Globalizing Evolution: Female Choice, Nationality, and Perception

of

“Sexual Beauty” in China

Running head: China physical attractiveness

William Jankowiak, Peter B. Gray, & Kelly Hattman

Department of Anthropology & Ethnic Studies; University of

Nevada, Las Vegas

Please address all correspondence to:

William Jankowiak, PhD

Department of Anthropology & Ethnic Studies

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 455003

Las Vegas, NV 89154-5003

Draft for special edition of Journal of Cross-cultural Research

1

edited by Robert Quinlan: 30 May 2007.

Please do not cite without permission.

Abstract

An evolutionary perspective on physical attractiveness suggests

that individuals find attractive those characteristics associated

with reproductive success. Theory and existing data consistent

with this view link perceptions of physical attractiveness to

traits such as symmetry, status, and reproductive value. Here,

we take this evolutionary perspective global to ask what happens

when perceptions of physical attractiveness are embedded in rapid

processes of globalization. More specifically, in rapidly

changing and globalizing China, how do men and women rate the

sexual beauty of East Asian compared with Caucasian models? To

address this question, we enlisted 74 Chinese men and women from

Hohhot, a northern city, and Chengdu, a southern city, to rank

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photos obtained from Chinese magazines of both Chinese and

Caucasian male and female models. We also elicited emic accounts

for the ratings that subjects gave and provide relevant

participant observation as complementary sources of qualitative

data. Results revealed that Chinese women ranked as more

attractive both Caucasian male and female models over Asian

models. Moreover, Chinese men did not differentially rank Asian

and Caucasian females, though they did rank Caucasian males as

more attractive than Asian males. Combining these results with

data from emic reports and participant observation, findings best

support evolutionarily-based hypotheses based on hypergyny

(females seeking to mate up a status hierarchy) and male openness

to partner variety. We suggest that, while an evolutionary

novelty, a process of globalization can still be linked to

potentially adaptive preferences for physical attractiveness, and

call for more research in this vein.

Key words: mate choice, physical attractiveness, evolution, mate

selection, globalization

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Introduction

An evolutionary perspective on physical attractiveness suggests

that individuals will find attractive those characteristics

associated with reproductive success (reviews in Rhodes

2006,2005; Gangestad and Scheyd 2005; Sugiyama 2005; Buss 2003;

Batten 2000; Jones 1996; Langlois et al 2000; Saad 2007). This

proposition leads to an expectation that what is considered

physically attractive will show both some similarities and

differences across social contexts (Gangestad and Buss 1993).

For example, in all contexts, we would expect individuals to

value cues of health (e.g., absence of overt symptoms of disease)

and developmental stability (ability to counteract physical

insults during development, as indexed by low fluctuating

asymmetry). In contexts of long-term mate selection, we would

anticipate individuals preferring traits indicative of

compatibility (e.g., trustworthy disposition, similar

personality, similar religious affiliation, ages within a few

years of each other). We would expect females to find physical

attractive cues of a potential mate’s social status since social

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standing could translate into political, economic and social

benefits to herself and offspring; however, the precise cues

deemed attractive (a chubby husband if indicative of wealth; a

thinner, physically fit individual if associated with hunting

prowess) can be expected to vary across social contexts.

This latter point also raises a key facet of physical

attractiveness: sex differences in the traits viewed as

attractive are expected to emerge (Buss 2005). Males should find

attractive traits in potential mates suggestive of long-term

reproductive output if seeking an extended pair bond or immediate

fecundability (likelihood of conceiving for a given act of

intercourse) for short-term mating. This leads to the

expectation that males will value traits indicative of high

reproductive value, or future reproductive output, such as youth,

a neotenous (youthful) facial architecture, and a low waist-to-

hip ratio. This means that males can be expected to value

characteristics of physical attractiveness closely tied to

fecundability and fertility such as adequate fat reserves (in

subsistence environments) and cues to reproductive health such as

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full lips and shiny hair. Most generally, however, males may be

open to a wider take on physical attraction since the minimal

reproductive costs to intercourse tend to be much smaller for

males (sperm) compared with females (lengthy gestation,

potentially lactation and extended childcare) (Mealey 2000; Geary

1998; Trivers 1972). The board point is males are less

discriminating than females-and this less discriminating taste

can manifest in many ways, including disregard whether mating

objects are members of one’s own group or, in exceptional

occasions even members of one’s own species.

For females, conversely, perceptions of physical attraction

can be expected to track cues indicative of complementary and

valuable male resource availability. In practice, this can

include cues to a male’s social status since his social standing

can be translated into potential social, political and economic

benefits. This can also more directly tie into cues of wealth,

advertised in conspicuous displays (e.g., expensive clothes and

cars) or other means (possessing a large herd of livestock).

Such views emphasize a highly contextualized female view of

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physical attractiveness, one that stems from a higher minimal sex

differences in reproductive costs (alluded to above) and the

basic principle of animal socioecology that female reproductive

success tends to be ultimately constrained by access to

sufficient resources (which can include the resources males

provide), whereas males tend to be ultimately constrained by

reproductive access to females. An outgrowth of this more

contextualized female view of physical attractiveness is that

females’ views may be more readily modified in the face of rapid

social change. Certainly other contextualized aspects of

physical attractiveness exist (e.g., variable female preferences

for masculine faces depending on phase in reproductive cycle),

but some of these may apply to both men and women (e.g.,

differences in perceived attractiveness depending on one’s own

mate value).

