Chinese Beauty Standards
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Standards of beauty are ever-changing across cultures. While some beauty standards have remained consistent in China since ancient times, others have recently evolved.
White skin has long been a symbol of beauty in China and in many other Asian countries. Walk down the streets of China on a sunny day and you will see women (and men) carrying an umbrella to shield themselves from the sun. Tanning is not a trend in China and the whiter your skin, the better.
Good skin in general is considered extremely important, and demand for it has created a boom in the Chinese skincare industry. The majority of Chinese consumers tend to favor foreign brands, especially those from South Korea and Japan.
Body Image
When it comes to body shape, the majority of Chinese women aspire to be very thin and dainty. Long thin legs and a small waist are all the rage and over the years, netizens have engaged in a few bizarre (and arguably unhealthy) viral challenges to demonstrate the measurements needed for attaining the ideal level of thinness. Here are a few:
Collarbone challenge (锁骨挑战, suǒgǔ tiǎozhàn)
How many coins can you rest on your collarbone? The more, the better, according to the collarbone challenge that emerged on Weibo in 2015. In theory, the thinner you are, the more pronounced your collarbone is. To demonstrate this, women began posting pictures all over Weibo showing themselves balancing stacks of coins on their collarbones.
A4 waist challenge (A4腰, A4 yāo)
This challenge involved taking a photo with an A4 piece of paper. If the piece of paper can cover your waist, then it means you’re slim and therefore have an ideal body type.
iPhone challenge (“iPhone腿”挑战, “iPhone tuǐ” tiǎozhàn)
In order to pass the iPhone leg or the “苹果腿” (píngguǒ tuǐ, apple leg) challenge, you must be able to cover the width of both knees with an iPhone 6 (unfortunately the plus models don’t count… neither does an iPad). Otherwise, your legs are not as slim as they could be.
Belly button challenge (反手摸肚脐挑战, fǎnshǒu mō dùqí tiǎozhàn)
The concept is pretty much the same as the A4 paper challenge. Can you wrap your arm behind your back and reach your belly button? If yes, congratulations! This means you have a good figure and have cracked the code of eternal beauty!
All jokes aside, these challenges have been heavily criticized and accused of being a type of body shaming that could promote unhealthy eating habits and body dysmorphia.
What about the men?
Although they are slightly different, the standards of beauty in China for men are still almost the same as for women. White skin, a high bridged nose, big eyes and good height are the most desirable traits.
Good skin is also considered incredibly important for men. In fact, the male skincare industry in China is huge, with an estimated worth of around 16 billion CNY (2.5 billion USD). Over the last decade there has been an almost 20% increase in terms of sales volume for male skincare products.
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