“The facial features are rough and he pretends to be a lot!” The men were shown photos of famous beauties that all women want to be like. And this is how they rated them. Who do Chinese women want to be like? Reflections of Dmitry Kosyrev Who do girls want to be like?

Why is Asia covered in fashion for European faces?

Dmitry Kosyrev

This 29-year-old Shanghai resident has undergone 20 plastic surgeries worth approximately $123,000. She was called to answer on local television, where she was asked what she had improved. It turned out: the jaw, nose, lips, and the folds of the eyelids were also changing. Now she plans to grow up, to do this she will break the bones of her ankles (in the clinic, of course) and insert implants there. But our heroine has problems because her own mother threatens to abandon her if she doesn’t stop.

It is difficult to calculate from the Chinese media how many Chinese women are now improving their appearance. Although we are clearly talking about an epidemic, about countless thousands of women and even men, about an entire sector of the economy that is significantly increasing Chinese GDP. Or about tens of thousands? Any figures from China are always pleasing in their scale. But the point is not in numbers, but in essence: why do they need this?

There are two answers, and both have become the object of powerless propaganda efforts by adherents of “traditional Chinese values.” First answer: all Chinese women want to be like movie star Fan Bingbing.

Let's enjoy the style of journalism of these very zealots. They explain to the foolish girls that Fan herself spent years making her way to her star status, playing the most modest roles; that the work of an actress is bitter, that it is stupid to hope to change your life by becoming like someone else... Something familiar, isn’t it, true, but hopelessly wretched and dull.

Now it will become even more familiar. Because, it turns out, there is another reason for the plastic surgery mania of Chinese women. In relation to Fan Bingbing, it was initially believed that she had a typical “maid’s face”, a girl from the people, who was therefore adored by the socially oppressed part of the public. And later it turned out that her appearance had another secret: she had changed. Something in this face began to hint at European features - okay, still a long, sharp chin, but the eyes were somehow too wide open. And there was also a strange exotic darkness.

So, the epidemic has a second feature. "Having a European face is necessary to get a job in today's Shanghai; but is being white a symbol of modernity and prosperity?" Quote from the author's material in the Global Times magazine. Shanghai, we note, has long served as a trendsetter in China, and then the whole country follows suit.

Well, then the author said everything you expect from him. Old, good, Soviet. China's globalization, which began in the 1980s, he says, has always been framed as modernization with Chinese characteristics; and where are the features? Everything made in China is not fashionable among the inhabitants of Shanghai, although it is bought by people in the revered West. What is happening is a failure of China's soft power within its own borders. Finally, star Fan is also personally to blame, since there are rumors that she herself underwent plastic surgery, that is, she became the source of an epidemic of “slightly European appearance,” although she stubbornly denies this.

And of course, of course, there was some reference to hoary antiquity. During the Tang Dynasty (7th-10th centuries AD), one of the most glorious eras in Chinese history, it was considered normal for women to have fair skin, small eyes and a round face, the publicist jealously reminds. And now it's the other way around.

Zealots of antiquity and haters of everything foreign are classic characters for all civilizations. And just as classic is their ignorance of their own history.

So, the Tang Dynasty, the golden age of Chinese civilization. Yes, those with fair skin, a round face and small eyes, as well as a fat belly and other parts of the body were considered beauties. The fact was that among the then ruling Li imperial family, thickness was a genetic difference, like the specific lower lip of the Habsburg dynasty.

But just during the Tang era, the entire Chinese elite, and with it the rest of the population, were crazy about everything Western. Western music (still preserved in the form of Chinese traditional classics) and related instruments. Western food and wine. Western dances, and with them, star dancers. Western clothing (an album of drawings of what people wore in that era looks like pictures from Mars, especially regarding the wildest cap-shaped headdresses). Western style of riding, along with Western, incredibly fashionable and expensive breeds of horses...

True, the then Chinese West is what is today called Central Asia (which is logical, since the European West in its current understanding did not exist at that moment, and the fashion for India in China, although it was brought with Buddhism, did not enter into everyday life) .

But one way or another, it was during the Tang period that we see the maximum borrowing from abroad of fashion in all spheres of everyday life in the entire Chinese history. There were such periods later. And most of all, in the last century, when the Chinese vied with each other to abandon their everyday culture and adopt Western culture, they surrendered to Christianity (at first) and communism (later).

