ast
traces of foot-binding disappear altogether. Meanwhile, it seems that
the Government has taken the important step of refusing admission to the
public schools of all girls whose feet are bound.

The disappearance of the queue is another thing altogether. It is not a
native Chinese institution; there would be no violation of any cherished
tradition of antiquity if it were once and for ever discarded. On the
contrary, if the Chinese do not intend to follow the Japanese and take
to foreign clothes, there might be a return to the old style of doing
the hair. The former dress of the Japanese was one of the numerous items
borrowed by them from China; it was indeed the national dress of the
Chinese for some three hundred years, between A.D. 600-900. One little
difficulty will vanish with the queue. A Chinese coolie will tie his
tail round his head when engaged on work in which he requires to keep it
out of the way, and the habit has become of real importance with the use
of modern machinery; but on the arrival of his master, he should at once
drop it, out of respect, a piece of politeness not always exhibited in
the presence of a foreign employer. The agitation, now in progress,
for the final abolition of the queue may be due to one or all of the
following reasons. Intelligent Chinese may have come to realize that the
fashion is cumbrous and out of date. Sensitive Chinese may fear that it
makes them ridiculous in the eyes of foreigners. Political Chinese, who
would gladly see the re-establishment of a native dynasty, may look
to its disappearance as the first step towards throwing off the Manchu
yoke.

On the whole, the ruling Manchus have shown themselves very careful
not to wound the susceptibilities of their Chinese subjects. Besides
allowing the women to retain their own costume, and the dead, men and
women alike, to be buried in the costume of the previous dynasty, it was
agreed from the very first that no Chinese concubines should be taken
into the Palace. This last condition seems to be a concession pure and
simple to the conquered; there is little doubt, however, that the wily
Manchus were only too ready to exclude a very dangerous possibility of
political intrigue.

CHAPTER VI--LITERATURE AND EDUCATION

The Chinese people reverence above all things literature and learning;
they hate war, bearing in mind the saying of Mencius, "There is no such
thing as a _righteous_ war; we can only assert that some wars ar