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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: have a custom which is not above reproach, and now since there
are no outsiders here, I should like to see what the foreign
ladies use in binding their waist.'
"The lady was very stout, and had the appearance of an
hour-glass, and turning to her daughter, a tall and slender
maiden, she said:
" 'Daughter, you show Her Majesty.'
"The young lady demurred until finally the Empress Dowager said:
" 'Do you not realize that a request coming from me is the same
as a command?'
"After having had her curiosity satisfied, she sent for the Grand
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