Let's mention the Japanese fashion that broke out a couple of decades ago for skin whitening and eye surgery to look a little more European. The Chinese are simply repeating this Japanese experience today. Although what is much more interesting is what is happening in another Asian country - Thailand. Remember, we talked about the fact that in the capital of Chinese fashion - Shanghai, in order to get a prestigious job, a woman needs to look European, but not completely, but a little bit?

So, in Thailand, in order to occupy a particularly prestigious place in society, one must not look, but be “a little European.” That is, mixed blood. I know this from my Russian friend, married to a Lao woman and living in Bangkok: his daughters belong to a kind of semi-European club, which is considered very prestigious. They are envied. Such people not only get places in modeling agencies, they generally find it easier to get prestigious jobs. Well, kind of like the European-looking Shanghainese. And this despite the fact that there is no respect for pure Westerners in Thailand; “farangs” are considered funny and clumsy creatures there.

It is easy to see that we are talking about the three most pronounced Asian civilizations - Chinese, Japanese, Thai, which have retained their complete identity for centuries or millennia. This phenomenon has not been fully studied, but it turns out that the more willingly a nation appreciates foreign fashion, the more it remains itself. Why? Because interest in the foreign reveals even more clearly what is not foreign.

Perhaps this ability to greedily and gladly borrow what belongs to others is the “soft power” of any nation? Maybe the dull fear of Western or Eastern influences, if given free rein, leads, on the contrary, to the drying up of the living core of civilization, and that’s when it breaks, giving way to some other and completely foreign one?

By the way, this also seems to apply to Russia. From the era of caftans and sundresses (by the way, these are Iranian or Turkic words, and the clothes themselves too) we moved into the age of powdered wigs, became infected with Marxism, atheism and much more, but remained not just Russian, but some kind of pronounced Russian in our basis.

All Chinese women want to be like movie star Fan Bingbing. Who does she want to be like?

Hello.

The topic of doppelgangers has long haunted many people: some want to be like some star, others simply dream of finding a person similar to themselves, while others became interested in it just by chance. As a rule, these people (especially if they are not very good at computers) have one thing in common: they ended up on some site that promises to find their double, sent an SMS (most often the service did not even say that it would withdraw money, but simply under the guise of checking) - and as a result, instead of a found double, they saw a message that a search was carried out, the double was not found (and a certain amount of money was withdrawn from the phone...).

In this short article I want to tell you a few simple (in my opinion) ways to find your double using a photo, without any tricks or loss of money. So, let's get started...

What do you need to find a double?

1. A computer with an Internet connection (this is obvious 🙂).

2. A photograph of the person for whom you are going to look for doubles. It is best if it is an ordinary photo without processing by different editors (Photoshop, etc.). The most important thing is that the person captured in the photo looks straight at you, so that his face is not turned to the side or down (the accuracy of the search depends on this). Yes, one more detail, it is desirable that the background in the picture be some kind of neutral (white, gray, etc.). A full-length photograph is not needed - just the face is enough.

Option No. 1 - searching for doubles among celebrities

Website: http://www.pictriev.com/

The site PicTriev.com is the first one worth paying attention to. It's very easy to use:

go to the website (link above) and click the “Upload image” button (upload picture);
Next, select your prepared photo;
then the service pauses for 5-10 seconds. - and gives you the results: the age of the person in the photo, his gender, and famous people who the photo resembles (by the way, the percentage of similarity is calculated automatically). The service is especially useful for those people who want to be like someone - they changed their image a little, took a photo, uploaded the photo and looked in which direction the percentage of similarity has changed.

Rice. 1. pictriev - search for doubles using a male photo (photo similar to Phoenix Joaquin, similarity 8%)

By the way, the service (in my opinion) works better with women’s photos. The service almost accurately determined the gender and age of a person. The woman in the photo is most similar to Phoenix Edwige (26% similarity).

Option No. 2 - searching for a double through search engines

This method will live as long as search engines live (or until they block the option to search for pictures based on pictures (sorry for the tautology)).

In addition, the method will give results more and more accurately every year (as search engine algorithms develop). There are quite a lot of search engines, I will give a short instruction on how to search in Google by photo.

1. First, go to the website https://www.google.ru and open the image search (see Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Google Image Search

3. Then upload your photo and Google will search for similar photos.

As a result, we see that the woman in the photo looks like Sofia Vergara (the results found will contain a lot of photos similar to yours).

