A Brief History Of Beauty - How Beauty Was Seen In Ancient China
By Emily Montague
This article is part of a series on beauty throughout history. We’ll explore the concept of beauty, womanhood, and the female form from the perspective of ancient cultures around the globe. Thank you to our incredible partners at DAHIYA FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY & LASER CENTER for supporting our work!
Modern-day China is a huge country with a diverse population. It celebrates its own trendsetters and style icons, including international supermodels like Xiao Wen Ju and Ming Xi, as well as Western-influenced trends like Marc Jacobs China or Dior SE.
Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a fascinating story. Behind these twenty-first century fashions there are several millennia of beauty history––and that history is more diverse than most people imagine.
The Fem Word and our partners at Dahiya Plastic Surgeons took a deep dive into this cosmetic history, and we’re here to share what we’ve found.
Go Figure––Beauty And The Body In Ancient China
During the neolithic era or “stone age,” China was populated by semi nomadic peoples who spent much of their time on the move.
Statues and cave paintings from this time period tend to depict buxom women with generous curves and large breasts. Like many other stone age cultures, the people living in China prior to the dynastic era seemed to value “Venus-like” figures that exemplified fertility, good living, and bounty.
As people settled and began to practice long-term agriculture, women’s bodies were increasingly seen as representations of their family’s status and wealth. An increasingly sharp divide began to form between the roles of men and women, and between the upper and lower classes in society.
As patriarchal norms took hold (often touted by Confucian scholars) and women’s submissiveness became valued, the ideal female body became smaller. The concept of elegance became associated with the upper classes, and the lower classes sought to emulate those wealthier and more powerful than they were. These factors combined to make thin, even frail female bodies the ideal, and certain facial features became associated with refinement.
Round faces, large, almond-shaped eyes, and long shiny hair all became associated with the feminine ideal. A small mouth, tiny feet, and a narrow waist accentuated a woman’s “childlike nature,” which was associated with submissiveness and the role of women as mostly silent, invisible fulfillers of men’s needs and wants.
Side effects of these male-oriented standards included increased maternal and child mortality, increased susceptibility to disease, and malnutrition. Traditions such as foot binding, which involved the gradual and agonizing breaking of a girl’s feet until the toes folded in on each other, became standard ways to ensure a girl was considered beautiful enough to secure a good marriage.
A neolithic-era figure carved from yellow jade. Note the exaggerated breasts and private areas, as well as the generous curves. This was the opposite of later conceptions of beauty in China.
During the dynastic era, the female body became the property of males. A girl symbolized the status and “honor” of the men who owned her, and her autonomy and personhood were rarely considered.
It was only among the few remaining nomadic tribes that older, healthier traditions persisted. These groups were more equitable in general, and as is the case in many regions, this meant that female beauty standards were more health and fertility-focused.
Let’s Make Up–Cosmetics In Ancient China
In neolithic China, makeup and other cosmetics were simple and largely plant or mineral-based. Safflower and ochre were used to make rouge, a reddish pigment that was applied to the cheeks. A ruddy complexion was likely associated with good health.
Rouge remained popular well into the dynastic era, and its modern counterpart, blush, is still widely used today. During the early dynastic era, however, paleness increasingly became associated with a leisurely lifestyle––and therefore wealth. Women sought to bleach, whiten, and otherwise remove color from their faces using a variety of cosmetics.
Unfortunately, many of the skin-whitening powders and creams of this time included large concentrations of lead. Lead poisoning does indeed make one whiter…but at a very high cost. Decreased fertility, developmental problems, and miscarriage are common side effects of this illness.
Other dynastic-era cosmetics were far less toxic. Pigments made of malachite, beetle shells, crustaceans, and bone powder were used to add a range of colors to the average noblewoman's makeup palette. Various forms of charcoal, or kohl, were used to highlight the eyes.
Small forehead decorations called hua dian were made using all sorts of materials, from dragonfly wings to gold foil. These were popular throughout the Tang dynasty, as were cheek decorations made with red pigment.
China became a hub for the perfume trade, and women could choose from dozens of fragrances made from flowers, incense, and other ingredients that were sourced from far-flung kingdoms all over East Asia and the Southern Pacific. As the Silk Road became established and more areas became connected, all types of cosmetics increased in popularity and became more accessible.
