THE official habits in which all the mandarins are compelled to appear
in public being made of the thickest silk, are exceedingly cumbersome,
and not well adapted for the summer months, which are excessively hot
even in the most northerly provinces; they therefore in private take
every opportunity of throwing off their ceremonial garb, and assume a
thin loose gown, tied with a belt round the waist. Their summer-hat is
also made of light rice straw. The head is not encumbered with hair,
which all ranks and ages shave close off, leaving only a small lock
hanging down behind. The use of fans is universal. Even the military,
when drawn out on parade-duty, make use of fans. It will be observed in
this figure, that the spectacles worn by the Chinese are considerably
larger than ours: they are made of cristal, glass being a species of
manufacture unknown in China.
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[Illustration:
CHINA—PLATE 16
]
Plate XVI.