A large body of evidence supports these general expectations

concerning sex differences in perceptions of physical

attractiveness. An early compilation of various surveys,

primarily from the U.S., suggested that men tended to seek youth,

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health, and physical attraction, while women sought ambition,

generosity, and social and economic success when evaluating

potential mates (Symons 1979). In this same work, Symons (1979)

asserted that men favor sexual variety for its own sake, a view

that finds support from various lines of evidence: males more

commonly utilize prostitutes, consume pornography, are more

likely to consent to sex with a stranger, and display higher

rates of sex with farm animals (Mealey 2000). Cross-cultural

surveys indicate that women give greater weight to cues of status

and wealth, and men to cues of physical attractiveness when

specifying mate preferences (Buss 2003; Regan and Berscheid 1999;

Ford and Beach 1951). Studies of online dating find that women

pay more attention than men to a potential partner’s education,

profession, and income.

Saying all this, evolutionary theory needs to keep up with

the times, and in our times this means a rapid process of

globalization. In the face of tremendous international social

change and interchange, how can such evolutionary principles of

physical attractiveness inform our understanding of such novel

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circumstances? In our specific case study, how do these

principles play out in China when Chinese men and women are asked

to evaluate the physical attractiveness of both East Asian models

and Caucasian models?

We are aware of little research that has explored sex

differences in perceptions of physical attraction in a non-

western context. There has been several notable studies conducted

primarily in the Carribean and northern Brazil that sought to

identify how folk models organized around accepted notions of

racial hierarchy shaped individuals perception of physical

attraction. This research which focused primarily on males

evaluation of females relative physical attractiveness found

ethnicity and skin color were more significant than facial

symmetricality in determining an individual’s relative ranking

(Hoetink 1967; Jones 2000; Russell 1992). Cross-cultural research

exploring culture’s preference for lighter skin found 47 out of

51 or 92 percent cultures express a preference for lighter skin

color (Russell, Wilson and Hall 1992:58). This “whiteness” bias

predates colonial expansion (Don Brown, email correspondence,

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2007). Van de Berghe and Frost (1986) argue the preference for

lighter skin hues may be associated with reproductive vitality:

Women who are nubile and thus most fertile tend to a slightly

lighter skin color. In effect, light skin signals youthfulness

(Jones 1996). Significantly, only Doug Jones examined how these

factors also shaped women’s perception of male physical

attraction. His study (2000) conducted in northern Brazil found

individuals with lighter skin color received a more positive

evaluation. Because skin color is strongly correlated with an

individual’s relative social status, it is difficult to know if

the Brazilian bias is a manifestation of a tacit somatic

prejudice that favors an averaging of phenotypical features or

merely a reflection of relative social status. For Jones, both

factors are significant. However, his study did not probe which

of these two factors may be the more pivotal.

In east Asia we are only aware of one study that explores

sex differences in men and women’s evaluation of relative

physical attraction. For example, Rhodes et al. (2005)

investigated Japanese and Caucasian Australian men and women’s

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assessments of computer-generated images of male and female

faces, and found a strong preference for the female photos that

provided a blend of the Japanese and Caucasian phenotype. In

addition they found that Japanese rated the Caucasian male faces

as more attractive, speculating that this could “reflect cultural

differences in ethnocentrism” (Rhodes et al. 2005: 329). Such

findings suggest that greater attention to inter-ethnic

assessment of physical attractiveness is warranted. In order to

answer this question, we derive several hypotheses from

evolutionary theory and test these alongside hypotheses

originating in interdisciplinary social science concerning

globalization. We lay out these hypotheses below.

Hypothesis I. According to the view that familiar faces or

individuals with a similar phenotype will be the most preferred

(Darwin 1871), individuals will find most attractive the faces of

models of similar ethnic background (Jones 1995). Predictions

derived from this hypothesis are that men and women in China will

find Asian faces more attractive.

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Hypothesis II. The Westernization or unilateral cultural

hegemony model shapes the criteria used in assessing facial

attractiveness. As a result of cultural hegemony in a

globalizing world, male and female Chinese will prefer Caucasian

models over Chinese ones.

Hypothesis III. The “syncretization” or “mutual diffusion”

hypothesis holds that globalization results in a blending of

physiological traits a kind of somatic averaging (Hoetink 1967)

that results in a new appreciation of aesthetic differences

(Rhodes et al. 2005). If this is correct, subjects should not

favor a particular nationality. Instead, there should be strong

individual variation in model selection.

Hypothesis IV. Chinese females will find attractive the faces of

potential mates, and ethnic heritage may be viewed as an

important cue in a prospective mate’s material and social status

and thus his sexual desirability. The logic underlying this

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hypothesis is hypergyny; that is, in light of global cultural

dynamics in which Caucasian models are more apt to be viewed as

sources of wealth and economic prospects, females will express

preferences for mating up this hierarchy, whereas the preferences

will be less strong for males to do the same. Predictions

derived from this hypothesis are that sex-specific attractiveness

preferences will emerge whereby Chinese will prefer Caucasian

faces due to “whiteness” being associated with higher income and

socioeconomic well-being.