By the way, in a similar way you can find similar people in Yandex, and indeed any other search engines that can search by photo. Can you imagine the scope for testing? What if a new search engine comes out tomorrow or new, more advanced algorithms appear?! Therefore, this method is the most reliable and promising...

Where else can you look?

1. http://celebrity.myheritage.com- on this site you can find a double among celebrities. Before searching, you need to register. While it works for free, it is possible to install an application for a mobile phone.

2. http://www.tineye.com/ - a site with a huge number of photographs. If you register on it and upload a photo, you can scan it for similar people.

3. play-analogia.com is a good site for finding doubles, but lately it has often been unavailable. Maybe the developers abandoned it?

This concludes the article. To be honest, I have never been specifically interested in or deeply studied this topic, so I would be very grateful for comments and constructive additions.

And lastly, don’t be fooled by various promises about finding similar people via SMS - in 90% of cases this is a scam, unfortunately...

“I want Angelina Jolie’s lips and Keira Knightley’s nose,” plastic surgeons hear such requests regularly. The reasons and prospects for the tendency to change one’s appearance “to suit the stars” were explored by beauty department observers

The desire to be like celebrities has arisen in women's heads since time immemorial. The Marquise de Pompadour's flies (who, by the way, hid her pimples under them) were a mandatory attribute of fashionistas of the 18th century. Sarah Bernhardt's limp was copied by her fans. And many English ladies deliberately deformed the noses of their daughters to recreate Queen Victoria's famous hump. But now the situation has become noticeably simpler. It’s enough to go to a famous clinic and within a week you’ll be sporting Keira Knightley’s nose, Scarlett Johansson’s lips and Nicole Kidman’s forehead. This is what many girls do both in our country and abroad. In Russia, operations from the “how to become a star” series became popular much later. Just 15 years ago. Before this, plastic surgeons were allowed only minimal intervention in the appearance of a Soviet person.

Create an idol

The pages of glossy magazines, film and television screens, the stage and podium began to impose on us the cult of ideally beautiful faces, legs, busts, etc. Under the weight of the publicized beauty of celebrities, it has become difficult not to doubt one’s own attractiveness. And somehow, imperceptibly, the words “beauty” and “success” became synonymous in the minds of many. “We have three cults in our society - the cult of success, beauty and youth,” states Nata Topchiashvili, a creative cosmetologist at the Beauty Plaza clinic. - They are intertwined and interconnected. Appearance allows you to achieve success not only in your personal life, but also in your career.” It is not surprising that some women blame only external shortcomings for their failures and lack of demand. After all, this is the easiest thing. Why hone your talents and learn something new when you can go to a plastic surgeon? It is these judgments that are inherent in a significant number of very young patients.

The enemy of the good

Paradox: pretty girls are often dissatisfied with their faces and figures. Sometimes even with model proportions. This was noted by all the specialists with whom we spoke. Psychologists also agree with them, claiming that beautiful women often suffer because of their appearance, on which they place too much hope. And when they are not justified, they seek help from plastic surgeons, believing that the face should not just be beautiful, but proven beautiful, like that of this or that celebrity. This logic is usually characteristic of young girls (from 18 to 22 years old) who have not yet had time to find a place in life and appreciate their natural gifts. “Young patients come with a whole collection of photographs of star faces,” says plastic surgeon Sergei Levin. - Recently, there are more and more such requests. And the young ladies are getting younger and younger.” The leading plastic surgeon of the Klazko clinics, Otari Gogiberidze, also notes this: “Adult women never bring me photos of other women. And young patients believe that resemblance to a successful character is a guarantee that everything will turn out well for them too.”

But it is not only the desire for success that brings people to a plastic surgeon. Sometimes constant comparisons with this or that star push people into surgery. From a small poll among the editors, we found out that almost everyone at least once in their lives heard the following words addressed to them: “You look so much like a famous actress!” Such words are involuntarily perceived as a compliment and sometimes as a guide to action. True, none of our colleagues dared to make radical changes. But they tried to do make-up or hairstyle “like a star” to enhance the similarity.

Man's question

It turns out that some men cannot resist the temptation to change their appearance. However, the standard for them is not show business stars. “Representatives of the stronger sex most often take their cues from successful politicians and businessmen of the new generation,” says Nata Topchiashvili. - Of course, not everyone wants to copy their appearance. Rather, focusing on such leaders, men try to be athletic, well-groomed and youthful.”

