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European ladies, and also less strong. The Chinese idea of beauty is for women to be slight, and men stout.
The clothing of the Chinese has its advantages, and would be worthwhile for Europeans to imitate, since it is loose-fitting. Clothing is a matter of taste, and I do not believe that the Chinese fashion would be appreciated by Europeans, so I do not recommend it. But, nonetheless, in some respects it would be worthwhile to imitate it, particularly with regard to "fashion". Whereas at Home, "fashion" is continuously changing, in China the style has not changed for a long time.
The materials out of which the clothes are made are silk, cotton, and linen. In winter, fur and skin are worn. The colours of men's clothes are white, yellow, blue, and black. The ladies' clothes are usually blue. During the summer, a man's clothes consist of a wide pair of trousers and a jacket. The trousers are tied with a ribbon above the hips. The jacket hangs down over the hips, and has long sleeves. Around the neck, it fits about the way a blouse does, and it is buttoned down the right side. Stockings are made of a thick, white material, and are sewn, but are not worn in general. People from the lower ranks wear no stockings, but go bare-footed in their shoes. The ones who wear stockings put the ends of their trousers into them, so that they look like knicker-bockers. The trousers are loose around the knee. Upper-class people wear long gowns that fall down to the ankles - a rather oriental garment. This garment fits around the neck, and is buttoned down the right side. Workers in their workshops, in the fields, and coolies, take off their jackets in the summer, so that their upper body is naked. People who are exposed to the sun carry a roughly woven straw hat with a very wide rim in order to protect themselves from the sun's rays. Those who have to run a lot wear sandals on their feet.
In winter, men pull on a narrow pair of trousers over their wide ones. The two pairs are tied together above the ankle, and are fastened with a trouser belt above the hips. These trousers make the backsides look unaesthetic, but they are covered by the long jacket. Over the long gown, people usually put on a shorter one - usually of a blue colour - which has very wide sleeves. The long sleeves of the gown