Hypothesis V. Assuming males express little restriction in their

mating preferences, Chinese males will find females, regardless

of ethnicity/nationality, as equally attractive. As a subset of

this hypothesis, males may make some distinctions in

attractiveness ratings when seeking short- vs. long-term mates;

such a distinction could lead to Chinese men evaluating females,

regardless of ethnicity/nationality, as equally attractive as

long-term mates, but giving greater erotic value to “other”

(Caucasian) females as short-term mates. This possibility leads

us to separately ask subjects to evaluate models’ attractiveness

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according to “beauty” and “sexy” with this dichotomy presumably

related to long- and short-term mating prospects, respectively

(more on this issue in the Methods).

Methods

Many studies of physical attractiveness use computer image

techniques to manipulate facial or full body physical features

such as symmetry, jaw architecture, or upper body musculature

(e.g., Rhodes et al. 2005; Yang et al. 2005; Perret et al. 1998).

This approach has been criticized as not only ahistorical but

also unreliable as it is using “composite faces instead of actual

faces” (Miller 2006:148). Because our study wanted to understand

individual’s assessment of actual faces, we did not seek to

duplicate previous research investigating effects of such

manipulated traits on assessments of physical attractiveness.

Instead, we pursued a methodological agenda complementing the

typical university- and computer-based approach to assessing

physical attractiveness. As part of our ecologically and

culturally balanced approach, we used only photos taken from

magazines people actually bought, if not read. The photos used

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in the study were taken, therefore, from popular fashion

magazines purchased in China. Because the magazines were

produced in China and were oriented toward selling upscale

clothing, we further assumed that the male and female fashion

models were selected for their overall physical attractiveness.

In our study, individuals were shown a total of twelve

pictures: six photos were female models (3 “Asian” and 3

“Caucasian”) and six photos were male models (3 “Asian” and 3

“Caucasian”). Female fashion models wore pants, pant suits, or

dresses. Male fashion models wore casual polo shirts, turtle

neck sweater, or suit. In the case of female photos the study

was repeated with a different set of photos that showed only a

woman’s face and the top portion of her shoulder.

Participants were not given any information concerning a

particular model’s background. They were only asked to rank the

models as to their relative physical attractiveness from the best

looking (piaoliang or beautiful and hao kan or good looking) to the

least (bu hao kan or not good looking). After each participant

had rated the pictures, the interviewer listed the order of the

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rankings. Each photo was coded for ethnicity and thus physical

ranking also included ethnicity. After completion of this task,

the participants were asked to rank the photos on a continuum of

the sexiest to the least sexy. Their responses were also

recorded.

We complement participants’ quantitative rankings of

models’ physical attractiveness with two additional sources of

qualitative data. The first of these additional sources of

information consists of emic explanations given by subjects for

their preferences. After completion of the picture rankings,

participants were asked to explain their rankings as to what

constituted beauty and sexiness.

The second additional source of qualitative data presented

includes participant observation by Jankowiak spanning several

decades in China. To some evolutionary-minded researchers

focused on lab methods and data collection, methods of

participant observation may seem less systematic; however, they

can provide another “check” on more controlled means of data

collection and additional, rich context in which to situate the

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other types of data. The presentation of our results below thus

consists of first the quantitative rankings of physical

attractiveness followed by these qualitative sources of data

(emic reports, participant observation).

Chinese participants were men and women living in Chengdu,

capital Sichuan, and Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous

Region. In 2000, field research was conducted in Chengdu, the

tenth largest city in China. During that field season,

Chengduians were invited to participate in the photo study. The

study was expanded to Hohhot, a northern city of over two million

people, in the summer of 2000. Because long-term research was

carried out in the 1980’s in the city for over a twenty-five year

period, William Jankowiak was familiar with many of the nuances

of urban life (Jankowiak 1993). Selecting a large southwestern

Chinese city and a northern city provided a way to compare local

perceptions from two different geographical regions. Given the

expansion of regional variation in China, we wanted to see is

this also pertained to perceptions of beauty and sexiness.

Subjects were recruited on an opportunistic basis from

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restaurants, college libraries, hotels, and friendship networks.

A total of 74 Chinese (34 men and 40 women) participated in the

study. The subjects ranged in age between 18 and 56, with the

majority of the sample population being under 36 years old.

The rankings of the face pictures were tested for goodness-

of-fit between expected distribution and distribution of our

sample with the Kolomogorov-Smirnov test. We used this test to

determine if the model scores stood out from an unexpected even

distribution of scores. The test was used because it is useful

for small sample sizes and because its two-tailed design

indicates which models were least attractive (Thomas 1986: 336).

The test compares cumulative proportions of how many times a

model was scored first, second, third, etc. against an unexpected

cumulative proportion. This expected cumulative proportion is a

hypothetical situation where all models get assigned each rank

(first, second, third, etc.) the same number of times. If the

greatest difference is greater than the critical value, then the

sample of model scores is significantly different from the

expected even distribution of scores. The critical value is

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determined: D=1.36 n. Before given the final percentage, each

table was tested for normal distribution.

