiny
fleet OF infants are tightly bound to prevent
growth. and women hobble about on de-
formed StumDS that measure TWO, three
and four inches at the most.
Chinese women wear no stockings, as we
know them, but wind yards of ribbon
around their feet and ankles before putting
on the little embroidered shoes which they
themselves have made and decorated, for,
curiously enough. the business of shoemak-
ing in China belongs almost entirely to
women; they make all their small shoes,
and many of the coolie women manufacture
not only their own cloth or paper-soled
shoes, but frequently keep a stock on hand
for sale.
The clothing of the Chinese womenis fash
toned to conceal the form; nothing is more
immodest in their eyes than showing the
figure or even having a good one so far
do they carry this idea that they bandage
their breasts TO destroy the rounded con-
tour. The style of the garments of all
classes is much the same. the differences
consisting in material, decorations and
number.
Chinese Embroidery.
These handsome embroideries and the
crepe shawls of Canton are the most ex-
auiste pieces of work l saw in all China.
To my Amusement 1 found that nearly all
the Chinese embroidery is done by boys and
men. Women embroider their small shoes,
and young women spend their girlhood in
embroidering the longevity pillows which
are to be a part of their wedding trous-
seau.
The women of the middle and poorer
classes very Industrious; they are not
often seen without shoe sole in their
hands, on which they take casual stitches
as they cape open-eyed upon the foreign
woman whose curiosity has brought her to
their village. or gossip over the wall with
a neighbor. They spin and sew, and in one
or two instances / saw Chinese women
making pillow lace. Coolie women FREE
quently establish themselves at a shady
street corner and do any odd jobs of mend
ing that come their way. They wear the
loose blue cotton trousers and comfortable
sack-like upper garments; their black shoes
have inch and-a-half soles that look COM
Portable, but in damp weather wet through
quickly and are really very little protec-
ton.
On the inside of the middle finger, be-
tween the first and second joints, they wear
a little thimble made of a narrow band of
brass half an inch wide in the center, grad
uating to half that width to the ends.
which not soldered. but left open to tit
AS a rule no Chinese woman wears any
head covering, the elaborate couture being
sufficient adOrnment: but l have seen coolie
women who wear the great inverted BAN
boo wash bowl when making long jour
ney in the heat They take this head COW
ering worn by the men, and hang a fall of
thin cotton all around the brim. to keep
out the strong light. only catching up a bit
in front to their way.
The women of North China, where the
winter cold Is intense. wear velvet bands
across the forehead; these are often loaded
with embroidery and imitation jewels. and
thought much of most ex-
pensive Partisan hats and bonnets. This
seems to be a sensible fashion, the most
sensitive part of the head being covered
and protected, instead of some frail ar
rangement being put over the hair as with
US, where 1t IS absolutely unnecessary.
Variety of CoiRures.
In variety of coiffures the Chinese wo-
men exceed any other people on the face
of the earth; the majority Of them are so
elaborate that they are arranged not often
than once week. Every province has
its fashion and almost every city. The
Manchu women scorn to arrange their
glossy locks in the same manner as the
Chinese of the southern part OF the empire,
and the women of the lower classes never
wear the couture or the dress of their So
cial superiors. The only time coolie wo-
man may do that is on her wedding day
when she is allowed to wear the garments
of any class. If she can afford to hire them.
Girl children not much desired, as
daughters are held by their parents only
till marriage. which takes place early in
life they are then given over to the hus-
bands family. and are to most intents and
purposes dead to their own parents
The life Of daughter-in-law Is inexpres-
sibly hard in most Instances; Of course,
there are some good mothers-in-law, but as
a rule it is case of reprisal with the older
woman. to compensate her for what she
herself has suffered. The only future to
which n woman has to look forward Is the
time when she herself may be mother-in-
law. and the only hope of right minded
daughter-in-law is that when her husbands
mother comes to die she will say as did
Chang-Sun Of old: Il can never requite the
kindness of my daughter-in-law; my best