Fashioning Appearances: Feminine Beauty in Chinese Communist Revolutionary Culture Author(s): Hung-Yok Ip Source: Modern China, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jul., 2003), pp. 329-361 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3181296 . Accessed: 25/10/2011 12:47 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Sage Publications, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Modern China. http://www.jstor.org FashioningAppearances FeminineBeauty in Chinese CommunistRevolutionary Culture HUNG-YOKIP OregonState University Studying the Communist revolution, scholars of China have generally assumed that the revolutionary era andpre-Cultural Revolution stage of the Communist regime were dominated by asceticism, androgynous clothing, or both. This article seeks to demonstrate that an interest in female beauty was always pres- ent in the revolutionary process. The author analyzes how revolutionaries sus- tained that interest by employing self-beautification practices and women's beauty politically and how social interactions reinforced the perception that female beauty was rewarding, underscoring that Communists accepted the practice of self-adornment. After examining the revolutionary aesthetics of femininity developed by women activists, the article briefly explores the legacy offemale beauty in the Communist regime.