By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Is elegance and beauty not important as you get old?
From experience I've seen very few really elegant old Chinese women since I've been in China. Especially compared to Europe, it's actually very very striking.
Is it just a question of money (I live in Beijing, so it's not like everyone's broke - people have money here), or do Chinese not value elegance and beauty as much once they get older?
In China old is respect. That is basically the only thing you need to be respected. Elegance and beauty are always second even with younger Chinese people. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but it is the philosophy of Confucius that dictates how people are treated when they age. Why would they bother being anything else if everyone treats them like they have achieved something great just for being old.
nevermind:
I don't know where the hell you're from, but where I grew up we were taught to respect our elders. I often can't believe it when I see Chinese kids not offering seats on the subway to old people. Astonishing. People in the west don't act elegant because they are trying to get resepct, it's because that's how they were raised. You can't just turn on the elegance.
I think it's because they grew up in a different time. The 50s and 60s in Europe were pretty swinging. War was over, economy began to pick up. People had money and wanted to have fun. Along the way they learned things like style and about food and such.
Meanwhile China was starving at that time. Do you think the old people here give a crap about elegance? They survived the Great Leap Forward. They don't have to prove anything to anyone!
Sora:
It's not just the grandmas. Even the the women in their 40s and 50s haven't a clue what refinement means.
I call it the puppy or reverse ugly duckling...
The Chinese are real cute when they are little and doubt few would disagree on how nice the young Chinese ladies look. But when they approach midlife, it's almost an overnight change where they look like an old dog.
Yah they get kinda plump, frumpy and dumpy as they age, they also revert into the men(their habits do anyway) nose picking, spitting, yelling, all the nasty stuff.... Remember though in fairness they don't do hormonal therapy here so most of the old birds are in menopause and are mentally drifting around in Crazytown... Western women are indeed more elegant (this includes Chinese women living in the west I've seen many and they're classy!)
A little evil:
