Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-22
Changes in
Chinese Customs
BY Frederic J. fIaskin

washington. aug. z1-Amcffcans
do not realize that the "pix tailed
smail-footed nation which they call
TO mind at mention OF China. abso-
utelv does not exist, according To
rak Chu Chan. who has been study
Ing medicine and theology at Ameri-
can universities.
II have been asked II ALI Chinese are
iaundrymen,," says Mr. Chan In HIS
perfect English. And though for ten
years Il has been against the law to
wear a queue. l find that American
people do not understand that there
are no queues In China"
The queue was one of the strong
traditions OF the Empire days--one of
the apparent trifies which held China
back In her unnrogressive rsviliza-
tion. The Chinese I'm. this country long
ago found that the queue he SO much
treasured interfered> with his being
taken seriously aa business man.
The "piR-tail' OF the Chinaman was
certain to be d subject of jest. Ac-
eordingly many Chinese had their
queues cut off. well aware that by
this act they made themselves exiles
from China. A queueless man in the
Chinese Empire was regarded as a
rebel against the state and the penalty
was death at the headsman.H block.
To find the reason for this sig
niflcance attached to the u6eue. Mr..
Chan says, we must go back to f644,
when America was still struggling
with its first settlements The Man
chus arose and dominated China at
that time. The Manchu prince dis
armed the Chinese people. but there
were 100000 Manchurians against
several hundred million Chinese.
SO. further TO insure submission. the
conquering ruler ordered all Chinese
to braid their hnir into a queue. This
he made sign of loyalty to the new
dynasty. It was useful, too, because
II a man tried to escape, he could
sometimes be caught by the queue
flying back of him. Some Chinese
protested. but the penalty was death.
Eventually the Chinese got used
to the queue and became attached to
1t. But when China opened her doors
to other countries. the queue became
troublesome. Diplomats and business
men wished to cut of the queue and
to wear western clothes. Many petit
tfons were presented to the Emperor.
Then, the Republic was established in
1911 and the new constitution of
China said that all queues must be
cut. In one province. Mr.. Chan re-
members. 10000 900 queues were re-
ported cut In one day.
Helped the Hat Business.
It caused some amusing situations
The men e China had worn no hats,
as the queue bound about the head
was sufficient protection against cold
and the sun. Now. with short hair.
they must have hats. They did not
know what was to be the proper style
In head coverings for men. but In the
emergency they crowded into Ameri-
can merchandise shops to buy my
thing-straw hats, caps. even women's
hats.
'At first a few old men wished to
retain their Queues Mr.. Chan recol-
lected with smile. $50 they wrapped
the queue around the head and cover
ed il with a cap. But the police
are suspicious, and make any suspects
take off the caps. II the queueI is
there. the policeman pulls out a big
knife and gives the man a free hair
cut
Foot-binding is another fashion as
passe In China as the wasp waist is
in America The small feet" girl in
China now has difficulty in getting a
husband The young men want Large
feet" wives. Nor can a small feet"
girl go to the public or mission
schools. She is as unpopular as the
girl with unbound feet was few
years ago.
Binding the women's feet, accord
ing to Mr.. Chan. is an even more
ancient practice in China than wear
ing the hair in queue. There are
two stories OF it's origin. One says
that 1000 years ago, an exceedingly
beautiful queen of the Tong dynasty
had deformity of her feet. To hide
this defect from the notice of the king,
she bound her feet tightly and pre-
tended that she wished them to be
very small as a mark of beauty, even
though 1t kept her from walking. The
other women of the court, all eager
for the honor of being chosen as con-
cubines by the king, followed the new
fashion to achieve beauty. And so
foot binding spread over China.
The other. theory is that the Chinese
men long ago found out that the best
way to keep a woman in the home was
To render her helpless. There should
then be nothing to distract her from
her home duties and she would look
up to her husband as knowing so
much more about the outside world
than she knew. Thus the perfect wife
was created in China, and by the most
efficfepf method Notwithstanding If
the fashion for a woman to cripple
her feet.
For ten centuries this unwritten
style held the Chinese women in its
wise. The large feet" girl could not
get married. She was socially a
pariah. Fifteen years ago, half a doz-
en- Christian native women met at
Annoy and formed an anti-foot- bind
ing society. China was awakening to
the outside world and progress, and
the society easily stirred up public
opinion. Petitions were presented to
the Queen Dowager, and she finally
issued an edict to abolish the old Gus
tom.
MY sisters feet" says Mr.. Chan, .
We're only three inches long. She un-
bound them. All of her children have
large feet. The older women could
not benefit by the new style. After
30 years of age, the bones are set in
the cramped condition and cannot re-
lax. So now, small feet are rarely
found except on the old women of
China and the women of far inland
provinces. where customs take years
to penetrate.
fas a L.