Posted on 02/13/2007 5:15:43 PM PST by Jedi Master Pikachu
A visit to any chemist in China gives an insight into Chinese attitudes to beauty. The brightly-lit aisles are full of the big-named brands which dominate the world's beauty market, but the products here are different from those in the West. The shelves are loaded with creams and lotions which whiten the skin.
"Making skin look paler is very deeply rooted in Chinese tradition," said Jan Hodok, marketing manager for the skincare company Nivea in China.
"Traditionally, the first objective of a woman is to have pale white skin because whitening can cover many flaws. Many Chinese women will put on sun protection just to go next door because they're so afraid of getting any kind of sun rays," he added.
Tanning fashion Foreign firms like Nivea, Loreal and Estee Lauder make up half of the Chinese face cream market.
With more money in their pockets, young Chinese women - and some young men too - are prepared to pay extra for foreign brands.
And foreign attitudes to tanning are also taking hold.
Flicking through the pages of the February edition of Elle magazine, senior beauty editor Helena Hu points to the latest fashion spread. The pages contain a bronzed Chinese woman with a deep tan.
"This girl had just finished her vacation in Thailand so her skin was very, very dark," she explained.
"More and more models will tan their skin to make their looks more international; darker skin means healthier body, it's sexier," she said.
Dark skin in Imperial times was associated with labouring in the fields.
Even today it is China's migrant workers, who work on construction sites across cities like Shanghai, that have the darkest skin.
Signs of success But for a growing number of young Chinese people, dark skin now means having the money to afford foreign holidays or Western-style glamour.
The customers at MH Tanning in central Shanghai agree. The first in China, according to its manager Huang Tong, the salon is popular with the city's young upwardly mobile set.
"Our customers are mainly Chinese people - white collar workers, entrepreneurs, people who've been abroad, or fashionable people like singers and actors. We have more men than women but the girls who come here are really fashion conscious," he said.
From a few customers a week, the store now has between 20 to 30 customers a day. A tanning session costs between $4 and $25.
"The Hong Kong actor, Gu Tianle has made (tanning) popular. A tan leaves people feeling brighter - they think it's healthy," he said.
Few people are more fashion conscious than MC, a young advertising executive from Beijing, and regular MH Tanning customer. His spectacles are by Gucci, he taps away on his laptop, just before he tops up his tan. He says his healthy glow indicates that he is successful.
"In other countries a lot of young people like to get sun tans, so it's become very popular here too," he said.
There is still a great deal of ignorance about the dangers of too much exposure to the sun and there are worries though that this new trend could lead to a higher incidence of skin-cancer.
But few seem particularly concerned about the health effects of tanning. In Shanghai, getting rich, and displaying your money is what matters. And a deep dark tan would appear to be one of the easiest ways to show that you are basking in China's new-found wealth.
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Thsi author is confused.
Dark tans are NOT the rage in China.
Same trends in western culture.
Women used to wear huge bonnets to stay as white as possible, because it showed they were too high classed to work out in the fields.
Now tans show one is high classed enough to afford vacations in exotic places.
Goes to show. Sometimes lighter skin is in, sometimes darker skin is in..but being RICH is ALWAYS in style.
That was my understanding as well. Dark tans = peasant, menial worker, from what I saw attitude wise.
Just stick with the skin tone God gave you--this goes for pale people who tan themselves so much they get cancer, too.
100% true.
MC doesn't look all that tanned--or glowing, at least.
Great.....stanza thingy. It applies to a lot of people, all over the world. And apparently it's applying to more men now, also.
Can we get some pics of tan chinese girls here? I need to judge for myself.
The article recognizes that the current holding trend is for paleness--but suggests that ideas about this could be changing.
You sure aren't one to mince words when you disagree, are you?
Has anyone ever met a woman who is happy with herself?
I am :) although I do want to cover some of the gray hair I have (too much for a 24 year old). I definitely see your point. I don't understand why most women can't be happy with the colorings, hair texture, and boobs God gave them. It's all considered fashionable and beautiful these days anyway....
I'm slightly confused though. I thought the pale/tan trend had shifted back towards the pale with the vogue and super rich crowd because any yahoo with $20 can spray on a tan or for $20 a month bake themselves. You don't need exotic vacations to get a tan these days. It's much harder to keep your skin porcelin white.
Daughter #2, from northern China, doesn't seem to tan much at all.
Those with the ability to produce a relatively small amount of melanin will probably continue to be pale skinned. If they get hit with light, their body can only produce as much as it can. If the light is too strong, then there could be sunburn on the horizon. And those with the ability to produce a relative abundance of melanin will probably continue to be dark skinned. As long as a little amount of light hits them, their body will make plenty of melanin. Potentially more than they need.
I have many friends who've adopted from China, and their daughters, once tan (and I mean tan), look more Central American than Chinese. And that tan holds too. They still have a lovely summer glow in the winter when everyone else is white.
later
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