The Hunks of History

When talking about the gorgeous guys of ancient China, you've got to start with Pan An, who has long been famous for embodying the ideals of manly beauty. Have you noticed that although we have already entered the third millennium, on Internet bulletin boards the would-be Don Juans of Taiwan still boast that they are "the reincarnation of Pan An"? Those of more modest inclination say that while they're "no Pan An" they're not bad looking either.

Who was this guy Pan An? The book Shi Shuo Xin Yu, which recorded important persons and events of the Wei-Jin era (220-420), describes him thus: "He was very handsome and carried himself with a splendid manner." Once, he was accosted by a group of adoring females on a Luoyang street (much like a star mobbed by his fans today), who joined hands and surrounded him.

An ancestral portrait dating from the Ming dynasty shows a cultivated Confucian gentleman with three-inch-long finger nails . He looks like a good match for the well dressed woman at his side. （courtesy of the National Taiwan Art Education Institute）

Natural beauty

With this effect on women, can Pan be declared to top the list of classical Chinese hunks? When looking through the descriptions of handsome men found in Shi Shuo Xin Yu, among the complimentary metaphors describing them we can find "like a jade tree facing the wind" or "with a face as tender and white as lard." Clearly, beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and there were different strokes for different folks. But if an election had really been held to determine the winner, Pan An, that Adonis who was sexually harassed by the female horde, might not have earned top honors. Wei Jie, herald to the crown prince of the state of Jin, might well have finished ahead of him.

Wei Jie had an extremely noble demeanor, and his reputation always preceded him. Wherever he went crowds would gather to catch a glimpse, but the philosophically inclined Wei Jie could not help getting worn out by all this attention. It was said that he eventually was "watched to death."

Shi Shuo Xin Yu may well be the only classical Chinese work that devotes a whole chapter to the various physical appearances of men, notes Chang Pei-pei, a professor of Chinese at National Taiwan University. Chang explains that the Wei-Jin era, like today, was a time when conventional structures were falling apart. The old Han dynasty order had been toppled overnight, and this gave rise to various odd phenomena, and a great variety of standards for judging people.

Another tale, about a man with white skin, is certain to incite the envy of the many modern-day Chinese who work hard at attaining a fair and clear complexion. It was said that He Yan was a handsome man with very white skin. The Wei Emperor Wen was certain that he must have been powdering his face, so on a scorching day he gave He a bowl of hot soup. But He feared this test no more than gold fears fire. After he drank the soup and wiped his brow with his red sleeve, his face turned an even brighter white than before.

The Li family, which ruled China during the Tang dynasty, had a lot of foreign blood. As a result, the fashion was for men who were spirited outdoorsmen, good riders, swordsmen and all-around martial artists. In Herders' Horse by the Tang dynasty painter Han Gan, the magnificent horseman on his powerful horse looks a lot like the tribesmen on China's northern and western frontiers. （courtesy of the National Palace Museum）

Stud from the western frontier

In fact, Confucianism, the school of thought that has had the biggest impact on China, acknowledges the objective existence of beauty and doesn't deny that it is natural for people to be attracted to those who are good looking. Instead, it urges people to be "as attracted to good morals as they are to good looks." In ancient times the sexes seemed to enjoy equal rights in terms of ogling the other. In the Book of Odes, many of the collected folk songs give liberal tribute to "male beauty." In "Drums," for instance, a woman praises a man dancing in public. She describes how he is tall and strong and holds a flute in his left hand and waves feathers in his right, turning red after dancing. Attracted to him, she asks and then answers her own question: "Of whom are you thinking? That beauty from the west." Clearly, in those days "a beauty" could describe a man as well as a woman.

These handsome fellows with faces as white as powder and black eyes would evoke envy and admiration in others. But if their beauty was only skin deep, they were liable to be played with and tossed aside. Many of the most strikingly handsome fellows of Chinese history ended up being the boy toys of empresses and concubines.

"I've yet to meet anyone who puts morality above carnal beauty." Ko Chin-ming, a professor of Chinese literature at NTU, quotes Confucius, before adding, "Women aren't the only ones with carnal beauty." Ko notes that there was a certain level of homosexuality permitted in Chinese society. The emperor sometimes found his 3,000 palace concubines insufficient. For instance, the Hui Emperor during the Han dynasty would have boys wearing yellow hats, gem-studded belts and powdered faces visit his bedroom.

The emperor's wives and imperial concubines themselves often had great sexual appetites that required more than one partner to satisfy. Wu Zetian, who eventually became empress, had a particularly voracious sexual appetite and into her seventies still kept two toy boys, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, who were commonly called Man Five and Man Six. When the two entered the palace, their faces were always powdered, their hair done up, and their breath sweetened. Man Six was particularly handsome with a face likened to a lotus blossom. A few flatterers actually said that "Rather than Man Six taking after the lotus, it was the lotus that took after Man Six."