On the other hand, it is men who often initiate and sponsor the reincarnations of their girlfriends. Experts don't like situations like this. “I believe that by nature a man should be against plastic surgery,” explains Dr. Levine. “He must see and appreciate traits in a woman that will be passed on to his children.” When a husband brings his other half to a surgeon, this only speaks of his complexes and desire to assert himself at her expense.

All comes with experience

Just a few years ago, plastic surgery resembled a conveyor belt: identical round breasts, swollen lips and upturned noses. The standard for most plastic surgeons' clients at that time was the Barbie doll. The next children's complexes? Not without it. But, fortunately, in recent years the situation has changed for the better: no one anymore wants to resemble the main victim of the “Barbie boom,” the long-suffering Pamela Anderson. Having seen enough of the ranks of clones besieging expensive boutiques, restaurants and resorts, a new generation of women is choosing their role models wisely and tastefully. Dr. David Grishkyan says that his patients want to be like bright, spectacular actresses, and not faceless models. According to him, now clients pay attention not only to the appearance of their “standard”, but also to the existing image, which models usually lack due to the nature of their profession. Nata Topchiashvili echoes him: “The standards of beauty have become much older. Now it's Madonna and Demi Moore." Patients are impressed not only by their refined facial features, but also by their strong characters. Few women want to blindly copy stellar features, completely changing their appearance. More often they dream of adopting one or two characteristic features that, in their opinion, can improve the overall image.

And it happens that plastic surgeons, without meaning to, “reward” the patient with a stellar appearance. This is explained by the fact that the facial proportions of many celebrities are close to ideal. And, by the way, they are often achieved through the same surgical method.

Thus, professor, plastic surgeon of the Beauty Plaza clinic Alexander Teplyashin shared with us an interesting case from his practice: “One of my patients was engaged in martial arts and, upon completion of her career, decided to make her face more graceful. After the correction, she became surprisingly similar to Angelina Jolie. Although we did not set such a task for ourselves.” The appearance features of the Hollywood actress - a beautiful oval, a small neat nose, high cheekbones, plump lips and a long neck - can be considered perfect. It has long been proven that these are the proportions that are successful with the opposite sex. It is no wonder that surgeons hear the name of Angelina Jolie so often in their practice.

Healthy realism

Doctors have long treated “star requests” with understanding, but at the same time with caution. “Of the total number of patients going for rhinoplasty, more than half want to have a nose like a star,” admits David Grishkyan. - But of these, only 30% will get the desired result. Computer modeling helps convince the rest. When a person sees that the “famous” nose is not his size, he immediately changes his mind.” In addition to the aesthetic aspect, there is also a technical one: a certain percentage of operations are difficult or even impossible to perform. “A face is not a primitive constructor. There are certain anatomical features that I cannot violate,” explains Otari Gogiberidze. The times of crazy experiments with appearance are behind us. Having seen enough of the victims of unsuccessful plastic surgeries, clients have become more prudent. They are more willing to listen to the advice of specialists and are less likely to take radical measures, choosing gentle or non-surgical methods. Fortunately, there are really a lot of them now. “Everyone wants Angelina Jolie’s plump lips,” says Alexander Teplyashin. - But they are only suitable for people with thin features and high cheekbones. If your face is round, full lips will look vulgar.”

Another road

In contrast to very young clients who take their cues from celebrities, people who have already achieved success in life value their individuality and want to be just like themselves. Nata Topchiashvili believes that idealizing one’s own image is as strong a trend as the “star face” a few years ago. The irony is that the founders of the new trend were again the stars. “Celebrities don’t want to be like anyone but themselves,” Otari Gogiberidze confirmed our hypothesis. -Following them, other women also demand the most natural result of the operation. And this trend is gaining momentum.”

By the way, plastic surgeons are only too happy about the new trend. “I often ask patients to bring photographs of themselves as young people to consultations,” says David Grishkyan, “to understand what we should strive for. Such women do not want drastic changes, they simply return to their former beauty. But nevertheless, the tendency to change oneself “to suit the stars” most likely will not disappear.” There will always be those who are sure that a certain appearance is a guarantee of success. Although in reality, without talent, intelligence, charisma and individuality, beautiful features mean almost nothing.

