What Did the Historical Chinese Beauties Look Like? An Analysis of Portrait and Biography of 100 Beauties (百美新咏圖傳, 1792)

Abstract

: The aim of this study was to elucidate the appearance of historical Chinese beauties by analyzing Portrait and Biography of 100 Beauties (1792). The 103 women who appear in this work were categorized as historical or mythological figures, and the reason for their inclusion was classified as beauty, talent, or both. Descriptions of beauties were classified as general literary descriptions or specific descriptions of their appearance. Among them, 42.7% were depicted as both beautiful and talented, while 42.7% were only described as beautiful. The remainder were included because of their talent only. Almost four-fifths (78.6%) were described as chaste, while the remaining one-fifth (21.4%) were presented as licentious. About half (48.5%) were queen consorts, princesses, imperial concubines, or palace women. Courtesans and singing girls (17.5%) and concubines of influential officials and scholars (16.5%) followed. Forty-six women had specific descriptions of their appearance, most often of their face (33.5%), followed by their body (16.5%), manners (7.3%), fragrance (4.3%), and clothes (2.4%). The most frequent descriptions of specific attributes were found for the hair (7.4%), eyebrows (6.7%), eyes (5.5%), skin (5.5%), and body shape (4.9%). Among the 114 talents possessed by 59 beauties, the most celebrated talents were entertaining skills (42.1%), followed by literary skills (27.2%), and intelligence (21.1%). Three women were included owing to their make-up skills. Chaste beauties were depicted as more likely to have a happy fate than licentious beauties (OR: 16.8, P < 0.01). This analysis might be helpful for understanding the concept of beauty throughout Chinese history.

Anthropometric analysis of the faces of Chinese beauty pageant winners, from the early 20th century to the present

“…Generally, 3 methods are available for facial analysis: cephalometric, anthropometric, and photogrammetric. Scholars have employed photogrammetric methods, utilizing digital cameras, to analyze the human face 1 …”

“…Scholars have employed photogrammetric methods, utilizing digital cameras, to analyze the human face. 1 Several years ago, a Korean plastic surgeon pioneered a novel digital photogrammetric technique for facial analysis, termed "balanced angular and proportional analysis" (BAPA). Utilizing this BAPA technique, he conducted an analysis of the faces of aesthetically appealing Korean entertainers.…”

Chinese Ghosts, Chinese Beauties

“…2,3 According to Wang Fenling (汪玢琌), of ~500 Liaozhai tales, ghosts and spirits appear in 258. She placed the fox stories (82) into a separate typology and divided the remaining 176 Liaozhai ghost stories into 8 categories: ghost-human love stories (28); governance of the underworld (24); demons and malicious ghosts (18); benign ghosts and reciprocity (10); transcendents, immortals, and spirits (38); karmic retribution (29); obsession and object spirits (6); and souls (23). 4 Chen classified 41 ghost-human interaction stories into 4 groups: the affection type (16), the compassion type (11), the revenge type (7), and the eradication type (7).…”

“…The most frequent descriptions of specific attributes were found for the hair (7.4%), eyebrows (6.7%), eyes (5.5%), skin (5.5%), and body shape (4.9%). 6 Comparing the "ghost disguised of a beautiful woman" to the "historical 100 beauties," I found some commonalities: they are graceful, have good manners, and are slender and intelligent. Chinese ghosts, which are basically hideous monsters disguised as beautiful women, have the external appearance of a "beautiful figure" pursued by contemporary people.…”

“…Forty-six women had specific descriptions of their appearance, most often of their face (33.5%), followed by their body (16.5%), manners (7.3%), fragrance (4.3%), and clothes (2.4%). The most frequent descriptions of specific attributes were found for the hair (7.4%), eyebrows (6.7%), eyes (5.5%), skin (5.5%), and body shape (4.9%) 6 …”