East versus West: The Beauty Culture in China - oup.com.au

Case 24

East versus West: The Beauty Culture in

China

Lesley Brown

This case links to Chapter 24 of The Globalization of World Politics.

The recent boom in the Chinese beauty-for-sale market has led to an aesthetic shift in
Eastern cultures. The shift can be measured by increases in cosmetic surgery, steroid
use, aggressive dieting and foreign fashion imports. In order to emulate Western
concepts of beauty, these increases are significant because they have the potential to
undermine Asian values and cultural identity. Thanks to globalization, the Western
construct of beauty has increasingly penetrated the Asia-Pacific region. From an array
of advertising campaigns, television and movie images, and pop culture, there is a
barrage of images depicting ‘American-styled’ constructs of the ideal woman. These
ideals include tall, curvaceous, fair skinned and blonde features, which are the
antithesis of Asian physiognomy. The pursuit of these opposite ideals within China
demonstrates the impact of Westernisation on the cultural identity of its host.

The makeover market

The massive economic growth experienced in China since the late 1970s has led to an
increase in urban income. With more disposable income, ‘how you look’ has become
both a priority and pressure for Chinese women (China Development Brief (CDB)
2000). The beauty demand is not just for the latest Chinese fashions and cosmetics,
but is a quest for an ideal that has distinctly Western characteristics. To emulate
Western women, some Chinese women have resorted to drastic measures such as
extensive cosmetic surgery and the use of dangerous drugs, as well as mimicking
Western diet and fashion trends. Skin-lightening creams have also become a popular
commodity for those who believe fairer pigmentation of the skin equals social
acceptance and success (Malik 2007). Likewise, steroid use and aggressive dieting are
increasingly used to alter the physical shape of the body.

For those who want a more dramatic change, cosmetic surgery is the answer.
The most common surgery is the double eyelid operation, which creates a crease in
the upper eyelid. This operation enhances the aesthetic appearance of makeup as well
as opening up the eye to make it look wider and more rounded, or in other words
more Western (CDB 2000). Similarly, raising the bridge of the nose to look more
Western is increasingly popular. Not surprisingly, breast augmentation and body
sculpting (which alters the shape of the body to appear more curvaceous) have
appealed to Chinese women seeking voluptuous figures.

At the extreme end of the body make-over menu is an operation to increase
height. As part of this painful operation, women and men endure a process of
breaking the leg bones and using metal screws to pull the sections apart before
allowing the bones to grow and fuse back together (Spencer 2006). While leg
lengthening was originally used for extreme medical conditions, over 17% of these

operations in China are now purely for cosmetic purposes for those who view height
as a sign of both affluence and Westernisation. Indeed, the majority of these
procedures are being pursued by women under twenty-five, who believe that
aesthetics play a key role in the getting the right job, increasing salary expectations
and securing better marriage prospects.

The power of beauty

Demand in the rapidly expanding beauty industry in China is growing at roughly 20–
30% per year (CBD 2000). To meet this demand, over 10,000 medical institutions and
beauty salons have opened, with thousands more planned in the near future. Indeed,
for foreign companies, the prospect of tapping into a market of roughly 451 million
women aged between 15 and 64 is irresistible. Avon, the previously banned cosmetic
company, has now been allowed back into China, bringing with it the distinctly
Western concept of pyramid selling as well as increasing its search for the ideal
product to break into the rural market. Avon is not the only foreign beauty company
targeting this profitable slice of the emerging Chinese market.

Known as the ‘xiaobailing’ (white collar princesses), the emerging middle class
in China can influence the economy and government through sheer consumer power
(Newham 2006). With roughly 90 million women are already spending more than
10% of their annual income on the beauty industry—a much higher figure than their
Western counterparts—the future looks bright for the beauty industry in China
(Newham 2006).

The Chinese business sector has compounded the beauty revolution, with many
employers admitting that physical appearance and height are important when
considering job applications. Also, within government departments such as the
Foreign Ministry, minimum height requirements have encouraged many of these
extreme beauty practices ‘as it [the Chinese Foreign Ministry] does not want its
diplomats to be looked down upon in negotiations’ (Spencer 2006). It appears that
even politics and beauty are now inseparable in China.

