No suntans please: women in China want to be white

SHANGHAI - At this time of the year holidaymakers in Europe rush to the beaches to top up their tans, but in Chinese cities women avoid the sun like the plague.

Umbrellas deployed, arms fully covered, hats jammed on their heads, ladies on Shanghai’s occasionally sunny streets are now buying up every accessory and employing every trick in the book to cut out the UV rays.

When accessories are not enough, the Chinese rely on beauty products to guarantee them the paleness of skin, which is so popular in this part of the world.

“Like all Asian women, I want to have very white skin,” explains Shi Lingfei as she considers a stand of top brand cosmetics.

Her make-up immaculate, her fringe meticulous, this young music teacher from the eastern province of Shandong is making the most of her holidays to run around the biggest department stores in China’s biggest city.

In Shanghai the shelves are better stocked, but whitening products -- the must-have assets in China’s cosmetic market -- are now sold all over China’s many regions.

“I can also find products like this at home,” confides Shi in front of a stall of whitening creams from an international line.

Beauty products, which have seen strong sales growth in China over the last 10 years, are very much centred on skincare, which represents between 40 and 60 percent of all healthcare products sold, according to official figures.

In modern China, the skin is one of the main criteria of beauty in a Chinese woman.

“Traditional Chinese poetry always talks of pure skin like jade and clear like ice,” explains Zhenzhen Lan, L’Oreal’s communications director for China.

Estee Lauder, L’Oreal and Shiseido -- all the big names are active in China developing products aimed at preventing the bronzing process and even at depigmentation.

L’Oreal and Estee Lauder have recently opened research laboratories in Shanghai, which work largely on the development of whitening products and on testing their efficiency.

In town, Chinese consumers are bombarded by endless advertising. Billboards hang from the fourth floors of buildings, while bus shelters and commercial centres are plastered in posters. It is difficult for a Shanghainese woman to ignore such ringing endorsements of whiteness.

“Whitening goods are among the most popular products we sell,” says Yong Huizhu, a saleswoman in a large gleaming shop on People’s Square in the centre of Shanhgai.

In her immaculate mauve blouse, she explains that summer is a particularly busy period for the sale of these often expensive goods. The price varies between 300 and 600 yuan (37.5 and 75 dollars), but certain luxury brands exceed this mark.

Whitening products, including creams, washing mousses and masks, represent a third of all skincare items sold in China, according to a study by Euromonitor, a leading provider of global business intelligence.

Not far off 90 million women spend 10 percent of their income on beauty products. In Shanghai, in particular, they spend 50 times more than the national average, according to a study carried out by research firm Access Asia.

AFP

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