In striking contrast, one must consider how deeply embedded the notion of paleness being beautiful and refined is embedded in Chinese culture. Every historical beauty, certainly each one of the Four Great Beauties, was graced with porcelain-like skin. Royal Consort Yang Guifei might have been a bit chubby by our standards, but no one can deny that she was pale! In Louis Cha's (Jin Yong) martial arts novels, all important female characters, particularly the hero's main love interest, possess skin that is as white and pure as snow. Having a population that grew up with these stories and ideals of beauty, it is not hard to fathom why the whitening rage caught on like fire in China as soon as the right scientific advances were made and consumer products with bleaching properties were made available to the masses. In English, "tan" is a neutral word-possessing neither a negative nor positive connotation. It is simply a color. But whitening in the Chinese language retains a positive connotation, literally translating to "beautiful white." What a difference!

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