《文化对比阅读》(上) Unit 9--Beauty Standards 1. Chinese Beauty Standards and the Pretty Problem.docVIP

Chinese Beauty Standards and the Pretty Problem Micah Steffes I’m riding the bus and I’ve been down this street a hundred thousand times before. I don’t want to look out the window so I watch the people clinging to the poles, handles and headrests around me and am glad I have a seat. As we’re lurching along toward the next stop, everyone is flinging themselves toward the door and the crush of the herd in the aisles makes me feel hot and sick. So I train my eyes on the advertisement under the plastic slip covering mine and every other seat in the bus and try to zone out. The spokesmodel for Huamei Aesthetic and Plastic Hospital has beautiful cheeks. They’re tall, pulling her face and her smile up gently so that her pleasant appearance spills over her lips and curves over the architecture of her face. But this is no Angelina-Jolie-type bone-structure. Those cheeks are round and smooth — they remind me of fruit. When I see an especially cute child, I often get the same impression. In fact, her eyes are a bit wide like an infant’s. Her nose is the last thing I notice. It is not remarkable. It fades away into the general impression of her face. But it’s a good nose. It’s a universal nose. It’s probably an expensive nose. The driver slams the brakes and I’m jolted back into the world. I wonder if her beauty is a get-out-of-riding-the-bus-free card. Maybe Lady Gaga was on to something I’m from the US, land of the free, home of the brave and number one in the world for cosmetic surgeries. Vanity dominates the cultural landscape of American values. What could I possibly have to say about attitudes toward beauty that would be unique to the case of China? What could possibly save me from hypocrisy here? To make a point here, I’ll admit to my own vanity. I over-value physical beauty and it leads me to want to be pretty and to take actions that cost me time and money in order to improve my physical appearance. I have, in the past, spent well over 100 dollars on a cut and colo