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CENTRAL CHINA NORMAL UNIVERSITY

Does Beauty Have A Certain Criterion?—— My Thought On The “Zara Insults Chinese”Incident “美”有确定标准吗?——我谈“Zara辱华”事件

March 20, 2019 Elaine Du 

Incident: Not long after the Italian brand D&G insulting Chinese issue, an international brand Zara was pushed to the cusp of the storm because an advertising photograph.

Facing target buyers all over the world, Zara used a Chinese model to advertise in China. The model, who got a lot of freckles on her face, was bitterly scolded and sneered by internet users in China. Whats more, this issue was finally risen to the level of Nation Dignity. And the reason why Chinese got so angry was rather ridiculous—— those net citizens thought that our Chinese merely have freckles on our faces and the Chinese model Zara used was too ugly with all those spots on face. And, thats an affront towards Chinese, for this vilified Chinese peoples appearance.


事件:就在意大利品牌D&G辱华事件后不久,国际品牌Zara拍摄的一组广告大片把自己推上了风口浪尖。

面向全球消费者,Zara用了一位中国模特来中国宣传。而这位模特却因为脸上的雀斑而受到中国网民无情的辱骂和嘲笑。更离谱的是,这件事最终上升到“国家尊严”的高度。而网民们如此愤怒的原因却非常荒谬——他们认为模特脸上的雀斑实在是太丑了,并且中国人很少会有雀斑,这是在侮辱中国,因为Zara用这种长相的模特就是在丑化中国人的形象。


Zara Chinese Model

Zara中国模特


My Opinion: For me, this incident was so ridiculous that I cant even understand. How the hell did Zara insult Chinese by using an actually pretty beautiful Chinese model? From this incident and some disgusting words from the netizen, I couldnt feel the so called Nation Dignity. On the contrary, I saw our Chineses lack of confidence and our narrow mind that we couldnt accept diversity, and our criterion on beauty was rather simplex.

First thing first, with our country getting stronger and stronger, its a good thing that we firmly reject to affront and attach great importance to nation dignity. Just like the D&G incident, which was not only reasonable but also honorable. D&G did insult Chinese, and we did protect our pride.


我的观点:对我来说,这次事件实在太荒谬,让人难以理解。Zara用了一个实际上挺漂亮的中国模特,怎么就辱华了?从这个事件,我实在看不出所谓的国家尊严,相反,我看出了中国人的不自信,狭隘的胸怀——我们甚至无法接受多样化,我们对美的理解实在是太单一。

首先,国家越来越强大,我们坚决拒绝侮辱,捍卫国家尊严是好事。就像D&G事件,我们中国人的反应不仅合理,而且值得尊敬。D&G确实辱华了,中国人也确实保护了自己的尊严。


D&G insulting China video

D&G辱华视频


But Zara, I couldnt find a clue that indicated that it insulted Chinese. It just used a model whose beauty cant be understand by some Chinese, and its very rude to criticize her appearance like that, for she is also Chinese.

It seems that Chinese peoples opinion towards beauty has narrowed suddenly. 20 years ago, back in the 1990s, we admired a group of actresses, Brigitte Lin, Chingmy Yau, Joey Wang and so on. They were not perfect, but at that time, even until now, its socially recognized that their beauty can even melt the hardest stone. And its because in their beauty, we can find different characteristics, various styles, that they have become classic until today.

但对于Zara,我实在没有看出来哪里辱华了。它只是用了一个不被中国部分人欣赏的模特,并且,中国人对这位模特的谩骂实在是粗鲁不得体,她也是一个中国人。

似乎中国人对于美的理解是在一夜之间狭窄起来的。20年前,1990年代,我们曾欣赏这样一群女演员,林青霞,邱淑贞,王祖贤等。她们并不完美,但在那时,甚至直到现在,我们都承认她们的美惊艳了时光。正是因为在她们的美中有不同的特点和风格,她们才直到今天都是经典。


The 4 beauties in HongKong back in the 20C

20世纪香港四大美女


But what happened now? Maybe nobody can tell that since when, we Chinese made rules to restrict beauty. To be beautiful, you have to be slim; to be lovely, you mustnt be too tall; to be charming, you must have big, shinning eyes with double-fold eyelid; to let man like you, you should have a lantern jaw....... So, as a result, tons of internet celebrities showed up. They all had sharp chins, super big eyes, white skin without a single spot...... They were perfect, maybe the only shortage of their beauty was that, they all looked the same. Its sad seeing that we narrowed the notion of beauty and we took it for granted. As for beauty, we really should widen our horizon.

