bare feet, though
Manchu women and others with full-sized feet frequently walk about
unshod, and the boat-girls at Canton and elsewhere never seem to wear
shoes or stockings at all.

The "pigtail," or long plait of hair worn by all Chinamen, for the
abolition of which many advanced reformers are now earnestly pleading,
is an institution of comparatively modern date. It was imposed by the
victorious Manchu-Tartars when they finally established their dynasty in
1644, not so much as a badge of conquest, still less of servitude,
but as a means of obliterating, so far as possible, the most patent
distinction between the two races, and of unifying the appearance,
if not the aspirations, of the subjects of the Son of Heaven. This
obligation was for some time strenuously resisted by the natives of
Amoy, Swatow, and elsewhere in that neighbourhood. At length, when
compelled to yield, it is said that they sullenly wound their queues
round their heads and covered them with turbans, which are still worn by
natives of those parts.

The peculiar custom of shaving the head in front, and allowing the hair
to grow long behind, is said to have been adopted by the Manchus out
of affectionate gratitude to the horse, an animal which has played an
all-important part in the history and achievements of the race. This
view is greatly reinforced by the cut of the modern official sleeves,
which hang down, concealing the hands, and are shaped exactly like a
pair of horse's hoofs.

In many respects the Manchu conquerors left the Chinese to follow their
own customs. No attempt was made to coerce Chinese women, who dress
their hair in styles totally different from that of the Manchu women;
there are, too, some tolerated differences between the dress of the
Manchu and Chinese men, but these are such as readily escape notice.
Neither was any attempt made in the opening years of the conquest to
interfere with foot-binding by Chinese women; but in 1664 an edict was
issued forbidding the practice. Readers may draw their own conclusions,
when it is added that four years after the edict was withdrawn. Hopes
are now widely and earnestly entertained that with the dawn of the new
era, this cruel custom will become a thing of the past; it is, however,
to be feared that those who have been urging on this desirable reform
may be, like all reformers, a little too sanguine of immediate success,
and that a comparatively long period will have to go by before the l