The explosion of online dating in China means that many people send photos of themselves to strangers online. A boy who was looking for a girlfriend once showed me photos two girls had sent him via his cell phone. One girl had sent him carefully posed and extensively edited photos which looked like the contrived and artificial models in clothing ads, but which he found impressive. I guess it's quite common for people to heavily edit photos of themselves. The standard of female beauty in China is fairly standard in Asia. Long hair that's either black or dyed, a matchstick body with no muscles and pale skin. It's much the same for boys, except for the hairdos.

I get bored when everyone tries to conform to the same standard of beauty and wears the same kind of clothes. After a while, no one stands out and because it's all about packaging, it's too shallow. When people are ok about looking different, at least you might suspect there's more underneath. Most people aren't naturally pretty, let's face it. Obviously, prettiness is an advantage. But it's too bad when a pretty person doesn't have anything beneath. Prettiness doesn't last long. When it's gone, there ought to be something left.

The author is a semi-retired American physician and medical/science writer who lives in New Orleans, in the southeastern USA. She spent 2012-2013 teaching at a college in Lianyungang, Jiangsu.

The original blog is here: http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-1303276-14708.html