Beauty is in the Yanjing of the Beholder

I am confused…
What does chinese girl attracted to foreign guy?
(my english is pool, in case you don’t understand, I mean…why foreign guy likes to find a chinese girlfriend in Taiwan?)
except the reason “feel alone, lonely and for fun” What else reasons ?
What are you think about the relationship ? for short term “partner” or else?
I’ve been told “charming” for few times from foreigners, but I don’t even think that I’m “attractive”, so I just wondering, is there really something different from Chiense view and foreigner view ??

There certainly is a difference between the Chinese view and the “western” view of attractiveness. For starts, westerners are more likely to see dark skin as sexy and excessively white skin as pasty, unhealthy and unnatural. Ask any western man what he thinks of all those whitening formulas woman in Asia use. 10 to one he’ll say they are a waste of time and make you look worse. God, some of those SK2 models are positively ghostly looking.

Chinese men, on the other hand, tend not to like dark skinned women. Once upon a time in the west it was the same. Coco Chanel brought color into vogue and thank god it has remained.

Fashion magazines in the west also have in the last decade or so promoted more ethnic looks, and diverse body sizes. Few westerners would consider only a “high” nose, big breasts, long legs, pouty lips, skinny figure, attractive. It’s all about how you carry yourself. A dark woman with a flat nose and large lips and hips can be every bit as beautiful as a lighter skinned woman with a waspy figure. Confidence in yourself is paramount. Good hairstyle and skin don’t hurt.

Chinese tend to be still very “old world” and rigid in their aesthetics. Whereas a foreign male might find the slanty eyed, tawny skinned, curvy chinese secretary at his school absolutely ravishing, your average chinese male wouldn’t even give her a second glance. She doesn’t have two eyelids. She’s too dark. She’s too “fat”.

It works the other way too. Many of the guys in Taiwan that the women think are so handsome are really just average back home. They may have big eyes, and be tall, gently looking, light skinned, “high” nosed, and have a fairly symetrical face - all the features that are highly valued by the Chinese - but they are still nothing special in our western eyes.

But who cares. If average westerners and average Taiwanese are getting together under the illusion that the other is hot and sexy what the hell is the matter with that?

Good post. I also have to agree 100% about the whole confidence/attitude statement. When I am attracted to a person, obviously appearance is a factor, but how they hold themselves is oh so much more important. (BTW, the closest chinese word I could find for that would be 'ta de yang4zi ‘她的樣子’ Let me know if you know a better term…)

I’d also like to now officially publicize my theory on this whole matter ( ).

I think factored into Mucha Man’s post is the idea of ‘exoticness’. If you look at what the -average- westerner in Taiwan finds generally more attractive, it would probably be - small eyes (with single eyelids), black hair, long hair, straight hair, smaller frame and darker skin. In other words, stuff that is very ‘Chinese.’ (For those of you that are oversensitive about such statements, PLEASE notice the quotes)

What does the -average- Taiwanese guy find attractive? Dyed hair. Curly hair. Tall. Big eyes. ‘Depth’ to the face. Big… um… ‘eyes’ (you know what I mean). White skin. In other words, stuff that is very ‘western.’

Basically, it seems that people tend to like stuff that is more exotic to them, at least to some degree.

On a similar vein, that which is rarer or represents wealth is also found attractive, which of course varies from culture to culture.
Why do Chinese tend to like whiter skin? Perhaps it’s the same reason that the Western world liked it up until the 20th century - it means that they don’t work in the fields - they’re rich. Nowadays in the West, it’s the opposite; if someone has a tan, that means they have money - they have the time to go out and soak in the sun.
This is obviously a generalization, but this theory is upheld by many scientists… or whoever study these things. Just like in societies where food is commonly scarce, ‘overweight’ people are often found more attractive than ‘skinny’ people.

Or maybe I’m just full of bunk. Hard to tell sometimes.