Clothes Maketh The Woman–Clothing In Ancient China
A group of noblewomen play flutes, Han Dynastic Era.
Clothing styles changed drastically over the course of Chinese history. This large, diverse country once contained dozens of smaller kingdoms, city-states, and dynastic empires. Each one had its own fashions, preferences, and manufacturing methods when it came to women’s clothes.
Early and pre-dynastic China saw a variety of simple, colorful styles. Men and women’s garments were fairly similar, usually consisting of a tunic or robe and a sash. Shoes were generally made of leather or embroidered cloth.
In the Northern nomadic societies, weaving was a profitable business that was reserved for women. They owned their own looms and spindles, and daughters inherited this equipment from their mothers or received it as a dowry on their wedding day. By wearing examples of the textiles they wove, women could use their clothing as walking advertisements for their skills.
In later eras, society became more stratified and clothing became symbolic of class status and wealth. Certain colors were reserved for royalty, and in some cases the punishment for violating this color code was execution. Other clothing codes were less formal.
Certain fabrics, such as high-quality silk or satin, were so expensive that only the wealthy could afford them. Women of the noble class wore highly embroidered garments with many layers of expensive fabric, and they would often add jeweled elements or gold thread to enhance their designs.
Jade jewelry could be worn by women of any class, with different colors, quality, and craftsmanship determining the price of a given piece. Jade comes in hues of green, blue, red, yellow, and brown, and it can be easily shaped. Women in ancient China would wear jade amulets, pendants, earrings, hairpins, and daigou (belt decorations).
Modesty was an important value for women in early to mid dynastic China, and traits such as bashfulness, being soft-spoken, or innocence were considered desirable. Clothing could be used to signal these values, or to challenge them.
During the Tang Dynasty, which thrived during the 7th to 10th centuries A.D., clothing became much looser and more revealing for a time. This was an era of prosperity and, in the case of the upper class, decadence. During the late dynastic era, high nobility or royalty would wear their fingernails extremely long or attach long “fake nails” to their hands as a way of showing how little they needed to work.
All of these styles and trends prove a larger point: at any given time in Chinese history, you could tell a lot about a woman based on the clothing she wore.
Bringing Back Traditions––Chinese History And The Beauty Industry Of Today
The trends of the 21st century shift faster and less predictably than at any other time in history. But one beauty trend we’ve seen take hold in China and many other non-Western countries has been a reconnection to the cultural past.
Chinese historical dramas have become extremely popular both in China and beyond. This has brought traditions of ancient beauty back into the limelight and has sparked a historical dress trend that’s growing in popularity.
Influencers, designers, historians, and models have been researching old––even ancient––beauty practices, and they’ve done an incredible job of integrating these traditions into modern modes of dress. These traditions are mostly visible in popular styles of clothing and jewelry, but there has also been a renewed interest in ancient cosmetics and hairstyles.
Connecting to the past is a way for women in China and other, post-colonial East Asian countries to feel beautiful and take pride in their appearance. Beauty is a weapon that allows non-white women to combat the narratives left over from a colonial past. And although China was never officially colonized by Britain, the legacy of the British Empire’s control of the country means that many traditional standards of beauty were dismissed in favor of white-centric ones.
By reclaiming dynastic and even pre-dynastic beauty traditions, Chinese women are enjoying a “beauty renaissance” that has attracted international attention.
Brands like Marc Jacobs, Dior, Prada, and Gucci have flocked to China, and the fashion shows conducted in places like Beijing or Hong Kong now rival those found in Milan or Paris. China is also a central player in the international garment trade, so the potential for these styles to be exported is huge. China is likely to be a major influencer of the fashion and beauty trends we’ll see in the world of tomorrow, and they’re gaining ground by celebrating the beauty of yesterday.
Learning about and celebrating beauty throughout history allows us to appreciate today’s diversity. This article is the first of many we hope to publish on the topic of historical beauty and fashion around the world!
THIS ARTICLE WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY OUR PARTNERS AT DAHIYA FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY & LASER CENTER. THEY’RE HERE TO START CONVERSATIONS AND CHANGE PERSPECTIVES ABOUT WOMEN, BEAUTY, AND THE SOCIETY WE LIVE IN. THANK YOU TO DR. DAHIYA AND HIS TEAM!
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