Results: Subject Rankings of Models’ Physical Attractiveness

We first tested whether participants’ rankings differed by city

in China. No measurable differences appeared between the Chengdu

and Hohhot data sets. This is consistent with other findings

that compared Hohhotians with Chengduians’ response to occupation

prestige (Jankowiak 2004), gender stereotype (Jankowiak and

Parkin N.D.), and children’s street play (Jankowiak, Joiner, and

Kambia N.D.). This does not mean there are not regional

differences; however, regional differences do not apply to

perceptions of physical attractiveness. Thus, we combine the

Chengdu and Hohhot samples in presenting our results.

Quantitative rankings of models are given in Table 1. As

shown in this Table, Chinese females ranked both Caucasian male

and female models as more attractive than Asian models. Chinese

males also ranked Caucasian males as more attractive than Asian

males, but did not express an aesthetic preference for Asian or

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Caucasian females. There is no support that Chinese men and

women make a distinction between sexiness and beauty when ranking

a person’s relative attractiveness.

These quantitative results do not support Hypothesis I

(preference for mates of similar ethnic heritage) or the subset

of Hypothesis V (assuming that beauty and sexy would be

distinguished in rankings). These results can be construed as

providing mixed support for the remaining hypotheses as follows.

The fact that Caucasian models were viewed as more attractive by

females and Caucasian males viewed as more attractive by Chinese

males supports Hypothesis II (unilateral cultural influence), but

Chinese males’ lack of a female ethnic preference does not

support Hypothesis II (though it can be construed as partial

support for Hypothesis III, or the mutual diffusion hypothesis).

Hypotheses IV (female hypergyny) and Hypothesis V (male

indifference to female rankings) were both supported. The

additional qualitative data below lend the best support to

Hypotheses IV and V, although the mutual diffusion hypothesis

cannot be ruled out (at least from the standpoint of Chinese

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males’ rankings).

Emic Reports of Physical Attractiveness

When asked what traits made a particular male model more

“physically attractive” than another, Chinese women were inclined

to presume a male model had certain personality (qizhi) traits,

and they seldom invoked physical features. For example, a 23

year old female noted that what made male model “1U” better

looking was “his confidence” (zixin) which she also associated

with higher intelligence. Another woman noted that men with a

honest (puzhe), graceful (shuai), and straightforward demeanor

were better looking. She also thought these qualities suggested

a greater likelihood of social achievement. A 29 year old woman

provided a straightforward and highly representative perspective

in noting that “westerners are tall, have broad shoulders, and

are more confidence (zixin). These facts make them simply more

attractive!” Further probing also showed there is a presumption

that Caucasian men are considered to be uniformly taller and move

more luxurious lifestyles compared to ordinary urban Chinese.

Despite the emphasis on personality characteristics,

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females did highlight as important physical features in

attractiveness: angular nose, wide and deep set eyes, whiteness

of skin. Some women added an additional qualification: hair

style, clothing design, or (in the case of rating men) their

positioning or associated items found in the photo that suggest

to an individual rater the model may possess a positive or

negative character trait(s). For example, Chinese females were

in good agreement in ranking a Caucasian male model “2A” (see

photo table) LOWER than most Chinese male models. The Chinese

women but not men were uniformly quick to note “how scary the

model looked” and that he was “too dangerous” and that his dark

partially hidden figure “frightens her.” This particular male

model wore a suit and tie and stood next to a bookcase with his

face partially darkened from mood lighting that cast a dark

shadow across his face.

Chinese women were adamant in their rejection of immature

males. For most, a youthful character presentation is deemed

visually unattractive. Chinese women preferred a more serious

pose which implied an intensity of focus which they associated

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with an integrated or well-balanced character. This value was so

strong that Chinese women overwhelmingly ranked the young-looking

male model “2C” as the least attractive.

The Chinese females interviewed agreed with a 27 year old

female’s observation that “western women are prettier than

Chinese girls due to their long nose.” Another 23 year old woman

thought Chinese girls were not as “healthy as European women who

are sexy and better looking.” Chinese females also thought a

female’s eyes convey a sense of sexiness along with height, hair

style, fashionable clothes, demeanor (fengdu), and health. A 23

year old shop assistant noted that she “assumed European women

are sexy as they are tall. Tall is sexy, unlike Chinese who are

short.” Significantly, there is no difference in responses

between 15 year old teenagers and those of 40 year old women in

views of female sexiness.

Hohhotians do not believe that valuing certain western

phenotypic features is evidence of being ashamed of one’s

culture. As one 23 year old woman noted “I have no bias. If a

westerner is ranked the highest, it is because she or she (ta) is

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the better looking [model in the sample]!” For most, this is a

straightforward acknowledgment of the “natural order of things.”

Participant Observation

For many Chinese women, Australians, Europeans, Canadians,

Americans, Japanese, and Taiwanese men form an attractive pool of

potential mates, with the western male being seen as the most

attractive. The strength of this conventional wisdom was

repeatedly demonstrated whenever I was invited into homes that

sold Amway products. I was usually asked to view a promotional

video that showed the CEO’s Texas multimillion dollar home which

always was greeted by someone announcing: “See this is how

Americans live.” My comments to the contrary were greeted with a

polite, albeit not necessarily believed, acknowledgment. In this

way, the local conventional wisdom that Caucasians, especially

those from America, are fabulously wealthy is a belief that few

people want to clarify or reject. Further evidence of this

conviction is readily found in listening to Chinese women’s

conversation about what makes for a desirable mate. In 2006, a

29 year old woman told me that she wanted a western boy friend

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(to marry) as it would “make all her friends jealous knowing she

got a westerner as a husband.” Another 29 year old women readily

admitted that “Europeans are more physically attractive than

Asians.” She added “westerners have a sexier figure with broader

shoulders and nice faces. That is quite obvious.” Concurring, a

40 year old woman noted that for her and many of her friends

westerners compared to Chinese men “are so sexy.” A recent study

conduct in Xian, a large northwest Chinese city, lends further

support to the representativeness of the above women’s comments.

The Xian women found males with “broad chests and narrow waist”

more physical attractive (Dixson et al 2007:93). Hohhotian men

are less aware of this phenotypical bias as they are of the

ethnic bias in Chinese female perception. In the summer of 2007,

young unmarried working class men (n=11) readily acknowledged

that young Chinese women (guniang) found “westerners very

attractive and wanted to marry them.” Working in southern Chinese

cities, Aihwa Ong (1999) observed Chinese women breaking off

“their marriages in order to take up relations with a foreigner”

(2006:235).

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This is not recent perception or behavior. In 1987, I

overheard Chinese female students discussing male attractiveness

in the dorm. Everyone thought western men compared to Chinese

men were more physically attractive. One female student simply

sated “Chinese men are too weak.” For this student and many of

her classmates, the change in government policies that enable

“foreigners” to visit and work in China combined with emerging

market conditions brought a new status object into town and thus

into their purview: the western or Caucasian male. No longer

regarded as an abstraction or unapproachable, the western male

was assumed to possess immense wealth, talent, and social

standing. Within this milieu, many Chinese women found the

Caucasian male not only socially attractive but also physically

attractive.

Although Chinese women retain an immense interest in

assessing a potential mate’s overall social status, it is not the

only value. This is a change from earlier eras. For example, in

my 1983 survey of Hohhotian’s mate selection criteria I found

Chinese women overwhelmingly preferred a tall male who had

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achieved or had the potential to achieve a prominent social

position. By 1987, the nascent market economy had introduced a

new criterion: income. The ability to purchase luxury products

(e.g., refrigerator, washing machine, and electronic merchandise)

had become important. In the mid 1990’s, Tang and Parish (2000)

conducted an urban study that found a shift away in mate

selection criteria and with it a de-emphasizing of material

factors in favor of personality traits. In 2006, I revisited

Hohhotian’s mate selection criteria and found strong agreement

with Tang and Parish’s survey: personality or character traits

are now voiced more readily compared to the 1980’s. It is

significant that in contemporary urban China personality traits,

emotional connections, and deep intimacy are valued qualities

women and men desire in a potential mate. Marriage is no longer

about being married but rather about being involved in an

intimate relationship (Hirsch and Wardlow 2006).

The emergence of these new values does not mean, however,

that material factors have been replaced by spiritual values. In

probing Hohhotians’ mate selection evaluations, I found young

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women tended to adopt dual criteria: one that idealized

personality traits and another than retained a strong pragmatic

interest in enhancing their material well-being. Whenever the

two values were in opposition or could not be integrated, most

women opted for the value of material well-being. The keenest of

this pragmatic strategy was aptly revealed to me when I discussed

the film Titanic with several female high school students. One

woman admitted the story was, in her words, “so romantic. The

way the poor boy fell in love and fought for his love.” But she

added, “of course, it would never have lasted—they were from

different social classes.” It was an observation everyone at the

table agreed with. For most women material and psychological

factors are not necessarily in opposition. Most women expect

they can fit together but not always automatically so.

Hohhotian women’s position toward a westerners’ physical

attractiveness is contrary to the trend found in China’s

magazines that prefer to use East Asian cover models. A

longitudinal survey (2000-2006) of magazine photos sold at street

corner kiosks found a de-emphasis on the use of western models in

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favor of Chinese or East Asian models. For example, in May 2000

I counted 20/23 of the magazine cover models featured a European

male or female. In the winter of 2002 the proportion had dropped

(18/64) dramatically of the magazine covers featuring a Caucasian

model. By July 2005 only 10/72 displayed a Caucasian cover

model. To identify the representativeness of this pattern, the

study was expanded to include a survey of advertisement photo

displays in three large Hohhot department stores. Of the

advertisement photos in the cosmetic section (usually on the

first floor), 28/56 were East Asian. The models on the other

department stores, however, were overwhelmingly Caucasian

(58/60). Presumably, Caucasian models continue to be associated

with modernity and technological progress. Significantly, the

association of “Caucasianness” but not “whiteness” is less

important for selling cosmetic products.

In exploring some of the meaning of male sexual attraction,

Chinese males thought that a man’s “clothes made his sexy.” In

addition, males thought sexiness (xinggan) could be conveyed in

body posture or posture that conveyed a sense of confidence which

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implies higher social standing. In evaluating a female’s

relative sexiness there was disagreement concerning the

relationship between skin exposed and “sexiness.” Some men,

reflecting attitudes common in imperial China, thought that it

was not that sexy, while other men stressed the amount of skin

exposed enhanced a woman’s sex appeal. Chinese males also stress

that a woman’s smile, eyes, and lips were also indicators of

sexiness. In the case of female lips: the more open the lips the

more suggestive the sexual invitation. A 22 year old male noted

that “sexiness is found in the way a woman looks at you.”

Another young male admitted that “it is her eyes—the way they are

focused on you. Her eyes say ‘come here! I want (i.e., sexually)

you!’.” Still another 25 year old man thought sexiness had an

eroticized spiritual component. He noted that sexy was something

that “makes you want to fuck, to masturbate, and entice you from

your penis to your soul.” Significantly, the heightened value

given to sexual desire has not resulted in the fetishization of

the Caucasian over the Asian female. In fact, the opposite

occurred: Chinese men were adamant in their appreciation and

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sexual interest in the Chinese female, a point illustrated when a

Chinese youth who had always wanted to look at Playboy magazine

returned it to his American friend with the comment “It is not

that interesting as it has no Asian women in it.”

In 1983, Jankowiak showed several Vogue magazines to

friends in Hohhot, and pointed out that the cover models were

beautiful. His Chinese friends were astonished and disagreed by

replying—“If you like American women.” Another Chinese male

noted that he did not find “the picture pleasing.” Because

Jankowiak had often listened to them discuss positively American

females’ relative physical attractiveness, he was puzzled at

their reaction. He later realized that it stemmed from their

unfamiliarity with women wearing cosmetics. For example,

Hohhotians considered the Vogue models who wore scarlet lipstick,

dark eye liner, and reddish facial powder to be odd, garish, and,

thus, aesthetically displeasing. By the 1990’s, however, urban

Chinese have become familiar with women wearing makeup, a pattern

vividly revealed in my observation that almost every middle-aged

and younger women in Chengdu and Hohhot were wearing lipstick in

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public. In this new context, present day Hohhotian Chinese males

perceive western women to be just as physically attractive as

Chinese women. An attitude expressed by a 34 year old male

admitted “if they look good who cares what their nationality is.”

Discussion

Hohhotian and Chenguian men and women do hold a bias that favors

the Caucasian phenotypic male over the female, with Chinese

females extending that bias favoring Caucasian females. There is

no aesthetic bias, however, in Chinese males’ preference for the

Caucasian female over the Asian female. As sided from those

societies that have a well institutionalized racial hierarchy

that idealized the western or “white” women over local women of

color (Hoetink 1967; Jones 2000), women from any ethnic group,

are more often than not, perceived to be of sexual value, if not

also of equal aesthetic valued. Our finding when taken in

combination with emic reports and participant observation,

findings best support the evolutionarily-derived hypotheses based

on hypergyny and male openness to partner variety. This is not to

deny that other somatic factors (e.g. broad shoulders, tallness,

32

phenotypical averaging) can not also influence an individual’s

perception and, thus, evaluation of relative physical

attractiveness. Nonetheless, our emic and participant observation

data clearly indicate support for the hypergyny hypothesis too.

Our results do not support Lousia Schien’s widely cited

(Nagel 2003) position that there is no aesthetic bias or

preference for the Caucasian phenotype or, in her words,

“whiteness.” Rather, Chinese men and women favor Caucasian male

phenotypes, and Chinese women further favor Caucasian female

models. The grounds for these biases do not necessarily reflect

cultural hegemony since results seem best accounted for by

evolutionary-based, individual-choice perspectives on which we

further elaborate.

Chinese female assessments of male physical attractiveness

appear to make sense from the standpoint of adaptive mate choice.

Chinese women view Caucasian males as wealthy, and this presumed

wealth makes them attractive. Emic evidence strongly supports

this assertion. Other lines of evidence are consistent with this

view too; for example, several web dating and marriage sites

33

feature Chinese women wanting to marry a man who is financially

well off and living in a country other than China. This chain of

thought is consistent with the findings reviewed in the

introduction that women tend to value male status and resources

in prospective mates, and thus gives rise to a form of desired

hypergyny. And it is consistent with every mate selection survey

conducted on the Chinese mainland (Jankowiak 1993; Parish and

Whyte 1984, as well as cross-cultural research see Jones

2000:138-139).

Such views may also account for why Chinese males rank

Caucasian male models as more attractive than Asian ones: Chinese

males may be giving their rankings based on what their

perceptions of Chinese women’s views of attractiveness. In other

words, if Chinese men assume that Chinese women believe that

Caucasian men are wealthy and attractive, then Chinese men will

also express a bias toward Caucasian male models.

Apart from these broad strokes, results of this study show

that Chinese female views of physical attraction are context-

dependent. There was variation across the Asian and Caucasian

34

male models on which women commented and that affected rankings.

For example, women ranked lower the shadowy Caucasian model than

other Asian male models on the basis of assessments of negative

character. So while Caucasian male models may be more

attractive, all else being equal, a shadowy one like this image

provides a notable exception to the overall pattern. This

interpretation is also consistent with Constable’s (2003)

research showing that Chinese and Filipino women used multi-

faceted criteria in selecting a western or local mate.

Preferring a long-term mate may account for the lower

ranking of the youngish highly playful male who was thought to be

immature. Unlike South Korean women, who prefer images of

immature young men who have a “pretty face with big eyes and fair

skin and a moderately masculine body” (Flower 2005: B1). It is a

criteria shared by young Japanese women ( Miller 2006:126-158).

In contrast, Chinese women are adamant in their rejection of

immature males. Chinese women preferred a more serious pose

which implied an intensity of focus which they viewed as

associated with an integrated or well-balanced character. Since

35

China remains a rapidly modernizing country where most of its

population continue to live economically modest lives, it is

reasonable to assume that women’s material realities would impact

their evaluation of a man’s relative physical/sexual

attractiveness (and age would be an important cue in this

regard).

The power of context to shape Chinese aesthetic judgment is

further revealed in a smaller restudy conducted in Hohhot in

2006. Using a different set of photographs of three male

Caucasian and three Chinese males Jankowiak asked 17 women to

rank and discuss reasons for the ranking. In his haste to doing

the study unknowingly Jankowiak selected three photos of well-

known Chinese male actors or entertainers. This fact did not

influence, however, the judgments of women over forty years of

age whose ranking replicated the earlier study and, thus, all the

Caucasians were considered to be more physically attractive.

However, the same photo set was shown to shop assistants in their

20’s. Eight of 11 (or 73 percent) ranked the Chinese males as

the more physically attractive! When he inquired why, everyone

36

readily commented that the Chinese males were famous and that

they liked them. For example, two shop assistants showed him

copies of the male performers’ new CD album or DVD film. The

forty-something cohort was unaware of the younger Chinese males’

identity and thus ranked them as strangers, whereas the younger

female cohort recognized and admired the male performers. This

smaller 2006 restudy of physical attractiveness lends further

support to the interpretation that women’s preferences are highly

contextualized.

How can Chinese female biases toward Caucasian female models

over Asian models be explained? This bias does not fit within a

hypergyny account; instead, at first glance it appears to support

cultural hegemony. Emic accounts suggest Chinese women view as

more attractive Caucasian facial features and height. Other

lines of evidence point in similar directions: China has a

growing plastic surgery industry that does rhinoplasty to produce

a more angular or western nose, breast augmentation, and

operations to remove epicanthal eyelid fold. Yet the studies of

magazine covers and advertisements suggest a more mixed story.

37

Magazine covers show a rapidly increasing use of Asian models,

albeit many with surgically reconstructed angular noses, at

expense to Caucasian ones, but in department store advertisements

Caucasian models remained common outside of the cosmetics

section. All of this may lend mixed support to a view of

Caucasian cultural hegemony ( Luo, Parish and Laumann 2005;also

see Miller 2006 for diffusionary discussion on Japanese

aesthetics).

Another view is that Chinese women are expressing

preferences that include Caucasian female models not because of

external, top-down sociocultural forces, but because these women

also associate Caucasian models with correlates of modernism,

wealth, and other desirable characteristics—a more individual-

and agency-based interpretation. Consistent with this latter

view, Schien (1994), Adrian (2003), and Brownell (N.D.) point out

that the Chinese do not believe their culture or the “Chinese are

an inferior race” (Zhao 2004). In particular, Taiwanese,

Beijingers, and Chenguians do not believe that valuing certain

western phenotypic features is evidence of being ashamed of one’s

38

culture. As Constable (2003: 30) put it, “[W]omen are not pawns

of global forces but shrewd [in their calculations] about

[life’s] possibilities.”

Chinese males’ indifference to Asian or Caucasian female

models also speaks against a strict cultural hegemony view. If

cultural hegemony were the full story, we would expect Chinese

men to prefer Caucasian female models, but they did not. If

anything, longitudinal participant observation suggests that

Caucasian models might have been somewhat biased against in past

decades (the exotic stranger, especially when depicted with

strange cosmetics), but that they have more recently been folded

into the social scope of Chinese life. An influx of media

exposure has led to an increase in transnational interaction and

associations. Caucasian “foreigners” are no longer an

abstraction but have been made tangible through daily

interaction. As a result, Chinese men may find Caucasian females

as less abstract, and in turn express an openness to partner

variety that incorporates both Caucasian and Asian females. Taken

together, we concur with Doug Jones observation that skin “color,

39

averageness, and status markers are all components of

attractiveness” (2000:139). Our study finds, however, that there

is sex differences in the way these three components are weighted

and thus valued.

While results of this study are consistent with arguments

laid out above, they are also subject to limitations. The sample

size of 74 participants is modest, though not greatly different

from most other studies of physical attractiveness (e.g., a 1998

Nature study with 56 subjects). The magazine photos used in

ranking procedures were less standardized though potentially more

ecologically relevant than other methods based on computer-based

facial morphing techniques. Emic accounts may be useful, but

researchers point out that we cannot always believe what people

say. For example, participants may give answers they think a

Caucasian male ethnographer might want to hear. Current

neuroscience also indicates that people can be self-deceived

about their own biases! We feel that the combination of

quantitative and qualitative methods employed in the field by a

long-time culturally fluent ethnographer (Jankowiak) attenuates

40

some of these possible problems, though of course still urge the

appropriate cautions.

Results of this study raise questions for future research.

