The Traditional Chinese Beauty

The Chinese word for beauty is seen in records as early as 11-16 BC and means “pleasant to the sight”. Internal virtue was also linked to the concept of beauty, with many traditional stories suggesting that external beauty is a reflection of moral virtue.
Although the standard has changed many times over the thousands of years of Chinese dynasties, the shifting physical ideals reflected in statues and paintings, the facial proportions have stayed more constant. The body types often reflected the kind of lives that wealthy women were expected to lead, with very delicate, sickly women romanticized during the Ming dynasty while full-bodied builds were preferred during the T’ang when women were expected to be more physically active during the , while slender, vital styles were preferred during the Han dynasty.


The beauty as portrayed in numerous court paintings and sculptures had an oval face and plump cheeks. Having dimples, jiowu (pit of wines), were seen as attractive. The shape of the eyebrows was seen to reflect the character of the woman, and was important because inner qualities were seen as a component of feminine beauty. However the idealised shape of the eyebrows also changed over the ages as different characteristics were preferred. For example, during the Qin, bushy long eyebrows were idealized while in the T’ang dynasty the eyebrows were trimmed into a half-moon shape.
The proportions of the beauty were important in painting, with the “five eyes” ratio being that the distance between the two eyes as well as between the outer eye and opening of the ear each being one eye. The vertical proportions were to be divided into three with the distance between the hairline to eyebrow, eyebrow to bottom of nose, and bottom of nose to chin each being equal.
The eyes were consistently drawn as long and upwardly curved with black eyes in beauties as portrayed in paintings. The lips were also a consistent ideal and were small, round and red and were upwardly curved.

Ancient Greek, Horaios, Beauty as being age-appropriate

In Koine Greek (popular form in 300BC-300AD), the word beauty, horaios, was connected to the word hora meaning time. The idea was that what was beautiful was appropriate for one’s own age, or being of one’s hour. The concept included the idea of a ripe old age, as well as the idea of youth. Somebody attempting to look older or younger than one age was considered unattractive.

The guitar-shaped body

Brazilian forms of beauty that spring immediately to mind are the painted and feathered extravaganzas Carnivale, and the salon-waxed, well-proportioned beach bums in bikinis. An exceedingly body-image concerned society with high rates of plastic surgery and use of other treatments, a look at what is requested is one way to reveal the beauty ideal there. Breast reduction is a popular surgery there as the emphasis is on the bottom half in Brazil, generally the reverse of Western societies. Known as “um corpo de violão,” literally the “guitar-shaped body”, the point of attraction was “the sweet swing” of her hips. In the past, this was even more so, and as in Western countries a look at the fifties shows a generally heavier, all over, body type thinning out over the decades. The heavier ideal, “fartura,” representing abundance, is still important in poorer and more tradional regions, however the Western ideal is penetrating the society deeper and deeper due to media, the fashion and modeling industry, movies, even children’s toys.

The Persian Lady

One of the more unique features of the Persian Ideal beauty is the joint brow, as can be determined by art from the era. Seen in ornate robes and luscious surroundings, emphasizing the wealth and abundance of the nobles and notables depicted, it might be possible to interpret from this also a symbolic expression of feminine fertility. Very often flowers are drawn around the damsel, at her feet or in the background. However in her actual physical characteristics, her femininity is very downplayed- de-emphasised, or it could almost be said de-feminised. Again this must be artistic license rather than the actual appearance of most of the girls, and in this gap can be seen the reach for the ideal by the commissioned artist. Focus is not drawn to her breasts and hips and they are often not shown in the pictures at all. Her torso is long, straight and flat like that of a thin young man.

The facial features probably reveal an Asian influence as the shape of the eyes and the large fleshy cheeks are very similar in style. Again this is an idealization, with the eyes often turned up and the nose straight and downturned. Often she has a beauty mark, and her headdresses, veils and hairstyles are very varied, probably reflecting the level of care and creativity that women took when dressing themselves.

There is a world of difference between the ideals of modesty in Persian culture and Western culture. As can be seen below, Persian women were sometimes drawn wearing a cape fastened only at the neck (and naked beneath) thus making the breasts vulnerable to exposure. The veil on the other hand seemed to have connotations of modesty or purity attached to it even in these pre-Muslim times.




(painting from Freer Sackler Gallery)

Bishonen

Bishonen (美少年) means beautiful young man, and is a Japanese ideal of feminine features in a man. The ideal is an ancient one with homoerotic overtones and roots in Chinese and Indian culture, and is prominent in pop culture today with a strong following amongst young girls. The bishonen today has soft, delicate feminine features, a long hair style, which is upkept in a stylish layered cut, tight-fitting fashionable clothing and has no facial hair. He has manicured brows and a slim bone structure, and may also have feminine accessories such as a handbag, hairclip, or a lot of jewellery.
The images below show bisexual J-pop singer GACKT and Jin Akanishi who is a member of J-pop band KAT-TUN.

Moslem view of beauty through concealment using a veil

One interpretation of beauty in Islamic thought is related to concealment as a concept in viewing life and femininity. The body is interpreted not as part of the true self but as one of many obstacles to viewing the real self. As such it is concealed so that the inner self can be found and can become the woman's only public identity. The natural physical appearence along with all efforts to manipulate it, shape it, or improve upon it are seen to be curtains concealing the inner self. Through this view, the hajib is an attempt to bypass all these other veils by drawing yet another veil over it.

This speech on "the Beauty of Concealment" explains this view in more detail.

Maya

When babies were born, the Maya shaped their heads by tying boards to achieve a forehead that sloped backward. This was done for a few days, and because the bones were soft at this point, their heads were shaped like this for life. People are depicted in this manner in artwork, the exagerrated sloped forehead showing this physical manipulation or an idealised version. In depictions they are also represented with a slighly receding chin, and almond-shaped eyes. A large nose, extending from above the eyes is evident. Slightly crossed eyes were also considered beautiful and an object would be dangled in front of babies in order to try to achieve this look. The Maya would decorate their teeth by filing them to a point, or sometimes even a T-shape, and put jades in the holes. They also extensively practiced body painting. Headdresses were worn on ceremonial occasions. The Maya drawings below illustrate their concept of beauty.



The long heads and flowing hair of the Mayan ideal are thought to be mimicking the corn god, youthful and strong.

Costume is also important, with elaborate regalia worn by nobles.