但现在呢?没人说的准从什么时候开始,我们开始用狭隘的标准来限制美。美的人一定要身材苗条,要可爱就不能太高,要有魅力就要有双眼皮大眼睛,要让男人喜欢你就要有尖下巴......于是,一大批网红出现了,她们都有大眼睛,尖下巴,白皙到挑不出一点毛病的皮肤。她们是完美的,唯一不足的就是,她们都看起来一模一样。看着我们自己限制了美的概念并且还以为理所当然,真是悲哀。对于美,我们真该拓宽视野。


Internet Celebrities

网红


But, after all, I know, I understand and totally respect others understanding to beauty. Its none of my business that how other criticize beauty. Im not saying that my notion of beauty is better or nobler than others. But what I want to explain is that, beauty doesnt necessarily have a certain criterion, we can all keep our own point of view while respecting others. Its rude, and even cruel to insult what you hate but another people may like. Just like the Zara model, there actually were some Chinese like her appearance, and it was definitely declaring a war to say that her ugliness insulted the whole Chinese nation. So, if theres something we really cant appreciate, and we cant even understand, the least thing we can do is to respect it, tolerate its existence, and this tolerance is what makes us decent person. Of course, the something must be legal. Variety is a tendency, if we cant accept, just stop complaining and keep our mouth shut.

但是,我知道、理解并且尊重别人对美的理解。别人怎么定义美跟我没什么关系,我不是说我对美的理解就比别人的更高尚,我只是想说,美并没有唯一的标准,我们在保留自己意见的同时也应该尊重别人的想法。去侮辱我们讨厌而有人可能喜欢的事物是粗鲁且残忍的。就像Zara的模特,确实有中国人喜欢她的长相,说她的“丑陋”侮辱了全中国绝对是在宣战。所以,如果有什么是我们不能欣赏甚至不能理解的,我们至少要尊重它,容忍它的存在,这份容忍使我们成为理智的人。当然,是对于合法的事物。多样化是一种趋势,如果我们不能接受,也不要抱怨,闭嘴就好。


Moreover, its nonsense to upgrade this issue to the national aspect. I believe its the lack of confidence that made us so easily pissed off and even thought they were insulting us just by the differences in the notion of beauty. Once upon a time, China was so weak that any country in the world can bully us, but now its a different era. We are strong enough to protect ourselves, and others are not trying to insult us every day. We should build up our national confidence, being the second biggest economy in this world, our country is not so easily to be insulted. Being aware is a good thing, but being too sensitive is not.

All in all, be tolerant, be confident, and widen our horizon, then we may not be pissed off so often.

而且,把这件事上升到国家层面是没有道理的。我认为,我们这么容易被小小的审美差异激怒,并且认为Zara辱华是因为我们缺乏自信。很久以前,中国太弱小,随便一个国家就可以来欺负我们,但现在换了人间。我们足够强大,可以保护自己了,并且他国也不是每天都想着要侮辱我们了。我们应该建立起民族自信心,作为世界上第二大经济体,我们的国家没有那么容易被侮辱。警觉是好事,太敏感就不是了。

总而言之,包容,自信,拓宽视野,我们可能就不会那么容易被激怒。




Supplement: In the past, there were many brands, countries insulted China, and our Chinese did a great job to support our country and protect our dignity. Lets have a look on them.

过去,确实有很多品牌、国家辱华,我们中国人出色的支持、保卫了国家,捍卫了我们的尊严。让我们来看看。


1、Protect our ownership of Diaoyu Islands.

During the time we negotiate with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands issue, thousands of Chinese voluntarily refused to purchase or use goods made in Japan, which showed our determination of guarding our territory.

维护钓鱼岛主权

在中日就钓鱼岛问题谈判期间,中国人自发抵制日货,表明了我们捍卫领土的决心。



2、Resist Korean Lotte Company.

Chinese people resisted Lotte Companys product as a protest towards Koreas action of deploying Anti-missile System. And now, the latest news is that, there were only 3 Lotte Branches left in China.

抵制韩国乐天

中国人以抵制乐天公司产品来抗议韩国部署反导弹系统。最新的消息是,乐天在中国仅剩三家门店。



3、Resit D&G

After D&G so stupidly released the ad which contained anti-China comments, every aspect of Chinese was outraged and offended. With Chinese stars terminating agreements, Chinese consumers refused their products, D&G is now in an awkward position.

抵制杜嘉班纳

在杜嘉班纳蠢到家的放出辱华视频后,中国每一个阶层都被激怒了。中国明星解约,中国消费者抵制,杜嘉班纳现在处于一个尴尬的境地。



To conclude, to love our homeland, first we should be rational.

总而言之,爱国首先要理智。



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