Chinese Women.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 30, 3 February 1894, Page 3 (Supplement)

Chinese Women.

The Chinese women have nothing like what we call figures ; an a rule they are thin, have no expansion of hips nor development of busb.. To show a large bust is to their minds exceedingly immodest, ao they bind them down in youth to keep thenf from growing with the rest of the body. Low sloping shoulders are the rule, and considered a great point of beauty. The sleevea to their tunics are long and loose, and when displaced show a pretty hand and wellturned arm and wrist. They allow their fingernails to grow as long as they will, which keeps the tips of the fingers from enlarging, and prevents the nail itself from widening after it is separated from the end of the finger. Of course this is only done by those who do not labour; to preserve the nails intact they wear metal shields over tham day and night. This class* of women usually have, 'bound feet,' as they are called. The tiny shoes, three or four inches in length, are made of scarlet, and thickly covered with embroidery of silk and gold thread. They are aa proud of their crippled feet as some Europeans are of their small waists, which have been laced until they are a deformity. A widow is nob actually prohibited from marrying a second time, but she is considered far more respectable if she does not. A widow on tsbe death of her husband is required to wear deep mourning for three years. No red maybe worn. After the expiration of that time, when all the rest of her family cease to wear mourning, and when they may wear whatever kind of clothing and of any colour they please—white is mourning—she, U she belong to the small footed class, must on no account put on a bright coloured skirt, such as women of her class whose husbands are alive always wear when they appear in public or dress for company; she may wear blue, black, or green, but may not wear a red skirt. A widow of more than three years standing, if belonging to the large-footed class, usually has something about her dress or the ornaments on her head which point her out as a widow. Of coarse, when widows marry every trace or badge of widowhood is removed. When a man marries a widow, he is said to have married a ' white-skirted woman.'—•♦ Pall Mall Gazette. 1