Angelina Jolie would be ugly (Chop suey)

Angelina Jolie would be considered ugly were she born in the ancient China.

And she is not alone. So is Julia Roberts, and Goldie Hawn, and . . . .

It’s not my intention to disparage these stars. I just want to bring up the topic how Chinese people had defined beauty in the past.

Though there have been different tastes for beauty at different times, we’d never seemed to have a taste for wide and plump lips like those of the actresses mentioned above, which are considered sexy today.

The ancient beauties had always been depicted as to have a 櫻桃小(口)嘴(ying tao2 xiao3 (kou3) zui3), literally meaning cherry little mouth. Watch the portraits of them closely and you’ll know. Ancient Chinese would be puzzled by the request Goldie Hawn made in the film Death Becomes Her to her plastic surgeon to implant her lips. We even have a  term for a wide mouth--血盆大口(xie3 pen2 da4 kou3), a bloody basin-like big mouth, which is definitely not a compliment.

As to the complexion, without exception it had to be snow-white and had the smooth texture of grease clot. In 詩經(shi jing)，Classic of Poetry or Book of Odes, there’s a line膚若凝脂(fu ruo4 ning2 zhi3). 膚is skin; 若, like; 凝, clot; 脂, grease. For the majority of women who had to labor under the sun and get tanned, there was no way for them to have such a complexion.

Today we’re still saying 一白遮三醜(yi4 bai2 zhe san chou3), literally meaning a white complexion can cover up three ugliness; some people even exaggerate it as “nine” ugliness. See the abundant commercials for whitening cosmetics in Taiwan, especially in summer, you’ll realize this craze for white skin.

For the eyebrows, they had to be long and bent like the antennas of a moth, which are called 蛾眉(e2 mei2) in詩經. Or sometimes we use the willow leaves to describe them--柳(葉)眉(liu3 (ye4) mei2).

(from bongta.com )

Lucy Alexis Liu has a typical pair of so-called “phoenix eyes,” 鳳眼(fong4 yian3) which are long and narrow in shape, with the end slightly up. Women with this kind of eyes are said to be man-killers. When I was watching Leona Lewis singing on Youtube, I found out she has an extraordinarily beautiful pair of 鳳眼. And from the way she’s watching around or staring, I realize what 美目盼兮(mei3 mu4 pan4 xi) means as is called in詩經.

Like modern women, a lot of ancient women had to suffer to cater to the men’s tastes, even when they were extreme or sometimes sickly abnormal. Though foot binding 纏足(chan2 zhu2) had only been a practice for about one thousand years among women of upper class, it was not the only suffering women had gone through.

Like in Han Dynasty, we had a beauty 趙飛燕(zhao4 fei yan4), a dancing girl who got the name for her slim figure and agile dance, which means a flying swallow. Legend had it that once when she was dancing, a gust of wind blew over and almost took her away. During the times when slimness is in, plenty of women have to hunger themselves. We have a line that goes as 楚王好細腰，宮中多餓死(chu3 wong2 ai4 xi4 yao, gong zhong duo e4 si3) , many of King Ling of Chu’s concubines starved to death because he cared for slender waists. It’s just the same with the models that died of anorexia today.

When it comes to women’s figure, we often say 環肥燕瘦(huan2 fei2 yan4 shou4) to represent two different builds. 趙飛燕 represents the slim, whereas 楊玉環(yang2 yu4 huan2)，or 楊貴妃(yang2 gui4 fei) represents the plump. Usually 肥 means obesity. Being one of the four most famed beauties in the Chinese history, 楊玉環 would never be to the extent of “obesity,” I guess. It only implies the comparatively “healthier” taste for beauty in Tang Dynasty.

For a while there had been a taste for “sickly beauty.” Foot binding is an example; 西施捧心 as I introduced before* is another. 林黛玉(lin2 dai4 yu4), a character of the classic novel 紅樓夢(hong2 lou2 meng4), Dream of the Red Chamber, is the typical of a sickly beauty in the Chinese literature. Some men are crazy about those weak and pale looking women, perhaps because their sympathy is aroused, and so is their intention to become heroes to protect those delicate beauties.  

Well, for those who are no beauties whether from the ancient or modern points of view like me, at least we don’t have to worry about dying young or being doomed, as what we say 紅顏薄命(hong2 yan2 bo2 ming4). 紅顏refers to a beauty; 薄, thin; 命, longevity or destiny. It is said so since a lot of well-known beauties were either given to a king as a contribution (like 西施) or ended up miserable for being jealous by others, or even by God.  

*note: Please read my previous writing in Feb, 東施效顰& idioms with directions.

櫻桃小(口)嘴=樱桃小(口)嘴

詩經=诗经

膚若凝脂=肤若凝脂

一白遮三醜=一白遮三丑

柳(葉)眉=柳(叶)眉

鳳眼=凤眼

纏足=缠足

趙飛燕赵飞燕

楚王好細腰，宮中多餓=死楚王好细腰，宫中多饿死

環肥燕瘦=环肥燕瘦

楊玉環=杨玉环

楊貴妃=杨贵妃

紅樓夢=红楼梦

紅顏薄命=红颜薄命