My first thought was that maybe the Chinese culture idealizes whiter skin because of western influence, but then I remembered Mulan (one of my favorite Disney movies, and honestly one of the reasons why I picked to come to China instead of the other options…) and how the women put white powder on their faces to look more “beautiful” and I realized that although western influence and media may have something to do with the desire to have lighter skin in modern-day China, that’s definitely not the main reason; it goes deeper than that and has much older roots. The reason is likely because a long time ago (well, even today to some extent) darker skin was indicative of working long hours in the sun (working class) and lighter skin was indicative of not having to work out in the sun (upper class/nobility). In the United States, the situation is similar with some African Americans. Since I’m so light-skinned, this conversation has come up many times with my African American friends, but similar to the Chinese, many African Americans (although not all) tend to favor lighter skin, limiting time outside in the sun or wearing long sleeves even when it’s hot. This is not the case across the board, but I have noticed it to be true for many of my friends that have dark skin, not wanting to get too much darker and this may have similar roots to the Chinese, going back to darker skin meaning more time working out in the sun and lighter skin meaning less/no time laboring in the sun. (For Dr. Ivonne: This is an example of ANALYTIC COMPETENCY because I was seeking to understand the central beliefs and values that the Chinese have about beauty and where that came from and compared that to our culture in the United States, with respect to some African Americans and skin tone).