Since ancient times, the expression xiaobailian ("little white face") for young kept males has been a negative term. "Hence, unless there are other talents or attributes, beauty often has negative connotations," says Ho Chin-ming, who notes that when the Chinese speak about a man being handsome, they often unconsciously turn to the realms of morality and accomplishment and away from physical beauty. In "Shu Yutian" in The Book of Odes a woman extols the virtues of a hunter who is "truly beautiful and righteous, truly beautiful and benevolent, and truly beautiful and skilled with his weapons."

The story "As Beautiful as Xu Gong" from Zhan Guo Ce is an even better-known example.

What kind of man was favored in the Song dynasty? The tall, broad-faced fellow in this painting had large ears; eyes that were narrow, long and bright; and a nose that was large and straight. His face is close to the Chinese ideal. Do you know who he is? None other than Zhou Dunyi, the founder of the idealist school of Confucianism, which stressed interior qualities over external appearances.

Fear moral, not physical, ugliness

Zuo Ji was said to be extraordinarily tall and ravishingly gorgeous. One day he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror and complacently asked his wife: "Who's handsomer, me or Xu Gong from the north side of town?" Without even pausing to think, his wife answered, "You're much more attractive! Xu Gong can't hold a candle to you!" But Zou Ji wasn't entirely convinced, so he asked his concubine, who responded, "Of course you're much better looking. Xu Gong isn't even in the same league!"

The following day a visitor came calling and Zou Ji took advantage of the opportunity to ask, "Who is better looking, Xu Gong or me?" The visitor responded, "Why sir, of course you are!" Then one day Xu Gong himself came calling, and Zou Ji looked him up and down and decided that Xu was the handsomer by far. After mulling it over, he suddenly said, "My wife said that I was better looking because she is partial to me, my concubine said I was because she fears my anger, and my guest said the same because he had a favor to ask!"

Later, when Zou Ji appeared in front of the Qi court to report to King Wei, he said, "My looks fall short of Xu Gong's but my family and friends are prejudiced and wouldn't tell me the truth. Today, the Qi Kingdom is vast and contains many cities, and your queens and consorts and ministers, as well as neighboring states, all want to curry your favor. From this, one can say with certainty that you are deceived."

As soon as the King Wei heard this, he issued a decree that ministers or subjects who pointed out his errors would be rewarded. As a result the ministers competed with each other to make constructive criticisms, until there was nothing left to criticize. When the kingdoms of Yen, Zhao, Han, and Wei heard this news, they all pledged allegiance to the Kingdom of Qi, and thus Qi was able to attain a great bloodless victory.

Zou Ji did not just have a beautiful face. He also enjoyed the gift of self-knowledge. Similarly, in the Miss Universe pageant, contestants compete based on their talents, as well as their shapely figures and pretty faces. Thus, attractiveness is always a combination of qualities.

Even during the Wei and Jin dynasties, when more handsome men were noted in the historical records than in any other era, it was stressed that beauty was not purely a physical attribute. Chang Pei-pei points out that as opposed to the Han dynasty, when morality was the chief criterion for selecting ministers, the Jin-Wei era marked the advent of the Chinese meritocracy, and "talent" became viewed as the paramount consideration for official appointments. But once talent became the sole criterion, morals could not help but suffer. Of course, people are naturally selfish, and the result of putting talent first was that there was a tendency to reward the relatives of those in power. The top officials rarely came from poor families!

The Chinese put particular stress on qizhi-one's aura or demeanor-believing that people are by nature endowed differently, and that their differing gifts will be evident in their outer appearance as a result of their qizhi. They thus hold that you can see people's inner character from their outer appearance, and vice versa. Those of great inner merit stand out like cranes among chickens. The book Shi Shuo Xin Yu describes Ji Kang, who was the last person who knew how to play the tune "Guang Lingsan," as "standing majestically like a lone pine" with "the commanding presence of a dragon and the grace of a phoenix." It described the gentlemanly aura of Xia Houxuan, a son of one of the finest families in the land, as being like a "jade tree standing against the wind." Time and again it was suggested that you could judge the depth of a man's inner character from his outer appearance, that there was an integrated style within and without.

"Talent is the chief and study is his assistant," points out Chang Pei-pei. To cultivate their talents famous figures of the era devoted great portions of their time and energy to studying literature, music, chess, calligraphy and painting. They made cultivating an aura of talent as their aim in life. It was the source of their self-esteem. What they feared most was slipping into vulgarity. There was a famous expression during that era that went, "Someone of vulgar spirit who has a magnificent torso will not be able to accomplish his goals." Simply put, the beauty that people pursued during the Wei-Jin era was not a vulgar beauty!

