IT is, perhaps, more proper to call the annexed figure, the
representation of a person in the character of a female comedian, than
“a female comedian,” as women have been prohibited from appearing
publicly on the stage since the late Emperor, Kien Lung, took an actress
for one of his inferior wives. Female characters are now therefore
performed either by boys or eunuchs. The whole dress is supposed to be
that of the ancient Chinese, and indeed is not very different from that
of the present day. The young ladies of China display considerable taste
and fancy in their head-dresses which are much decorated with feathers,
flowers, and beads as well as metallic ornaments in great variety of
form. Their outer garments are richly embroidered, and are generally the
work of their own hands, a great part of their time being employed in
this way. If it was not a rigid custom of the country, to confine to
their apartments the better class of females, the unnatural cramping of
their feet, while infants, is quite sufficient to prevent them from
stirring much abroad, as it is with some difficulty they are able to
hobble along; yet such is the force of fashion, that a lady with her
feet of the natural size would be despised, and at once classed among
the vulgar.
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[Illustration:
CHINA—PLATE 31
]
Plate XXXI.