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After they had gone I asked:
"Why is it that the Manchu and Chinese ladies do not intermingle
in a social way?"
"The cause dates back to the beginning of the Manchu dynasty,"
she responded. "When the Chinese men adopted the Manchu style of
wearing the queue, it was stipulated that they should not
interfere with the style of the woman's dress, and that no
Chinese should be taken to the palace as concubines or slaves to
the Emperor. We have therefore always held ourselves aloof from
the Manchus. Our men did this to protect us, and as a result no
Chinese lady has ever been received at court, except, of course,
the painting teacher of the Empress Dowager, who, before she
could enter the palace, was compelled to unbind her feet, adopt
the Manchu style of dress and take a Manchu name."
"Is not the Empress Dowager very much opposed to foot-binding?
Why has she not forbidden it?"
"She has issued edicts recommending them to give it up, but to
forbid it is beyond her power. That would be interfering with the
Chinese ladies' dress."
"Do the Manchus consider themselves superior to the Chinese?"
"It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Have you never
noticed that in his edicts the Emperor speaks of his Manchu
slaves and his Chinese subjects?"
Among my lady friends is one whose father died when she was a
child, and she was brought up in the home of her grandfather who
was himself a viceroy
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