The Idea of Male Beauty in Russian and Chinese Cultures

This article is devoted to the contrasting description of the ideas about beauty in Russian and Chinese cultures, the ideas that are preserved in the language. In other words, it is a socio-cultural and linguoculturological study that aims to reconstruct representations from language data. To achieve our goal, we used the methods of narrative analysis and the method of linguistic reconstruction of culture. The main conclusion of our study is that in many ways the ideas about male beauty in the studied cultures are opposite.P. Ya. Chernykh in his "Historical and Etymological dictionary" notes (he considers the word "beauty") that the word "beauty" has been known in Russia since the XI century, and the Old Slavonic words "beauty", "beauty", "beauty" meant to decorate, as well as to please.

Some linguists ascribe the origin of the word krasa to the Swedish, Old Norse and Old German common root, meaning "glory", while others convincingly associate it with the Lithuanian and Latvian root, meaning "oven", as well as with the Old Slavic and Old Russian book "krada", meaning "fire", "altar". "The meaning of 'beauty'," writes Chernykh, "could arise not just from the meaning of 'flame', not by the color of the fire, but, apparently, due to the fact that 'krada' originally meant 'sacrificial fire' ^[1].

Here, of course, the connection of the word "beauty" with the word "red" is essential, which is widely described in the research literature ^[2]. Red is one of the main colors of the rainbow, the color of blood, hence the emerging danger, prohibition (red light). This connection adds and mixes with the concept of beauty an obvious shade of danger and taboo, clearly indicated in the medieval European mentality. "A woman (the main carrier of beauty — M. G.) is the lyre of the devil, endowed with beauty, she clouds the mind of a man. To do his deeds, the devil often puts on a woman's face." This nuance of the attitude to beauty as something external, apparent, has many correspondences within the Indo-European culture as a whole ^[3].

Many European treatises of the pre-inquisition period have been written about the demonic nature of beauty ^[4], where beauty itself, that is, attractiveness, attractiveness, leading a man to sin, is a trick, a net, a captivity. This is a European nuance of the perception of beauty, which is also very characteristic of the Russian picture of the world. The concept of inner, spiritual beauty is opposed to external beauty. The external and internal in our culture are opposed systematically and deeply (by clothes they meet, by mind they see off, etc.), the beautiful is often associated with an empty, shallow, for example, the image of Helen in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.

In the Russian picture of the world, a woman should be beautiful, and a man should be smart, brave. Well, or smart, resourceful. His survival algorithm and life strategy are not related to beauty. There is a saying: "If a man is a little more beautiful than a monkey, then he is already a handsome man." This is also confirmed by recent studies by the Levada Center, which show that only 13 percent of respondents believe that appearance is important for a man ^[6].

The etymology of the word man indicates the derivation of this concept from the word husband. Here at Fasmer: Fasmer etymology Rod. P. -a, ukr. husband, etc.-Russian. husband, art.-slav. m?ь, bolg. mjt Serbo-Croatian. husband, Slovene. mo?, born in the village of mo?a, Czech., slvts. mu?, polish. m, born in the village of ma, v.-luzh., n.-luzh. mu?. Undoubtedly related to other-ind. m?nu? (m?nu-, m?nu?-) M. "man, husband", avest. manu?-, goth. manna, etc.-isl. ma?r, mn. menn, here lat.- herm. Mappis is the name of the ancestor of the Germans (Tacitus), Frig. is the ancestor of the Phrygians; see Meye ^[7].

Male survival strategies in the Slavic mentality are associated with labor, war, hunting, the value of protection that he can provide ("behind him as behind a stone wall"). Defender, earner, sage (it is important here that the word sage is etymologically connected with the naming of a part of the male anatomy "moody" ^{[8, p. 12]}, with the division of spheres of activity and responsibility: woman — home, family, man — work outside the home. At the same time, the division into female and male labor is still preserved in the lists of officially registered professions.

