Fairness has always been
synonymous with beauty in China.
Today, apart from the proliferation of
whitening products, stranger trends
such as face-kinis (balaclava-like sun
shields) have even emerged. But the
pursuit and preservation of white skin
can be traced back to ancient times,
where paintings and poetry depicted
images of the ideal woman having skin
the colour of snow.
Although such an enduring
perception seems to be perpetually
unfair towards tanned Chinese women,
ways to obtain a lighter complexion
Becoming Snow White
MEETING BEAUTY IDEALS IN THE EAST AND WEST Text Kathy Poh
have been around since the Ming
Dynasty (1368–1644).
The highly influential Ben
Cao Gang Mu (also known as the
Compendium of Materia Medica) was a
traditional Chinese medical book that
recommended eating peas for paler
and more lustrous skin. Other medical
reference books also had recipes for
herbal concoctions like the Three
Whites Soup, which has the additional
benefit of curing typhoid fever.
If natural methods were inadequate,
there were also artificial means
through which one could undergo afacelift. This was mainly through the
use of cosmetic powder, which has
its origins during the Warring States
Period (475–221 BC).
Just like the white powder used by
Japanese geishas, the ancient Chinese
cosmetic powder was made of rice.
Later on, pearls and rare spices were
also added into the mix, as it was
believed that crushed pearls gave skin
a luminous glow.
Fast forward a few hundred years,
and rice and pearl continue to be
popular ingredients in whitening
products. While face-kinis may not
take the world by storm, the ancient
Chinese were indeed pioneers of the
cosmetics industry.{ China }
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