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By nincha May 12, 2016

We all know that Chinese girls have specific ideals of female beauty, but do foreigners share these ideals? Let’s bring face to face Westerners and Chinese beauty standards and see how they differ.

Western girls love to be tanned, Asian girls prefer white skin. We all know that Chinese girls have specific ideals of female beauty, but do foreigners share these ideals? Let’s explore the beauty standards in China and in the West and see to what extent they’re different.

Let’s compare how foreign girls and Chinese girls view and explore each criteria, starting with the eyes!

#1 Chinese beauty standards: Big eyes

Today, the Chinese think that girls with 大眼睛 dà yǎnjīng big eyes are the most beautiful, even more so if their eyes have a 双眼皮 shuāng yǎnpí double-fold eyelid. These modern Chinese beauty standards reveal a certain fascination with the West, with more and more Chinese girls resorting to cosmetic surgery to create those double-fold eyelids.

But do foreigners see the same features in Chinese girls? On the contrary, most foreigners seem to prefer Chinese girls with slanted, narrow eyes and eyebrows, In China, 细长眼睛 xì cháng yǎnjing slim eyes with 单眼皮 dān yǎn pí single-fold eyelids are seen as not beautiful at all, so it seems that when it comes to eye-shapes, Western and Chinese beauty standards don’t see eye to eye.

This girl on the left, 吕燕 Lǚ yàn, is a 模特 mótè top model, who’s extremely famous in China. She’s often considered the most beautiful and popular Chinese model by foreigners. 吕燕 Lǚ yàn. Lots of westerners view her as a super beauty, maybe because of her typical 东方古典美 dōngfāng gǔdiǎn mě oriental looks. She looks exotic, and exotism often appeals, as it’s new and different.

However, the Chinese tend to think that she is kind of “ugly” and “strange”, especially because of her long and narrow eyes , her big lips and very large face. Her face is quite singular and unique and as such she doesn’t quite fit with the traditional Chinese beauty standards.

In the eyes of the Chinese society, the girl on the right in the picture is prettier, as her big eyes, are definitely the number one thing every Chinese girl wants.

Can you guess what the second criteria in the Chinese beauty standard is? White skin, of course. Let’s try to understand why.

#2 Chinese Beauty Standards: White Skin

Some Chinese beauty standards are inspired by Western looks, but others definitely remain typically Oriental. 皮肤白皙 pífūbáixī white skin is one of them and is a must have in China. You’ll never see a girl buying spray tan in China, or voluntarily tanning herself in the sun unless she’s spent quite a lot of time in the West. On the contrary, Chinese girls try to protect their skin from the sun as much as possible! If you’ve been to China, you undoubtedly must have noticed how they wisely use umbrellas, jackets and sunscreen to shield their skin from the sun.

Having a white skin is an old Chinese beauty standard that stems from Ancient Chinese traditions. In ancient China, only the rich people had a white skin because they did not have to work in the fields like the peasants did. Their creamy, unblemished, white skin was proof they were of a different class. That’s why Chinese girls still nowadays want a white and smooth skin just like jade: to not be taken for a poor peasant. There’s even a Chinese expression praising white skin:

一白遮三丑 yībáizhēsānchǒu a white complexion is powerful enough to hide seven faults.

From this expression, it’s no hard to see that the Chinese traditional beauty standard equates beauty with white and smooth skin.

The Chinese girls’ obsession for white skin is such that the make-up industry sells in China products that are different from the Western world, where tanning is an obsession. In China, you’ll easily find face a moisturizer or with whitener agents in it and tons of beauty products that whiten your skin. In fact, finding one without may be harder to find.

Unlike Chinese girls, Western girls think that being tanned is a beauty standard. Being tanned used to mean you couldn’t afford to go on vacation and spend time in the sun, because you were rich. Nowadays, Western girls often feel prettier tanned, and some feel it makes them look slimmer. A very white skin is often considered sign of poor health, something that might surprise the Chinese the first time they come to a Western country.

孙俪 Sūnlì, on the left, is a Chinese actress. She’s considered as the Queen of television by the Chinese. This beautiful woman is barely known by the foreigners, but I’m pretty sure all Westerns would agree on her beauty. As you can see, 孙俪 Sūnlì is the perfect representation of the white skin beauty standard, unlike the young lady on the right of the picture. Sūnlì’s skin is as white as the snow and Chinese girls fancy her so much for that.

