|
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. So, when the winner of a beauty pageant fails to win approval from the public, I don't see anything abnormal about it. For one thing, the jury panel may not represent the broad tastes of the populace. What I found disgusting was the mean spirit that goes with the disapproval. I don't know how to phrase it euphemistically, but the news of Chinese-American Arianna Quan being crowned Miss Michigan for 2016 was not met with applause in the country of her birth. Judging from online feedback, Chinese netizens did not agree with the pageant judges, to say the least. Well, it's not that they believe other contestants were more qualified than Quan, but that she is "so darn ugly". "She would not have a chance even at the first round had it been a Chinese competition," went one of the more polite postings. Another was less benign: "She's so ugly I wept. Is this some kind of scheme to denigrate ethnic Chinese?" Most said they could not believe she is only 23. They put her age at 43, 53 or even 63. "It shows how capitalist America quickens the ageing process," said someone who seemed to flaunt his sarcasm. I lived in the US for more than a dozen years, so I am accustomed to the widely diverging standards that East and West apply to Asian femininity. It is very real. I once saw a billboard on a Beijing street for a giant American company. It featured three Asian women. I told my friend that it must have been designed in New York without being vetted by its Chinese subsidiary. It would never achieve its obvious goal of endearing the brand to Chinese women. | 
