Famous Ladies of China

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23115, 13 August 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

Famous Ladies of China

" "F MBROIDERED Gauze," by Eloise Talcott Hibbert, is an attractive book. The strange and delicate charm that wo find in old Chinese art looks out at us from this galler.v of the portraits of Chinese ladies, famous. in two thousand years of the history of thoir country. They were all women who had power and knew how to wield it. AVe start in the time of Confucius and end with the last great ruler of China, the Empress Tz'u Hsi. The stories are all historical and yet there is a fairy-tale- element about them; a hint of witchcraft, of slow poison, of romantic loves and extravagant de- . signs, of long-rememb-ered vengeances and fantastic loyalties. Perhaps no European can quite understand the complex weave of . • . the tapestrv of Chinese character, but Mrs. Hibbert comes nearer to it than most of us. She writes delightfully, with grace and knowledge, of these dead beanties of the Chinese courts: it is a book that will fascinate most readers, llio illustrations are from Chinese originals. :r r "Embroidered Gauze," portraits of famous Chinese ladies, by Eloise Talcott Hibbert. (The Bodley Head.)