It occurred to one of his Majesty's staff to exhibit on the walls of the town, in full view of the enemy, a number of manikins, dressed up to a deceptive resemblance to beautiful girls.

The wife of the Hun chieftain then persuaded her husband to draw off his forces, and the Emperor escaped.
By the Chinese marionettes, little plays on familiar subjects are performed; many are of a more serious turn than the loves of Mr.Punch, while others again are of the knock-about style so dear to the ordinary boy and girl.

Besides such entertainments as these, the streets of a Chinese city offer other shows to those who desire to be amused.

An acrobat, a rope-dancer or a conjurer will take up a pitch right in the middle of the roadway, and the traffic has to get on as best it can.
A theatrical stage will sometimes completely block a street, and even foot-passengers will have to find their way round.

There is also the public story-reader, who for his own sake will choose a convenient spot near to some busy thoroughfare; and there, to an assembled crowd, he will read out, not in the difficult book-language, but in the colloquial dialect of the place, stories of war and heroism, soldiers led to night-attacks with wooden bits in their mouths to prevent them from talking in the ranks, the victory of the loyal and the rout and slaughter of the rebel.