Just to add my two cents, I agree with the idea that it is primarily because “foreigners” are rare here. I mean, I am attracted to the “exotic beauty” of asian women but asian women are not necessarily attracted to my “exotic” looks back in Canada. I have been told indirectly I am handsome, and my beautiful girlfriend (really) says I am handsome, but back home I am nothing. I can’t get a girlfriend two years after a relationship goes sour. So if you ask me (and I know no one did) I would have to say that it is because there are fewer of “us” to choose from than back where we came from.

I didn’t mean that we should be thankful that tanning is still in vogue. I meant that Chanel help bring about a revolution in western (white) perceptions of what could be considered beautiful and that all races have benefitted from this. I meant thank god the west is not still like the east with such confining standards of beauty.

I can’t remember the source but I read that around 30% of first generation Asian American women marry outside their race. For second generation the percentage goes up to &70.

What does this mean? I don’t know.

LittleIron your theories about the relationship between size and wealth are pretty accurate. Almost all old cultures value plumpness in woman, stoutness in men. It is a sign of wealth in places where food is scarce. Even in Taiwan, among older people, and many not so old, being a few pounds heavy is a sign of success for a man. Being fit, and tan is only in fashion for those who care about fashion.

Personally, I like snaggle-toothed, pock-faced girls with those big hairy moles. Oh, and if they’re short (like 4’ 5") and shaped liked a Scooby Doo lunchbox then so much the better. You should see my fiance. She’s a real beast.

FB

Where are all these “attractive” women? I keep seeing posts about all these pretty girls in taipei and the such, I swear to god, I’ve said it once I’ll say it again, the average taiwanese girl is a complete minger! I am comparing this to women in california, but this is coming from a guy who has been accused by white counterparts of having “yellow fever” (partiality towards asian women) and even for me I was shocked at how gnarly most of the girls there are…for example at the university I went to I went into a fit of depression at how much of a downgrade the chicks were on average compared to chicks at my uni (regardless of ethnicity)…as for the places with hot girls, like some of the nightclubs, a good portion of those girls arent even taiwanese! not taiwanese in the sense, yes they are “ethnically” taiwanese (if you believe they are separate from the da lu people) but for the most part the stunners all grew up in vancouver, monterey park, etc. This is a redundant topic . I have brought it up before, but it came back to my mind after hearing a taiwanese girl I met last week talk about her shock at learning the same thing, how ug’s the girls are over there. Its all relative I suppose, for someone who has never seen asian women in mass before perhaps they have no taste…just like how taiwanese women are arguablly a hell of a lot less picky then their abc counterparts. Seriously though, all the hot girls in that country moved to the US or canada a while ago. anyway I bring this topic up again because I am curious that perhaps I missed somewhere with all these “fit birds” when I was in taipei…is there some mall or something? tien mu? whats the deal?

LOL. As a fellow Californian, I can sympathize with having the higher standards than a usual U.S.A.'er. :stuck_out_tongue:

P.S. - I’m assuming you’re from Cali, but you never really stated that you were, so I apologize if you aren’t. :smiley:

What a complete load of shit.

I never have been able to understand why some men are critical in a negative way regarding the physical appearance of some women. What exactly is the point? Is it not sufficient to state “the women in California are beautiful”? Why is it necessary to opine that the women of some other place are unattractive?

In any event, beauty is in fact in the eye of the beholder. If you think the women in California are more beautiful than the women here, fine… that is your opinion.

In the eye of this happily appreciative beholder, there are gorgeous women wherever I look in Taipei or anywhere else on these islands. Some of the ABCs I’ve encountered here have also been attractive, but a very high proportion of them, whether from California or elsewhere, have had a bit too much meat on their bodies to suit my taste and have been rather too loud and full of themselves to please my sensibilities.

The problem with most Taiwanese women is that they are waaaay too skinny and don’t have enough curves. Women with physiques of 12 year old boys don’t turn me on. But luckily, like a fine wine, many get better as they age…personally I find a lot of the tai-tais hotter than the xioajies because having a couple of kids actually adds a bit of real meat to their bones. They say, “Oh, I so fat!” but they look 10x better with that stuff called ‘flesh’ attached to their skeletons.

