page_title: Chinese ideals of female beauty
section_title: Skin tone
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese ideals of female beauty / Skin tone
caption_attribution_description: English: Skin pigmentation in Northern Europeans, West Africans and East Asians through subsequent years of evolution.
context_page_description: In Chinese contemporary popular culture, there are various aspects to the female beauty ideal.
context_section_description: Skin tone is one aspect of Chinese beauty that is in contrast with the Western beauty ideal, as fair skin is favoured over more tanned skin. This beauty ideal of fair skin dates back as early as the Han Dynasty which controlled China from 206 B.C. – 220 A.D. During this time a woman's skin tone was known to indicate social class. Many women of the lower class worked outside in the fields, exposing them to more sun, and ultimately making their skin darker.  On the other hand, the light skin had become a representation of social prestige and the lack of physical labor.  Due to this perception, there are a lot of pressures on women in China to stay indoors and not venture outside to work or play sports such as basketball and soccer.
  Due to this obsession of obtaining fair-skin the Asia-Pacific region has become the world's largest market for skin-whitening products. These products include various creams and pills which claim to reduce a pigment called melanin in the skin. Products such as these advertise fairer-skin as "beautiful" and superior to darker skin. The downside to this is not only that it makes women of darker complexion feel inferior, but that these skin whitening products can come with many risky side effects. The active ingredient in many of these products is mercury which has been known to cause serious psychiatric, neurological, and kidney problems.
caption: Skin pigmentation in Northern Europeans, West Africans and East Asians through subsequent years of evolution.
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