Russian Russians have the origins of the Russian idea of male beauty associated with the images of heroes ^[9]. What is included in the gentleman's set of the Russian hero? Oblique fathom in the shoulders, great height, beard and mustache, vegetation on the body in the fashion for shaved heads, bellies (belly) as a sign of security. This set was relevant until the XIX century, when the noble-aristocratic stereotype was replaced by the European influence and a fashionable type of melancholic dandy appeared.

Here, for example, is the son of the Raw Earth, a hero of enormous stature, so powerful that the earth did not hold him. Or Volkh Vseslavevich. He was born with tufts of wolf fur, grew quickly and asked to be dressed in military armor. The Slavs considered this hero an excellent hunter.  Mikula Selyaninovich, a mighty giant peasant, is also in the same pantheon. Hero Alyosha Popovich from infancy asked his mother to swaddle him in chain mail.

The Old Russian girls greatly appreciated the heroic qualities, but they also paid attention to facial features. Slavic or European beauty was especially held in high esteem, while Mongoloid features, in particular, could scare away. The standard was considered a man with green or blue eyes, blond hair and a thick beard. Moreover, a lush head of hair and "vegetation" on the face are signs of masculinity. Conversely, bald males were considered ugly ^[10].

As the development of ancient Russian society, lifestyle and way of life changed and the requirements for grooms. It is clear why the image of a strong and stately warrior was in fashion before. A husband should be a hardworking and hardy defender. But centuries were changing, people moved to cities, life became more comfortable and safe. Accordingly, the view of male beauty also changed. By the XVIII century, few people dreamed of a hero in his classic collective image. Social status, the ability to dress in fashion and the possession of various secular talents were important. Peter's Europeanization with its legendary struggle with beards is the first attack on an archaic stereotype. The fashion for Napoleon and everything French turned the "Mousier" and the Frenchman from Bordeaux into an object to be imitated, but only for secular metropolitan circles. Russian Russian style reigned far from the courtyard and the light, from the fashionable circles of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, beards and bellies, here Russian literary classics and Russian portrait painting provide rich material for study. The gallery of portraits from Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" to Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" allows us to see exactly what a commoner, an aristocrat, a metropolitan dandy and court ladies look like. An interesting source is the painting "At the dressing table" by Sergei Gribkov: a silk robe, oriental slippers, rings, gloves and a top hat, a silver watch, nail scissors, brushes, perfume bottles and jars of lipstick for hair styling. And at the same time, in Russia at all times it was believed that a military uniform paints a man, emphasizing in him everything that is inherent in the Russian cultural code: height, shoulder width, massive body, etc.

At the end of the XIX — beginning of the XX century, the old Russian standards of male beauty still remain in the villages. In Tenishev, we read: "The standard of a guy's beauty: proud gait, bold appearance, tall stature, curly hair" ^{[11, p.24]}. In 1898, in his ethnographic essays, he described such a rural "dandy": "Before, when they were dressed in everything on holidays and on weekdays, up to the last thread prepared at home, such as canvas underwear, armyaks or caftans, felt hat, bast shoes — now everyone has cloth jackets, or as they call them: "pinjaks" or "spinjaks", factory or city-style caps. Bast shoes were completely replaced, with a few exceptions, even from everyday use, and they were replaced by boots. Young guys especially like to dress up on holidays; almost all of them can be seen wearing a jacket made of fine cloth, sewn in the village by a traveling tailor and costing 15-20 rubles.; high patent leather boots with lots of folds, as they are called "bottle" or "harmony"; they cost up to 15 rubles.; the last time they entered high rubber galoshes are in fashion, which are worn on these boots even in dry, hot weather and, thus, serve as an indispensable accessory of the suit." Although the hair was still cut under the pot, but they were laid with cow's, lean, wooden oil or even kvass" ^{[11, p. 54]}.