I will be the first to admit my home state of FL doenst have the most beautiful natives, but damn those vacationers from everywhere east of the Mississippi!!! So I have to say thanks to all from those states for sending you girls down to FL for spring break through fall… Best time of my life, was a life gaurd for 4 years and my looks(I am in no means stuck on myself, just have no problems with the way I look) on top of that lifegaurd chair!!! Had a different girlfriend every week… When the current group of vacationers would checkout around noon on Saturday I would act all upset wish the girl goodbye, and by 3pm the same day make sure I would be back at my post awaiting the new arrivals to check in…
And before anyone says anything, many of those week relationships turned into great friendships, still talk to many on occassion, and the most went there with the same thing in mind…
What a life !! So I wish they all could be FL vacationers!!!

But as always good things come to an end, and become much better… I am one of the foreigners that is with a Tiawanese wife, but met here in the states and I assure you she is not submissive like many say in the previous hundred posts, she is not stupid( probably much smarter than I), she is not looking for money (her family has more than god I believe), no she has nothing against tiawanese men, and last but not least she is not ugly and substandard to taiwanese men’s taste (trust me on that one, she is a somewhat famous here as a model and for sure famous in Japan, she has to hide her identity when we go for privacy)… We are just two people who met each other and fell madly in love… Neither could care where the other is from or ethinicity… We just love each other…

I agree, I dont see many… My wife is extremely beautiful, but you know she was only born in Taiwan, one side of her family is from Japan and the other Shanghai… I would also like to know where all these are I keep hearing about…

I wonder if anyone else has noticed this strange but consistent phenomenon?
I have found through several years of unashamed ogling on my daily motorcycle commute that the first woman I see sets the tone for the rest of that day.
If she happens to be a honey, its a pretty safe bet that the day’s ogling will be a good one.
If on the other hand she’s a dog, I might as well just drive with my eyes closed for the rest of the day for all the chance I’ll have of seeing any quality bint.
I know how some of you feel about anecdotal evidence but really, this happens far too often to be mere coincidence.

It’s the same on the MRT, Sandman. Either my eyes are so overwhelmed with luscious sights wherever I look that I can hardly choose where to let them linger, or else there’s so little worth even a glance that it makes me wonder if I’m having a nightmare in which I’ve been transported away from Taipei.

But I’m happy to report that days like the former are ten times more common than days like the latter. :smiley:

Sandman, that is a trip… I used to do the same thing, but I would use it to judge how the day all around would be… I would even give myself mulligans stating if I see three worth looking at in the next 30 minutes things will turn around… I would always do this on Monday during my 1 hour commute to work in ATL… If I saw a hottie in the first 10 minutes of my commute I sware the Monday would feel like a Friday… Glad to see someone has similar issues as I…

Makes me wonder what happens to the rest of the day for the Taiwanese who see us…

Hey, I just have to look at what’s using the pillow beside me and I’m happy for the rest of the day.

Don’t need take out when the hotties at home.

I think the “eye of the beholder” thing is somewhat a crock of shit. if you mean attraction based on becoming smitten with personality, yes its true but in regards to finding someones face attractive.if you believe that you should watch the british series “the face”…they took a template of the “perfect face” and then took a series of photos of faces going from “best looking” to “ugliest” in regards to dimensions of the “perfect face.” They then surveyed numerous different countries/ethnic groups asking them to line up the photos from ugliest to most attractive…the overlap in results was ridiculous…Where as I think there are quite different cultural opinions on attractive body shape and skin tone, when it comes down to face its pretty universal it seems. Attractive western women are generally considered attractive in asia and vice versa, and if not usually the argument relates to either the skin or body shape thing. Regardless of what you believe I reccomend that documentary, john cleese is in it its quite funny

You’re certainly entitled to your beliefs.

I never disputed general notions of beauty.

What I said is that for each particular person, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Regardless of what the verry funny John Cleese had to say in that documentary, I believe that every person on this planet will hold a unique notion of particular beauty, even while maintaining a general appreciation of beauty.

Amen to that, Boss. :notworthy: