Beach Essentials in China: Flip-Flops, a Towel and a Ski Mask

Ray

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Beach Essentials in China: Flip-Flops, a Towel and a Ski Mask


On the beach in Qingdao, China, a risk of being confused with Subcommander Marcos is a small price to pay for sun protection.

QINGDAO, China — It was enough to make a trio of heavily tattooed young men stop their playful splashing and to prompt a small boy to run to his mother in alarm: a woman rising out of the choppy waves of the sea, her head wrapped in a neon-orange ski mask.

As she made her way toward the shore, more people stared. A man floating in a yellow inner tube nudged his female companion, who muttered the question many others must have been asking themselves: "Why is she wearing that?"

"I'm afraid of getting dark," said the mask-wearer, Yao Wenhua, 58, upon emerging from the seaweed-choked waters of this seaside city in China's eastern Shandong Province. Eager to show why she sacrificed fashion for function, Ms. Yao, a retired bus driver, peeled the nylon over her forehead to reveal a pale, unwrinkled face.

"A woman should always have fair skin," she said proudly. "Otherwise people will think you're a peasant."

For legions of middle-class Chinese women — and for those who aspire to their ranks — solar protection is practically a fetish, complete with its own gear. This booming industry caters to a culture that prizes a pallid complexion as a traditional sign of feminine beauty unscathed by the indignities of manual labor. There is even an idiom, which women young and old know by heart: "Fair skin conceals a thousand flaws."

With the pursuit of that age-old aesthetic ideal at odds with the fast-growing interest in beachgoing and other outdoor activities, Chinese women have come up with a variety of ways to reconcile the two. Face masks like Ms. Yao's have taken this popular beach town by storm. In cities, the summertime parasol is a more familiar accouterment, many adorned with rhinestones, lace or sequins (and sometimes all three). Those who need both hands free are fond of the tinted face shield, the perfect accessory for riding a bike — or welding. The fashion-conscious favor a chiffon scarf draped over the face.

What about arms exposed to the sun's tanning rays? A search on China's equivalent of Amazon yielded 20,000 results for "sun protection gloves." These varied from form-fitting leopard-print sleeves that end at the wrist to arm-length gloves made of black lace.

Meanwhile, drugstore shelves across China bulge with rows of creams and cosmetic masks with names like White Swan and Snow White, promising a natural-looking aristocratic hue.


On a recent afternoon at Qingdao No. 1 Beach, the sand and surf were thronged. Beside the rows of orange beach umbrellas, people had erected dozens of camping tents, ignoring the amplified announcements that prohibited their use. Others made shelters out of multiple umbrellas or just piled on layers of fabric.

South Beach this was not. Some middle-age men chain-smoked in the shallows, their ample bellies bulging over diminutive Speedos. Under the watchful eyes of their parents, naked children built sand castles and relieved themselves in the moats. Older people were enjoying the sand, too, some using it to playfully bury their friends.

Few adults were entirely comfortable swimming in the ocean, judging by the ubiquity of inflatable armbands, inner tubes and rafts. Floating among them, looking like a flock of colorful waterfowl, were a number of women in masks. Some had even donned wet suits for total sun protection.

The masks, a relatively new product made of stretchy fabric commonly used in bathing suits, elicited a range of reactions from beachgoers.

"That is way over the top," said Sun Li, 43, a gynecologist from Henan Province, when asked about the face masks. But Ms. Sun herself sat under an umbrella wearing a sun hat, sunglasses, a polka-dot surgical mask, a long-sleeve shirt and lace gloves. A shirt was draped over her legs for good measure.

Nearby, Li Benye lay on newspaper, shaded by twin parasols. Despite her commitment to paleness, she found the masks mystifying.

"They're foreigners, right?" she asked. "Russians, most likely."

While fair skin is prized across Asia, the women were, in fact, Chinese. The masks not only made them impervious to ultraviolet rays but also self-consciousness.

"Does it look like I care what people think?" bellowed Su Ailing, 57, clad in a red mask, blue goggles and a wetsuit. "The tourists dress skimpy, but we locals know how to protect our skin."

The masks are a specialty of Qingdao, a German colony before World War I that is home to the Tsingtao Brewery. A few weeks ago, photographs of local women wearing such attire spread widely on the Internet, setting off mockery online but also a run on nearby shops.

"I just had to have one," said Liu Jia, 32, the whites of her eyes gleaming through the holes of a pink mask, which matched the polka-dot sarong tied around her shoulders. Finding the item, she said, had proved arduous, with many store owners refusing to admit they had masks in stock. "I had to beg and plead," she said.

The sudden scarcity, it turns out, may not have been a simple case of demand outrunning supply. After the photographs caught the attention of the nation, the local government ordered businesses to stop selling them, according to several shop owners, who said they were told the ban was due to concerns over "quality control."

One seller, who declined to be identified for fear of angering the authorities, kept her supply of masks hidden under the counter. Only after repeated requests and vows of secrecy did she agree to part with one for 20 renminbi, about $3. "I don't understand why the government is doing this," she said, glancing nervously at the front door. "People just don't want to get tan."

Reached by phone, the Qingdao Administration for Industry and Commerce denied playing the role of fashion police. "Anybody who wants one is free to buy it in Qingdao," said a man who gave his name as Director He.

So what explains the skittishness of so many proprietors? "The only reason why people think they shouldn't be selling masks," he replied, "is probably because they're afraid thugs might use them for robbing banks."

Shi Da contributed research.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/w...-protection-can-include-a-mask.html?ref=china
So notwithstanding disparaging comments from some quarters about Fair and Lovely, the Chinese women too are white conscious and imagine to what lengths they go!

Absolutely outer space alien like!
 

Predator

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al-qaeda mask

be prepared the woman may behead you
 

Tolaha

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A few of our Chinese posters (our experts on Indian matters) need to spend some time to understand China better! :taunt:

One of them had also suggested that China will be a developed country but India or Africa wont, because unlike us, they are a white race! Basically he/she was trying to place China in the same category as that of Japan, US and Europe!
 

Bangalorean

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I think Chinese (and East Asian) girls look pretty in their natural skin. I would hate to see an East Asian girl with artificial white skin. Most Western men I know, agree with me. Someone tell that to the women. Silly complexes.
 

Ray

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A few of our Chinese posters (our experts on Indian matters) need to spend some time to understand China better! :taunt:

One of them had also suggested that China will be a developed country but India or Africa wont, because unlike us, they are a white race! Basically he/she was trying to place China in the same category as that of Japan, US and Europe!
But they are known as the 'yellow' race.

In the English lexicon 'yellow' is not a very nice word!
 

Scalieback

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But they are known as the 'yellow' race.

In the English lexicon 'yellow' is not a very nice word!
More an 'Americanism' than Brit. It does get used, but rarely compared to how often the Americans use it to denote cowardice.
 

Ray

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More an 'Americanism' than Brit. It does get used, but rarely compared to how often the Americans use it to denote cowardice.
True.

But then, one wonders why the British has forsaken their own language and use Americanism.

Check my anguish on your forum which I shared with Stonker!
 

Scalieback

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True.

But then, one wonders why the British has forsaken their own language and use Americanism.

Check my anguish on your forum which I shared with Stonker!
It's our origin language, albeit a mixture of German and French origin languages etc but we don't have the sole rights to it. No more than the Americans, aussies, NZ's, Canadians etc.

Everyone's free to 'anglicise' their own language to make it more internationally recognised :)

We don't speak like this anymore: The lady doth protest too much, methinks. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
 

huaxia rox

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compared to these.....nothing:BBC News - Has skin whitening in India gone too far?
The Indian obsession with fairer skin sinks to a new low

'THE Indian obsession with fair skin has always been a distasteful phenomenon. The fairness cream industry is gigantic, with men as well as women lathering these silly potions on their faces to make their skin a few shades lighter.
Pregnant women in rural areas believe they will give birth to light-skinned babies if they consume lots of ''white'' dairy products such as milk, cream, yoghurt, and butter. Dark models and actresses struggle for work as their skin isn't regarded as desirable....................'
 

ani82v

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compared to these.....nothing:BBC News - Has skin whitening in India gone too far?
The Indian obsession with fairer skin sinks to a new low

'THE Indian obsession with fair skin has always been a distasteful phenomenon. The fairness cream industry is gigantic, with men as well as women lathering these silly potions on their faces to make their skin a few shades lighter.
Pregnant women in rural areas believe they will give birth to light-skinned babies if they consume lots of ''white'' dairy products such as milk, cream, yoghurt, and butter. Dark models and actresses struggle for work as their skin isn't regarded as desirable....................'
I think this one sums it up pretty well.


"A woman should always have fair skin," she said proudly. "Otherwise people will think you're a peasant."
 

tony4562

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Ski-mask at a beach resort may sound funny, but one thing most people agree upon (chinese, indian, the so-called whites and surprisingly blacks too) is that being-dark sucks big time.
 

Tolaha

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Ski-mask at a beach resort may sound funny, but one thing most people agree upon (chinese, indian, the so-called whites and surprisingly blacks too) is that being-dark sucks big time.
The Yellow Racist Rises!
 

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