Cultural Expectations of Thinness in Chinese Women

Abstract

The present study examined the ideal woman's figure among Chinese people in Hong Kong over the past three decades by analyzing the data from the Miss Hong Kong Beauty Pageant from 1975-2000. Results indicate that Miss Hong Kong Pageant winners and Miss Photogenic winners have always been taller and thinner than average women in Hong Kong. The data also suggest that a curvaceous body shape with a narrow waist set against full hips appears to be an important component of feminine beauty among the Chinese. This ideal matches closely to what has been depicted in classical Chinese literature and challenges the commonly held belief that Chinese feminine beauty standards value plumpness.

Sociocultural Experiences of Bulimic and Non-Bulimic Adolescents in a School-Based Chinese Sample

“…BMI and household SES were prominent in the prediction model for girls but not for boys. Given that thinness is a feminine attractiveness ideal in many cultures including China (Leung et al 2001), girls with a higher BMI may be more prone to negative feedback, body dissatisfaction and inappropriate compensatory behavior to reduce discrepancies between their own body size and ideals. The socioeconomic advantage of girls in the BN group may have reflected, in part, relatively easy access to large amounts of food that could be purged with discretion (Keel and Klump 2003).…”

“…According to Keel and Klump (2003), core features of BN such as bingeing and purging are culture-bound and occur only in societies wherein 1) large amounts of food are easily accessed, discreetly consumed and eliminated and 2) thinness and prevention of weight gain are promoted. These pre-conditions appear to preside in modern China as reflected in improved standards of living (Bell et al 2001), changes in dietary practices and activity levels (e.g., Du et al 2004) and thinness as a historically-rooted thin body ideal (Leung et al 2001) also promoted through imported media images from developed Asian countries and the West (e.g., Xie et al 2006). As well, collectivist values such as group belongingness and interpersonal harmony may foster sensitivity to norms and prescribed standards including those that define attractiveness (Jackson and Chen 2008a).…”

Predictors of Cosmetic Surgery Consideration Among Young Chinese Women and Men

“…Accompanying these structural shifts, youthful beauty or Bnennu^and physical attributes including a specific constellation of facial features and a thin body (e.g., Chen et al 2006;Leung et al 2001;Luo 2012) gained prominence as defining features of femininity, in contrast to de-emphasis on women's physical attributes during Mao's cultural revolution. For the past 20 years, a beauty economy -based largely on the production and consumption of feminine beauty, youth, and appearance -has risen to become China's third largest growth industry behind only real estate and tourism (Luo 2013).…”

“…The rise of a beauty economy perpetuating youth and physical attractiveness as defining attributes of femininity in China may increase women's susceptibility to persistent body surveillance and appearance-based shame , appearance pressure from mass media and interpersonal networks, social comparisons with others' physical appearance, and general body dissatisfaction (e.g., Chen and Jackson 2012). In addition, because thinness (Leung et al 2001) and facial features (Wen 2013;Luo 2012) are emphasized in Chinese feminine ideals, young women may express more concern with fatness and facial features than young men do while height may be a stronger source of appearance dissatisfaction among men (Chen et al 2006;Wen 2013). Related to gender differences in how physical appearance is experienced, young Chinese women may also be more willing to consider cosmetic surgery as a means to address appearance concerns.…”

“…Paralleling thinness (Leung et al 2001) and facial features such as 'double-eyelids' and large eyes, a melon-shaped face, and small, proportionate, defined chin (e.g., Kim et al 2014;Luo 2012Luo , 2013 as central features of the current Chinese feminine attractiveness ideal, changes to facial characteristics and reductions in fat are the most popular targets of cosmetic surgery in China (Hackworth 2012;Luo 2013;Wen 2013). Consequently, these particular concerns may be more culturally-salient than overall body dissatisfaction as influences on Chinese women's willingness to consider future cosmetic surgery.…”