The terracotta army unearthed in Shaanxi Province at Qin Shihuang's tomb was meant to accompany that great emperor to the netherworld. With strong physiques and angular facial features, these soldiers are close to the northern ideal of manly beauty.

Different strokes for different folks

Talent may have been the ultimate measure of a man during the Wei and Jin dynasties, but looking like a jade tree in the wind or having an aura of tremendous talent was highly sought too. Even after the meritocratic standards were firmly in place, everyone still worked hard to cultivate elegant manners. The fashion back then was for the "soaring-on-the-wind look." It's impact was akin to the one that the "androgynous style" has had on men's apparel today. The fashion-conscious pulled off their stiff and solemn mandarin hats and exchanged them for soft qia hats, which would billow in the breeze.

Shaped by the prevailing cultural climate, men's clothing always differed from one era to the next. Because the royal Li family of the Tang dynasty were descended from western and northern minorities, the Tang dynasty was deeply influenced by their culture, and the hunks of the Tang dynasty were all tall and broad-shouldered with strong physiques. These energetic men were excellent riders, archers, martial artists and swordsmen. From portraits of Tang and Song dynasty figures, we can see that people of that era liked middle-aged men with lots of facial hair. Thick beards and sideburns were all the rage.

Changes that saw the feminine ideal turn toward exalting the sickly and the sentimental, toward women who were fragile and refined, were also reflected in ideas about manly beauty. In Dream of the Red Chamber, the male characters Jia Baoyu and Qin Zhong both possess a gentle, delicate beauty to outdo young women. Jia Baoyu, was described as having a face "like the harvest moon" with the color of "flowers on a spring morning," "sideburns that seemed shaped by a knife," "eyebrows as if drawn with ink," "a nose liked a suspended gall" (go figure), and "eyes like autumn waves." Though upset, he would still appear to be smiling. Even when staring at someone in anger, he would appear to have warm feelings for them. And this exalted youth from a good family was a very particular dresser.

Every look of his seemed to convey deep feeling, and every word he spoke a smile. "All of nature's charms were there in the tips of his eyebrows, all of life's myriad feelings were there in the corners of his eyes." Yet when he saw Qin Zhong he thought to himself, "Can such a figure really inhabit the world of men? In comparison, I am but a mangy dog." What did Qin Zhong look like? "He had cleanly shaped eyebrows and delicate eyes, red lips and powder-white skin. He had a good figure and was graceful in his motions, even more so than Baoyu. But he was as bashful and shy as a little girl." When Baoyu's aunt Wang Xifeng saw Qin Zhong, she immediately joked that Baoyu had more than met his match!

The author Cao Xueqin pulled out all of the most flowery phrases to describe the incomparable Jia Baoyu and Qin Zhong, but raised them up high only then to let them fall hard. The Chinese expression that "beauties are often ill-fated" also appears to be borne out in the lives of these handsome men. Cao Xueqin, describes Baoyu thus: "Although born into a good sack of skin, he was like grass inside." At another point, he says, "Of all the creatures in the universe, here was one of the most useless, stupid and stubborn. What a pity! Loathe to pick up a book and study, he wasted his time and was worthless to his family and country. He is the world's biggest good-for-nothing, and it would be hard to find anyone in history as unworthy as he." He warns people "not to model themselves on this young man."

If a beautiful exterior is, after all, just a sack of skin, then is power the greatest aphrodisiac?

The Wei-Jin era had large numbers both of men who had outstanding accomplishments and those who had great looks. The "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" had a suave, carefree style and would serve as a standard for following generations. Shown here is Ruan Ji, who was in the habit of giving vent to his strong passions by looking skyward and shouting.

Beautiful visages, beautiful fates

Ho Chin points out that in China power, not beauty, has been a man's greatest draw. The Chinese character for power, li, is combined in various compounds that mean intelligence, authority, wealth, physical strength, and so forth. While conceptions of physical beauty change from era to era, so much depends as well upon these qualities related to power without which a man couldn't succeed in life.

Furthermore, people aren't objects. There is no absolute standard upon which to judge looks. Hence, what is called beauty is often connected to other attractive attributes. A good sense of humor and upright character can cause us to find someone good looking. As a result, there are such expressions as "At first sight unattractive, but then more and more beautiful" or "At first sight gorgeous, but then increasingly unattractive," or "At first sight beautiful, and then ever more beautiful." Finding a paragon of male beauty who could always meet with everyone's approval would seem an impossible task.