In the USSR, the ideal was a man who leads a healthy lifestyle, smart and well-read. In Soviet films, we see handsome men furiously rubbing strong torsos with towels in the rays of morning light. Dumbbells and skis, skates and men's physical labor of the builder of communism. TRP standards. The appearance is Slavic, never any Mongoloids in the pantheon of Russian beauties. And so to this day, confirmation of this is the recent men's fashion for the "lumberjack style" ^[12]. Such men have a well-groomed beard, short or long hair carelessly tied in a bun on top of their heads, simple clothes, rough shoes.

There have been many waves of Europeanization in the history of Russia, and each of them brought its own fashion and understanding of male beauty. The vector has always been the same: from masculinity to subtlety, from plowman and warrior to effeminacy and whimsicality, almost feminine grooming. Such were the era of Peter I, Catherine II, the era of Napoleon, the 1960s, Gorbachev's thaw and Europeanization, which lasted until the 2010s ^{[13, p. 23-41]}. European influence suppressed the man's (natural, animal) nature, in favor of the culture and culturality opposed to it ^{[14, p. 97-101]}. But these are point-based influences, the main installation in the Russian picture of the world is unchanged.

In Chinese, there is a lexeme "aesthetics", which means that only beauty itself is important in the subject, that is, all realities, except beauty itself, are not considered. The same fully applies to the appearance of a person. Moreover, male beauty occupies a special position in the Chinese worldview.

It can be noticed that the Chinese pay great attention to beauty, which is reflected not only in culture, but also in language. Therefore, the main methods of studying male beauty in the Chinese world will be semantic analysis of Chinese vocabulary and phraseology and semiotic and etymological analysis of hieroglyphs, with the help of which not only linguistic features, but also Chinese traditional values will be discovered.

It is not for nothing that there is an expression in the Chinese language "" Xi?ng y?u x?n sh?ng "What kind of person is inside, so is outside". The most famous Taoist master Chen Tuan (871-989) began his canonical monument of Taoist philosophy, the Treatise on External Form and Internal Content, with the following words: "The soul is the source of a person's appearance. Having analyzed a person's soul, it will be possible to understand the nature of his good and evil" ^{[15, p. 1]}. This means that according to Taoist concepts in Chinese culture, a person's appearance plays an important role, since appearance does not just reflect a person's soul, but even conveys his nature.

Physiognomy has existed in China since ancient times. According to the work "Notes on Decency" of the Elder Dai, the origins of this science can be traced to the period of three rulers and five emperors: "" X? y?o q? r?n y? zhu?ng "Yao (the legendary emperor of ancient China. — N. E.) chose talented people, focusing on their appearance" ^[16]. Thus, the importance of human appearance began to manifest itself in China before the emergence of Chinese civilization as such, i.e. even in the prehistoric period.

A man in Chinese is denoted by the hieroglyph ? n?n. This hieroglyph was first used when using the jiaguwen script, is a hieroglyph of the ideographic category, and its original meaning was "plowing a plough in the field" ^{[17, p. 1205]}. This association confirms that, like all peoples, at the beginning of the formation of Chinese civilization, it was the physical strength of men that was important, and their appearance did not play a big role.

But gradually the Chinese worldview began to have its own specifics: the Chinese began to pay more attention to facial features and figure. Since ancient times, Chinese men began to take care of their appearance, and the Wei-Jin period (220-420 AD) became a real heyday of male aesthetics. As it is written in Shi shu? x?n y? "New narrative stories, in the light walking" Liu Izina (V century ad): "" "Appearance Hae Yana was very handsome, and his face especially white. Wei Mingdi suspected that he was wearing powder, and it was summer, so he deliberately gave him hot noodle soup. After eating, He Yang sweated profusely and began to wipe his face, but it only became even more beautiful" ^{[18, p. 304]}.

Many works on Chinese male aesthetics confirm that appearance was very important for men ^[19]; ^[20]; ^[22]; ^[24], therefore, in modern Chinese there are many lexemes that have a connection with male aesthetics. 

