Ever since I wrote “Angelina Jolie would be ugly,” I’ve been doing some little research on the handsome men in ancient China. What were the criteria for a man to be considered good-looking?
There is a story in the chapter容止(rong2 zhi3) of 世說新語(shi4 shuo shin yu3) Tales of the New Era. Emperor Wu of Wei ,曹操(cao2 cao) had to meet with a messenger from Xiongnu. Regarding himself as too ugly to impress the foreigner, Cao asked a handsome man to replace him, with himself holding a knife standing by.
Later on, Cao sent a spy to ask the messenger about what he thought of the Emperor Wu of Wei. The latter replied, “Emperor Wu of Wei is elegant-looking, but the one with the knife by the side is a real hero!” Hearing this, Cao dispatched a killer to assassin the messenger on his way back.
The author didn’t tell us why Cao had killed the messenger. Perhaps it was because he couldn’t bear to see such a wise and shrewd man in other country, or the fact that there was someone smarter to see through him in the world. My point here is that it’s rare to see in the history that a man so powerful as Cao should care so much about his looks, or think so highly of appearance as a factor to make a messenger awed.
The later part of this chapter is devoted to the descriptions of the famed good-looking men in魏晉南北朝, Period of Disunity, or Wei, Jin, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties , first disunion (220-589).
As the name of the dynasty suggests, it was a long period of disunity and civil wars. With the chaos and uncertainty, a new trend emerged – indulgence in, morals out! So did a crave for exterior beauty. A book with a whole chapter talking about how some men look would be slashed as senseless at a pro-Confucianism time.
From most of the books I’ve read, they often described a man as 方面大耳(fang mian4 da4 er3), literally meaning a squared face with big ears, which has been a traditionally favored looks for a man. We call it 福相(fu2 xiang4) and think that men with such a face are blessed. As to the build, a macho man with “a tiger’s back and a bear’s waist” 虎背熊腰(hu3 bei4 xong2 yao) is admired.
But in the chapter mentioned above, we see some different criteria for a man to be considered good-looking at that time. In a word, “macho” 陽剛(yang2 gang)was out; feminine beauty 陰柔美(yin rou2 mei3) was in.
As I said, during the chaotic魏晉 time, people got indulgent to wine and drugs. Yes, drugs is nothing fresh. It is said that people were taking a drug called 五石散(wu3 shi2 san3), which gave you a bright and tender complexion. It corresponded with the notion that a handsome man, like a beautiful woman, had to have a white skin that was soft and tender and jade-like.
In classical novels, we read a lot of male protagonists depicted as 白面書生(bai2 mian4 shu sheng), a white-faced student. The application of powder 敷粉(fu fen) was not limited to women. It had even become a trend back then. The flashy men with make-up you meet in 銀座, Japan, is nothing fresh, and neither is the herbivore man.
To be a白面書生, men had to shave off their mustache, which was another trendy thing for the gorgeous men to do during the魏晉 period. They also loved to burn incense upon themselves薰香(xuen xiang)like wearing perfume today.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
看殺衛玠=看杀卫玠
擲果盈車=掷果盈车
世說新語=世说新语
魏晉南北朝=魏晋南北朝
陽剛=阳刚
陰柔美=阴柔美
白面書生=白面书生
銀座=银座
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