MANY persons have supposed (who only know the Chinese superficially) that a nation so grave, sedate, and monotonous, cannot include either fops or bons vivans. They are, however, mistaken; few countries possess more of those worthies than China, though perhaps their talents are not carried to so great an excess as in other parts of the world. The dress of a Chinese petit maitre is very expensive, being composed of the most costly crapes or silks; his boots or shoes of a particular shape, aud made of the richest hlack satin of Nankin, the soles of a certain height; his knee-caps elegantly embroidered; his cap and button of the neatest cut; his pipes elegant and high priced; his tohacco of the best manufacture of Fokien; an English gold watch; a tooth-pick hung at his button, with a string of valuable pearls; a fan from Nankin, scented with chulan flowers. Such are his personal appointments. His servants are also clothed in silks, and his sedan-chair, &c. &c. all correspondingly elegant. When he meets an acquaintance, he puts on a studied politeness in his manners, and gives himself as many airs as the most perfect dandies in Europe, besides giving emphasis to all those fulsome ceremonies for which the Chinese nation is so remarkable.

The rich Chinese, who are cleanly, are all fond of dress; though some, from avarice, attend only to outward show, whilst the shirt and undergarments remain unchanged for several days, and expose, at the collar and sleeves, the dirty habits of the master through his splendid disguise. Those who are in the habit of mixing with Europeans are more attentive to cleanliness; but, generally speaking, the Chinese are certainly not so clean in their persons as one would expect from the inhahitants of a warm climate.

Women in China are not even taught to read and write; needle-work, and music (if it deserves the name) are their only accomplishments. To kill time they play at cards and dominoes, and smoke incessantly.

Men and women of the better classes never mix in society; it is considered disgraceful to eat with their wives; they do not even inhabit the same side of the house. I have, however, known some who broke through this custom, and who have assured me they found much pleasure in dining with their wives. Polygamy has certainly done a great deal of mischief in the way of morals. Some men, even at an advanced age, continue to increase their stock of wives when they hare already sons grown to manhood. I have been confidently informed that intrigues between those sons and the younger wives, or concubines of the father, are not uncommon.

Quoted from: The Lady’s Book. A Magazine of Fashions and the Arts. March 1833. Vol. 6.