Cultural crossroads and political implications

The pursuit of female beauty has played an important role in Chinese culture for some
time. For example, the practice of burying Chinese princesses with a large assortment
of make-up, beautiful artefacts and mirrors was common. In addition, the portrayal of
the ideal female form has resonance in popular poetry and literature. However, for
some years, beginning with the arrival of egalitarianism and socialist politics under
the People’s Republic of China (1949) and Mao Zedong, the pursuit of beauty and the
use of makeup were viewed as ‘evidence of bourgeois decadence’ and capitalism
(Callaghan 2004, p.1). But it seems the politics of those times, and the ideal socialist
aesthetic were doomed to fail.

More recently, with economic growth as the driving force, the Chinese
Government has become more relaxed in its limitations of, and oppressions against,
personal and material gain. One example of changing government attitudes is
evidenced in Chinese participation in beauty pageants. In 2003, the ban on beauty
pageants was finally lifted with China not only participating in the Miss World
competition, but also hosting the event. In 2005, China once again campaigned and
won the honour of hosting the Miss World competition. Although China’s inclusion
in the event may not be seen as important to the political stance of the nation, China

was able to use the Miss World competition to re-assert its politics onto the
international stage. Previous competitions had considered Miss Taiwan as an
individual contestant representing an individual state. However, since 2003, Miss
Taiwan can no longer use that title and is instead identified as Miss China–Taipei,
demonstrating the ability for a nation, in this case China, to use the beauty industry to
promote its national identity on the international stage.

However, it is important to note that the pursuit of beauty is not a Western
construct. Historically, Chinese culture had always placed a great importance on the
aesthetics of the female form. However, the pursuit of predominantly Western
constructs of beauty, in a nation that is only just beginning to allow its cultural
heritage to re-emerge, has the ability to create great internal pressure for its
government. The emergence of new class systems, identifiable through the extreme
cosmetic surgeries they purchase, also has the potential to rupture the political
stability of the massive nation.

Attempts to assimilate Western perceptions of beauty can also challenge the
national and cultural identity of a nation. One way is through the representation of the
female body. Another is the rise of a middle class, which routinely pressures the
national polity and has disposable income to shape mass consumerism. The beauty
industry stresses and fosters the notion of individuality among its consumers. It will
be interesting to see how long the Chinese Communist Party tolerates the aggressive
marketing of the beauty industry should this attitude increase among wealthier,
middle class Chinese women (and some men!).

Questions

• Is globalization replacing Chinese cultural identity or enabling Chinese culture,

post-Mao, to re-emerge on the international stage?

• What other cultural imports can be evidenced in China?

• Are there any examples of ‘Easternisation’ in Western cultures, both historically

or more recently?

Web resources

http://www.womenofchina.cn/focus/economy/3871.jsp

A China News report on increases cosmetic surgery.

http://www.womenofchina.cn/focus/economy/13047.jsp

A China News report titled ‘Chinese Women Pursue Instant Beauty’.

http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/05/content_345598.htm

An article titled ‘Plastic Surgery and Attitudes of Beauty and Success’.

References

Callahan, W. A. (2004), ‘Culture and Politics in China’. Young Europeans for

Security (YES), Available: http://www.yes-

dk.dk/YES/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=259&Itemid=173.

China Development Brief (CDB) (2000), ‘A Snip an a Tuck for Beauty with Western
Characteristics’, Available: http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com/node/231.

Malik, S. (2007), ‘Beyond the Pale’, Available:
http://www.polity.co.uk/global/pdf/GTReader22Thomlinson.pdf.

Newman, F. (2006), ‘China Puts its Best Face Forward’, Available:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/china_business/hd06cb05.html.

Spencer, R. (2006), ‘Why Little Miss Li Paid a Man £1,600 to Break Her Legs’,
Available:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/23/ncosm22
3.xml.