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David Frederick, through his experiment, identified the traits that come first when choosing a partner:

Attractive appearance important for 92% of men and 84% of women.
Slender body- for 80% of men and 58% of women.
Consistently high income 74% of men and 97% of women need a partner.

Agnieszka Sorokowska from the University of Wroclaw proved that natural body aroma helps gather information about a potential partner. It's all about the level of hormones and the state of the autonomic nervous system, which determines the type of skin microflora. The ability of the brain to respond to the smell of another person is genetically embedded in us.

A woman is interested in a man because his natural smell signals: this “male” will be able to provide the rear, give strong offspring and contribute to their survival. A man feels the same: this woman can give him strong, healthy children.

3. Social role theory

American psychologist Alice Eagly argues that in our time it is already social, not biological processes dictate the choice of a life partner. If women were once attracted to men with money and power, it was only because society limited their rights to earn money and have influence.

Men value independence and professionalism in women more than before. The ability to cook well and run a household - all that was important in the last century - is no longer a priority. These changes show that our choices and values are influenced by cultural norms.

4. You spend too much time together

Professor of psychology at Otterbein University (USA) Noam Spencer says that the presence of social competence, that is, education and the ability to communicate, listening carefully to the interlocutor and showing interest in him, as well as human warmth, are especially valued when choosing a partner.

“People who are kind and disposed towards us are perceived as more attractive and win the ‘marathon of choice’,” the scientist is sure. This explains falling in love with people who treat us with kindness and understanding: doctors, psychologists, teachers and trainers.

6. Evaluation of others

Gad Saad and Tripat Gillom from Wilfrid Laurier University conducted a very interesting experiment. They asked boys and girls to rate each other's attractiveness according to the characteristics they were given. For example, “7 out of 10 people think she is kind” or “3 out of 10 people think he is aggressive.” After that, the girl decided who she would meet.

Participants chose options with positive features. Scientists have also proven that girls are more likely to succumb to such manipulative influences than boys. The opinion of others is very often an important factor for them when choosing a life partner.

7. I look at you like in a mirror

David Perrett from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland conducted a fascinating experiment: he collected photographs of his students, changed their gender using a computer program, and asked his students to choose the most desirable image. Most pointed to “their” photos, finding their own facial features attractive. Of course, comparison with the “ideal” occurs on a subconscious level, but it still affects the choice of a life partner.

One of the reasons for this choice is that it is easier for us to communicate, understand, know and trust someone who speaks our language and shares our values and culture. The second reason is psychological: if your partner is so good and he is like you, then you are good too.

8. Opposites attract

But there are also many examples where people look for partners who are as different as possible from themselves. Anthropologist Helen Fisher identified 4 different types of temperament and explained why we are attracted to certain types of people and how hormones influence this.

She identified 4 main personality types:

researcher(high levels of the hormone dopamine) loves to take risks, seeks adventure and is very curious;
builder(high serotonin levels) values order and tradition;
director(high testosterone level) - analytical, reasonable and logical;
intermediary(high estrogen) - imaginative altruist.

According to Helen Fisher's theory, we are not always looking for the same type and the law of complement often applies when different people “balance” each other.

9. We meet those who already exist in our imagination

The idea of archetypes originally came from Carl Gustav Jung. In his book “Gods in Every Man. Archetypes that rule the lives of men” was used by Jean Shinoda Bohlen. She suggested taking the descriptions of the main types of men from popular ancient Greek gods as a basis:

Zeus: domineering and authoritarian;
Poseidon: violent and temperamental;
Apollo: intelligent and reserved;
Dionysus: cheerful and curious.

Previously, Jean Bolen also Scientists Barton and Halberstadt from the University of Calgary conducted a funny

Scientists have identified the main reasons why we deliberately choose people with whom nothing will work out:

Chase. People are more satisfied with something they have worked hard to achieve. According to Elite Daily, our brains release much more dopamine when we are chasing something we want, and the longer the chase, the more “pleasure hormone” we get. That's why sometimes we like people so much who don't like us.
Ego. Refusal becomes a huge blow to our pride, no matter how gentle and diplomatic it may be. And when someone tells us “no”, we are ready to do everything to change it to “yes”, and as quickly as possible.
Unavailability. People who are in high social demand tend to seem more valuable, smart, attractive, and purposeful to us. Is this person still busy? Then its value can be safely multiplied by 2.

Which study seems the most logical to you? Or is love a feeling that cannot be explained by any formulas or scientific theories?