Chinese philosophy of beauty
Hairstyle
Besides eyebrows, the ancient beauties stress paid attention to their hair. There are many records about the hairstyle of women. The ancient beauties usually adorned their buns with flowers and hairpins.
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Fragrance
In traditional Chinese life, fragrance was used everywhere. Ancient people used natural spices such as rose flowers to let their daily life and their bodies send forth a fragrant odor of nature. Fragrant bibs (diamond-shaped cloth worn over the chest and abdomen and attached by a loop round the neck and strings fastened behind the back) were a popular thing during that time, which was filled with natural spices inside. When wearing it, the whole body would send forth the fragrance of flowers and plants.
Learning Ancient Face-Painting from the Ancients
This kind of box is used for containing the toilet sets, which were also called “trousseaux.” The culture of trousseaux can be traced back to the Neolithic Age (the cultural period beginning around 10,000 B.C.). In 1942, the Qijiaping (a place) of Gansu Province a bronze mirror that had a history of 4,000 years was unearthed, and is considered the earliest toilet set. An ivory comb dating back 5,000 years was also excavated at the ruins of Dawenkou of Shandong Province.
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Cosmetic Powder
Chinese women have had a custom of using cosmetic powder for face-painting since the period of the Warring States (475-221 B.C.). The original cosmetic powder was made of rice, and it was used to adorn the face.
The simple steps of making cosmetic powder are like this: First, put the rice into the water, and 10 days later, get it out and mill it into rice slurry, and then let the rice slurry settle for a while. When the water and rice slurry are separated, pour out the water, and when the moisture is totally evaporated, scrape the crude powder on the surface with the bamboo piece. The powder on the bottom is the finished product.
Later, the ancients began to make cosmetic powder with pearls and expensive spices. They not only paid attention to the materials but also put an emphasis on the packaging.
The cosmetic powder of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), which was unearthed in Fuzhou of Fujian Province, was packed most uniquely. Some had been pressed into specific shapes, such as squares, and some were pressed with the decorative patterns of plum flowers, orchids and water lilies.
There is a standard of Chinese beauty: be beautiful without and intelligent within. That is to say, as a beauty, a woman must be both pretty and bright. A perfect face is not enough; it must be accompanied by a bright brain. Queen Yangguifei (the queen of King Li Longji in Tang Dynasty) was deeply loved by King Li Longji, not only for her beauty, but also for her talent for music and dance.
