Different shades of beauty under the sun

I received pictures of my daughter floating in bliss on a lake in California. Yes, right there under the sun during the hottest time of the day. Soaking up the sun's rays with only her bathing suit and some sunblock lotion to cover her.

When I showed it to my students, it was as if I had shown them stills from a horror movie.

"But she will get dark!" they exclaim.

"That's what she wants," I explain. "We think darker skin looks healthy and makes us more beautiful."

Now they are looking suspiciously at me. I'm known to joke around a bit, am I teasing them? Surely I can't be serious. There we are, once again, spinning down the rabbit-hole of cultural opposites.

For years, American girls and women baste themselves every summer in an attempt to get as tanned as possible. We slathered on baby oil and cooked ourselves like little piggies on a spit - turning this way and that to get every possible inch as dark as possible.

Then came the understanding that this much exposure could cause skin cancer, so products were quickly developed to block the harmful rays, while still permitting us to get some color. Even though everyone is aware of the dangers of ultra-violet rays, we still think pale skin looks awful.

Meanwhile, in China, girls and women use umbrellas all year round, and our students, darting from one building to another, will cover their faces with whatever is at hand: notebooks, pieces of paper, their hands.

What in the world is going on?

Chalk it up to one word: beauty. The pale skin we think looks unattractive is exactly what the Asian ladies seek. Both groups want to meet their culture's standard of beauty. In both cases history has decreed what is beautiful.

In America, it used to be, if you could afford to go on vacation in the summer, you would most likely head for a river, a lake or a beach, where you would spread out your towel and try to get as much sun as possible. If you couldn't afford to go anywhere, you'd stretch out in your backyard. God forbid you should be pale. If you were really wealthy you would take a winter vacation in some sunny spot and your winter tan would declare your wealth.

In China, the few wealthy were the ones who didn't have to work out in the hot sun and so the whiter the skin, the richer the woman. The folk opera stars who portrayed these ladies wore stark white makeup. The message was clear: White-skinned women were from the privileged class and thus, more desirable, especially as marriage prospects.

My students confirm this all the time and none of them wishes to follow the Western ways in this regard and they say they never will.

However, "never say never", as the saying goes.

Recently I've been reading of a new business in China, which is actually an old business in America: the tanning booth. You pay to go into a capsule-like device, which will then tan you as you lie inside. Apparently all those advertisements featuring Western models with glistening tans are starting to influence some Chinese consumers and they are now lying in the booths to brown themselves. Not just men, but some women too.

I applaud having the courage to define one's own version of beauty, but I sure do wonder what their Grannys have to say to them about it!