No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

Fat Beauty During the Tang Dynasty

mademoisellesansa

According to historical records, the Tang Dynasty’s standard of beauty leaned towards voluptuous, well-rounded figures. The statuettes and portraits of beautiful women that remain to us from the Tang Dynasty, while they differ in style and craftsmanship, varying from young girls to mature women, are consistent in their portrayals - faces round like a full moon, full cheeks and delicate brows, rounded waists and limbs, audacious and revealing clothing. Even “The Maiden Cupbearer,” commonly referred to as the most beautiful woman of Ancient China, despite differences in her posture, is consistent in her possession of the notable traits of “abundant curves and passionate posture.”

Even the two most well-known beauties of real Tang Dynasty history - the Emperor Wu Ze Tian and Concubine Yang Yu Huan - can be viewed as models of the “abundant curves and passionate posture” type of beauty. The only female emperor of Chinese history, Wu Ze Tian, utilized her beauty, wisdom, and courage to make her way to the pinnacle of power. Although are no accurate artistic records of her appearance, from the historical description of “[square] open forehead, wide jaw, phoenix neck,” we can determine that it was her wide forehead, round face, and plump and folded neck as well as her prosperous/abundant appearance that helped her win her title of “Charming Wife,” which set the foundation for her path to power. One the four historical beauties of China, Yang Yu Huan, is even more of a well known and legendary representation of fat beauty. Unfortunately, the same difficulty arises when trying to determine her true appearance, we can only use historical records and descriptions from poems and songs in order to imagine her legendary “one smile across her shoulder enlivens a hundred charms, all the beauties in the six palaces are faded” beauty. In the line “from then, the emperor no longer rose early,” we can guess at her bewitching beauty. The common phrase “Fat Huan, Thin Yan” concisely encapsulates the different standards of beauty during the Tang and Han dynasties, and also solidified the belief in Yang Yu Huan’s lovely “abundant curves” figure.

The article goes on to explain why fuller, curvier female figures became the standard of beauty during the Tang Dynasty, noting that it was an inevitable product of the times because:

the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty allowed for fuller figures
the Tang Dynasty was a famously open-minded and confident period in Chinese history, during which China had commercial and political relations with over 130 different nations
the ruling family of the Tang Dynasty possessed XianBei blood - a nomadic minority in China which valued strong, big boned body types
valuing abundant, vibrant, and curvaceous beauty was a common trend in every aspect of Tang Dynasty culture - from their love of the peony to Tang Dynasty paintings of well-fed, rounded horses to the curvy calligraphy of the Tang Dynasty

Here is the original article if anyone is interested! It was originally published in a Chinese newspaper. There is also an alternative view on the topic below; however, given the well-documented fat beauty of Athenais (one of the most famous of Louis XIV’s maitresses en titres), I find the first article more convincing from a comparative historical perspective.

Keep reading

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Fat Beauty During the Tang Dynasty