CHINA 



125 



OI'irXl-SMOKEKS. 



Tlie sleeves are very wide, uiui much longer than the arms. They have no cult's, ami in most cases 

 sleeves are made to serve the purpose of pockets. If a Chinaman accepts a present, purchases 

 a ball, or appropriates any small article of value to which he has no just claim acquires 

 anything which an ordinary Briton would deposit in his pocket the Celestial does not say he 

 'pockets it," but ' sleeves it," as he actually does. The lower limbs are not so fully protected. 

 A pair of loose trousers, covered to the knee by cloth stockings, is the usual summer wear. 

 Tight leggings are pulled over both in winter, and fastened to the girdle by loops. As the 

 trousers are very loose and baggy and the tunic is short, the excess of trouser material 

 forced to the rear by the tight leggings protrudes behind in what' we should think a rather 

 awkward manner. Shoes are made of silk and cotton, the soles of felt being defended on the 

 bottom by hide. Quilted cotton garments are very common, and are so made as to protect 

 the whole person from cold and obviate the need of fires. In the north dressed sheepskin 

 robes serve for bedding as well as garments, and their durability makes them more desirable 

 than the best woven fabrics. 



Nexb to the oblique eyes the plaited ''tail," or, more correctly, the queue, is generally 

 regarded as the most distinctive feature of the Chinaman. But that fashion of dressing the 

 hair is not one of the ancient customs of the Chinese, nor was it originally practised by them 

 for their own gratification. The ancient Chinese wore the hair long, bound upon the top of 

 the head in a fashion similar to that practised by the Loo-choo islanders. They took pride 

 in its glossy blackness, and had long distinguished themselves from other peoples as "the 

 black-haired race." Hut two centuries and a half ago the Manchu Tartars invaded China from 

 the north, and defeated the Chinese in successive battles. They wore their hair in the long 

 queue with which all who have seen Chinese are now familiar; and in 1027 they issued an 