The white skin ideal can certainly be the weirdest Chinese beauty standard for westerners as they prefer being tanned than as pale as white jade. Let’s move on the next beauty ideal every Chinese girl wants to have: the right face shape according to the Chinese beauty standards.

#3 Chinese beauty standards: Face shape

In Chinese, interestingly enough, there are lots of words to describe the 脸型 liǎnxín shape of a face, a lot more than the traditional square, oval, round and triangle face shapes in the West. If anything, that’s an indication of how seriously the Chinese take face shapes. Two specific shapes are at the top of beauty ideals:

瓜子脸 guāzǐliǎn melon seed face

鹅蛋脸 é’dànliǎn goose egg face

What a yummy description for face shapes! If they don’t seem very clear for you, just imagine a face that has the same shape as a melon seed or a goose egg.

See? The face must have a very thin chin and jawline, shaped like a V.

Not everyone is born with a melon seed face or a goose egg face and nowadays, many girls even go through cosmetic surgery to change the shape of their face. The worst face shape a Chinese girl can have according to Chinese beauty standards, is a 国字脸 guózìliǎn square face. A square face is considered very manly.

Generally, Chinese girls want to have an oval face instead of a prominent jawline, as its viewed as more feminine, delicate and cute

As for westerners, their ideal face shape is kind of different. Even if the oval-shaped face is very popular, according to a survey, the most attractive face for a girl is…. the square face! You didn’t see that coming, am I wrong? The square face is sometimes considered the most attractive since the wide jawline enhances the look and the smile. So square faces and oval faces, here’s your moment of glory!

I bet you guys know this beautiful Chinese woman on the left, 巩俐 Gong Li, the famous Chinese actress which was also awarded the “World’s most beautiful Oriental woman” title. She’s had a great impact as a Chinese actress in the movie industry. Gong Li is also the first Chinese actress to win an award in the Venice Film Festival as well as the first Chinese ambassador of the French cosmetics brand L’Oreal.

Talk about a trailblazer!. As you can see, she has a goose egg face, she represents the Chinese ideals of female beauty and lots of westerners think she’s pretty as well.

Now that you know everything about the face standards in China, let’s move to the body types! Can you guess what the most wanted body shape in China and all over the world is?

#4 Chinese beauty standards: slim body

Being |zh zh=”苗条” py=”miáotiáo” en=”slim”] or 瘦 shòu thin is something that most of the Chinese girls want. Girls will, actually, be judged pretty or not according to their weight and figure as it is part of Chinese beauty standards.

As the Chinese say:

以瘦为美 yǐ shòu wéi měi to regard slender figures as beauty

Lots of girls barely eat things in order to lose weight and be in shape. The online fads of comparing your waist to a A4 sheet of paper, or of seeing if you were able to wrap your hands around your waist attest to how being slim can be an obsession in China. It’s incredible!

In the Western world, we also tend to like people that are slim. But curvy women are also part of the standards, depending on where the curves are. Bosoms and behinds have to be plump, but the waist must be very thin. The ideal body for some westerners, unfortunately, remains Barbie’s, the famous doll, despite its unrealistic proportions.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that 范冰冰 Fan Bingbing is the most popular Chinese actress now. She’s a real fashion icon in China. Both westerners and Chinese agree on her beauty. Her body shape is very slim and her features are very delicate and thin. Fan Bingbing is very famous in the cinema industry as she acted in many popular movies such as the blockbuster X-men: Days of Future Past (2014).

Final words

As you see, Chinese beauty standards are very different from Western ideals of female beauty, to the point of sometimes even being complete opposites. As ties continue to grow between China and the West, it’ll be interesting to see how these beauty standards evolve. One thing’s for sure, by exploring every criteria that is required of you to fit the Chinese beauty standard, I can tell that these beauty standards probably put a lot of pressure on girls.

The truth is that no matter what you look like, how close or far you have to beauty standards, you just need to remember that you’re perfect the way you are. Everyone has their own little flaws. Besides, what you see as a physical “flaw”, might be appealing to others. I mean, that’s what make us all different, special and unique. So embrace how you look and be proud of who you are.