As China continues to prosper economically, we suspect there will

be greater variation in associating a specific phenotype with

wealth. We predict that perceptions of attractiveness of Chinese

females living in more affluent regions (e.g., Guangzhou,

Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong) will differ from those held by

women in less affluent cities like Chengdu and Hohhot. In an

international perspective, comparison of our findings with East

Asian perceptions of physical attractiveness according to

ethnicity should reveal interesting contrasts; for example, Kaw

(2003), focusing on the U.S., argues that Asian American females’

preference for cosmetic surgery is evidence of an implicit

American racial ideology that holds the Asian phenotype inferior

to the European one. Lastly, it is our anecdotal impression from

experience in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere

that similar issues addressed in this study (e.g., cultural

hegemony, preferring similar or different phenotypes, hypergyny)

41

can be addressed in many contexts of global social change, and we

argue for the utility of evolutionary-based hypothesis testing in

such cases.

Endnotes:

1) We would like to thank the following people for their

encouragement, suggestions, and assistance: Donald Brown, Susan

Brownell, Dan Benyshek, Carol Ember, Vanessa Fong, Andy Kipnis,

Libby Hinson, Amber Joiner, Cynthia Khalba, Kam Louie; James

Mackenzie, Gordon Matthews, Jeff Parkin, Ben Orlove, Jennifer

Thompson, Robert Quinlan, Marsha Quinlan, and two anonymous

reviewers.

2) Evolutionary psychologists have yet to investigate the factors

that impact the bifurcation between relative physical

attractiveness and relative sexiness.

3) Men were noticeably more uncomfortable in ranking men in terms

of sexiness (xing gan). In the 1980's it was common for male to be

in physical contact with one another. However, by 2000 it was

increasing rare to find Chinese men physical touching as in

holding hands. This was not so for women who continue to hold

42

hands or drape arms around each other shoulder. Clearly, there

has been a more pronounce shift in favor of coupleness, erotic,

and emotional intimacy. We suspect this shift has had a

corresponding impact on the way males, but not necessarily

females, evaluate male/male physical interaction.

4) Our finding suggests that Gladney’s influential analysis of

the erotization of minority females as an index of social

inferiority may be over stated. It may not even have been a

primary means to foster what Gladney calls (the homogenization

of Han identity). This does not mean the Han Chinese did not

regard its minority populations as socially backward and

inferior. They most certainly did so. However, Gladney may be

mistaken when he asserts that because minority women were

perceived as sexy this meant that the Han thought of their women

as sexually chaste, albeit physical beautiful. Gladney’s analysis

focused only on the relationship between ethnicity and erotic

display of females in film and magazines. He did not discuss

whether Han males also considered Han females equal to or more

physically attractive than minority females, nor did he examine

43

whether Han male and female perceived Han females as equally sexy

compared to minority females, it is difficult to know for sure.

Our findings do suggest an alternative explanation for Han

Chinese perception that some southern minority women were sexy

and physically beautiful. If minority women were regarded as

equally physically beautiful to Han women, then they may have

been also perceived as desirable long term mates (certainly that

was the perception Han had of Mongolian women in Inner Mongolia)

and, thus, in the realm of marriage and family, social equals.

Today, the distinction is moot. By the 1990's the Chinese erotic

impulse has expanded and is now projected, regardless of

ethnicity, onto everyone. The ethnic discrepancy between the

(sexually conservative) Han female and the (sexually open)

minority female has vanished from the Chinese landscape. The Han

continue to distinguish themselves from ethnic minorities. As in

the past, they use differences in language and custom to create

and (we verse us) dichotomy.

5) Louisa Schein (1994) argued that by the mid-1990's urban

Chinese women were no longer fetishizing the westerner and, thus,

44

(whiteness) was no longer, if it ever had been, a core aesthetic

value. Bonnie Adrian (2003) found a similar trend in Taipei,

Taiwan. Adrian believes there has been a blending of Asian and

Western phenotypical aesthetic characteristics. Although

(whiteness) or Euro-American models are prominently featured in

Taiwanese and mainland magazines, does not mean, she points out,

that a westernization in aesthetics has taken place. To the

contrary, China has a long pre-colonial history in which fair

skin women were highly valued.. Nonetheless, Susan Brownell

(n.d.) points out that the Chinese interest in cosmetic surgery

to enhance breast size, eye fold deletion, and nose shape are

clear signs that Chinese women have embracement some aspects of

western aesthetics. Adrian is also aware of this, but believes

China’s cultural framework is sufficiently vibrant to redefine or

blend western( images into a local framework of relative

significance (Adrian 2003:244). From this perspective,

contemporary Chinese aesthetics is a byproduct of larger

globalizing processes and, thus, should be viewed as something

the people ( wish to absorb rather than something foisted upon

45

them) (Adrian 2003:155). In this way, the Taiwanese and by

extension the mainlanders (appropriation of images of white

women may be seen as colonizing these images, not only as being

colonized by them) (Adrian 2003:155). In effect, if people

consciously choose an object, there can be no cultural

domination.

In focusing on the transformation of Chinese women’s

aesthetic perceptions, the above researchers have overlooked

globalizing forces impacted on men’s aesthetic framework

(Jankowiak 2006; 1999a, 1993). If women have incorporated certain

western aesthetic features into their own cognitive framework, it

can be assumed that males have also. This assumption remains

unexamined. It is an assertion that has not been systematically

documented, refuted, or modified. Our study was designed to

address this gap in the literature.

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