Huang Yu-fu, an instructor at the Yi Jing (Book of Changes) Society and an author of well-known columns about physiognomy (fortune-telling based on people's facial features), points out that apart from "skin-deep beauty," the ancient Chinese also had a set of standards about "fate beauty," which have frequently been employed to select sons-in-law and apprentices.

For instance, according to these standards, the best men have large ears, a square face, thick eyebrows, long and bright eyes, a high bridge to the nose, obscured nostrils, a mouth that is large but not too large, sharply angled features, a high and knobby forehead, a large space between the eyebrows, and a broad chin. Beginning in the Song dynasty these criteria became a standard used for judging people. They gained acceptance, he believes, because exterior appearance is often a reflection of inner health or personality. For instance, people with large square faces have good networking skills and find it easy to get friends to help them. "Statistically, there is some correlation."

Today's standards for success are different than those of the past. "In professions where 'the face means more than the person' such as television, entertainment and various service industries, men with great "skin-deep beauty"-"peach blossom eyes" and "melon-seed shaped faces"-are meeting with great success. Yet the stress placed on "fate beauty" hasn't lessened either. There are still many people who have plastic surgery to try to alter their fate. "That's because skin-deep beauty and fate beauty are not mutually exclusive," says Huang Yu-fu. In his view, those who can combine the two are sure to be the most popular of all. They would get the most votes in a contest to determine the handsomest Chinese men.

Chen Ping, Andy Lau or Ma Ying-jeou

In the Chinese classic Lasting Words to Awaken the World there appears this line: "Can it be that you really dislike me for being too ugly? Must everyone be a Chen Ping or Pan An?" Pan An is famous, but who was Chen Ping?

It is said that Chen Ping came from a poor family, but that he was tall, good looking and studious. But his eldest brother's wife said that he didn't earn his keep and that it would be thus better not to have a younger brother at all.

When Chen Ping came of age to take a wife, the neighboring families whether wealthy or poor were all unwilling to part with their daughters to a man like him. But then he met a wealthy man named Zhang Fu. Zhang told his son that he wanted his granddaughter to marry Chen, advice that made his son exclaim in disbelief: "But that guy is very poor and without a job!" Zhang loudly protested, "When have you seen someone as handsome as Chen Ping staying poor for long?" As expected, Chen Ping soon found one door opening after another for him to advance his career. He would serve as the prime minister to Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han dynasty. And in the Historical Records Sima Qian wrote a passage about "Minister Chen Ping."

While there are instances of attractive people being taken advantage of from classical times to the present, Chen Ping is an example of a man who combined both good "fate looks" and "skin-deep looks." To Zhang, a wise, broadminded man of discriminating taste, "the longer he looked at Chen, the better Chen looked."

If Chen Ping was the first great male beauty of Chinese antiquity, who do you suppose would win a male beauty contest today if anyone regardless of age or profession could compete?

The physiognomy expert Huang Yu-fu holds that both Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau and Ma Ying-jeou, Taipei's hunk of a mayor, are examples of men who have both good "fate looks" and "skin-deep looks." Of course, just as some people are unsatisfied with the result of any election, you don't have to agree!

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In Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Baoyu joins a dinner party at Yihong Yuan, where he was the lone male. Jia wears a gauzy red jacket. He is described as having "a face like the harvest moon and skin the color of spring flowers." The standard for male beauty in the Qing dynasty may seem a bit effete by today's standards.

p.20

An ancestral portrait dating from the Ming dynasty shows a cultivated Confucian gentleman with three-inch-long finger nails . He looks like a good match for the well dressed woman at his side. (courtesy of the National Taiwan Art Education Institute)

p.22

The Li family, which ruled China during the Tang dynasty, had a lot of foreign blood. As a result, the fashion was for men who were spirited outdoorsmen, good riders, swordsmen and all-around martial artists. In Herders' Horse by the Tang dynasty painter Han Gan, the magnificent horseman on his powerful horse looks a lot like the tribesmen on China's northern and western frontiers. (courtesy of the National Palace Museum)

p.23

What kind of man was favored in the Song dynasty? The tall, broad-faced fellow in this painting had large ears; eyes that were narrow, long and bright; and a nose that was large and straight. His face is close to the Chinese ideal. Do you know who he is? None other than Zhou Dunyi, the founder of the idealist school of Confucianism, which stressed interior qualities over external appearances.

p.24

The terracotta army unearthed in Shaanxi Province at Qin Shihuang's tomb was meant to accompany that great emperor to the netherworld. With strong physiques and angular facial features, these soldiers are close to the northern ideal of manly beauty.

p.25

The Wei-Jin era had large numbers both of men who had outstanding accomplishments and those who had great looks. The "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" had a suave, carefree style and would serve as a standard for following generations. Shown here is Ruan Ji, who was in the habit of giving vent to his strong passions by looking skyward and shouting.