Chinese ladies, like their Japanese sisters, have not yet, to their
credit be it said, become obsessed by this new fashion, which shows
that they have more common sense than some men. I have, however, seen
a few young and foolish girls imitating the foreign dress of Western
women. Indeed this craze for Western fashion has even caught hold of
our legislators in Peking, who, having fallen under the spell of
clothes, in solemn conclave decided that the frock coat, with the
tall-top hat, should in future be the official uniform; and the
swallow-tail coat with a white shirt front the evening dress in China.
I need hardly say that this action of the Peking Parliament aroused
universal surprise and indignation. How could the scholars and gentry
of the interior, where foreign tailors are unknown, be expected to
dress in frock coats at formal ceremonies, or to attend public
entertainments in swallow-tails? Public meetings were held to discuss
the subject, and the new style of dress was condemned as unsuitable.
At the same time it was thought by many that the present dresses of men
and women leave much room for improvement. It should be mentioned that
as soon as it was known that the dress uniform was under discussion in
Parliament, the silk, hat and other trades guilds, imitating the habits
of the wide-world which always everywhere considers self first, fearing
that the contemplated change in dress might injuriously affect their
respective interests, sent delegates to Peking to "lobby" the members
to "go slow" and not to introduce too radical changes. The result was
that in addition to the two forms of dress above mentioned, two more
patterns were authorized, one for man's ordinary wear and the other for
women, both following Chinese styles, but all to be made of
home-manufactured material. This was to soothe the ruffled feelings of
the manufacturers and traders, for in purchasing a foreign suit some of
the materials at least, if not all, must be of foreign origin or
foreign make.

During a recent visit to Peking I protested against this novel fashion,
and submitted a memorandum to President Yuan with a request that it
should be transmitted to Parliament. My suggestion is that the
frock-coat and evening-dress regulation should be optional, and that
the Chinese dress uniform as sketched by me in my memorandum should be
adopted as an alternative. I am in hopes that my suggestion will be
favorably considered. The point