Relatively recently, the word y?nzh? appeared in Chinese Internet slang. If you divide it by morphemes, then it is a combination of two words: r?ngy?n "facial features" and sh?zh? "parameters", and together it will mean "beauty index". Most often, this word is combined with the adjectives ? g?o "high" and ? d? "low", that is, you can say ? g?o y?nzh? to denote a high beauty index and you can say d? y?nzh?, which means a low beauty index. In the article by Jing Miao, the following point of view was put forward: the semantics of the word y?nzh? received cognitive changes, people now began to perceive aesthetics as if it had a scale of definitions, and this led to a new stage of the Chinese aesthetic concept ^[23]. But in fact, a similar scale of measuring beauty has existed for a long time, and this word has only finally formalized the peculiarity of the concept of "beauty of appearance" in the Chinese worldview.

In the Chinese language, two most common lexemes are used that measure the extreme degrees of beauty and ugliness of a person: ? shu?i "handsome" (man) and ? ch?u "ugly" ^[24].

The hieroglyph ? shu?i appeared when using the jiaguwen script, it is a hieroglyph of the ideographic category. The original meaning was "a military banner made of cloth." Then it began to be used as an adjective that had the meaning "the best" or "the most excellent" ^{[25, p. 715]}.

The hieroglyph ? ch?u (written in traditional Chinese as ? ch?u) appeared when using the jiaguwen script, is a hieroglyph of the pictophonetic category, the original meaning of which was "the appearance of a demon", that is, the most ugly appearance. Then it began to be used to denote an appearance that causes disgust ^{[17, p. 1283]}.

According to the etymology of these hieroglyphs, it is clear that the beauty of appearance in the Chinese worldview is associated with something as good as possible, with something even holy, which is comprehensively flawless, and ugly appearance is associated with a demon, with evil, with everything bad that can only be imagined.

So, whether we consider male beauty through the modern concept of y?nzh? or through the originally formed adjectives ? shu?i and ? ch?u, we see that male beauty is divided into two categories: extremely positive and extremely negative. Of course, there are words in the Chinese language that denote an average, not distinguished appearance. Just as in ancient times people used to say "" xi?ngm?o p?ngp?ng "ordinary appearance", so now they can say "" y?n zh? y?b?n "Ordinary appearance beauty index". But such phrases are used much less than those extreme sides that were analyzed above. Therefore, the concept of "male beauty" has not received cognitive changes.

The concept of "male beauty" has been entrenched in Chinese culture for a long time, respectively, in modern Chinese there are a huge number of lexemes and phraseological units associated with the appearance of men.

For a better understanding of this topic will be used "" Xi?nd?i h?ny? c?di?n "Dictionary of modern Chinese language", ^[26], "" ch?ngy? H?ny? c?di?n "Dictionary of Chinese chenhui" ^[27] and "" ? D? h?n c?di?n "Large Chinese-Russian dictionary" ^[28]. The units were allocated by a continuous sampling method and thematically divided into 4 groups.

1. Units with the semantics of total praise the beauty of men: "" y?sh? l?nf?ng "beautiful, like a Jasper tree"; "" y?ngj?n xi?os? "attractive and elegant"; "" ch?ngb?i x? gong "to be as beautiful as Xu Gong"; "" xi?ngm?o t?ngt?ng "to be noble appearance"; "" f?ngli? t?t?ng "talented and brilliant"; y?bi?or?nc?i "prominent figure" (and talent and appearance) ; "" zi d?u zh?m?i "to be beautiful as Tzu-Doo"; "" have the same beauty as pan'an; "" q?y? xu?n'?ng "full of grandeur appearance".

This group shows that beauty as a quality of men is often associated with talent or other positive qualities. It is also often transmitted in comparison with celebrities: Pan An, Xu-gong and Tzu-du, who in history stood out for their appearance and turned from historical characters into a cultural sign, becoming the standard of Chinese male beauty.

2. Units related to the beauty of a man's face: "" mi?n r? f?f?n face is beautiful, as if powdered; "" mi?n r? gu?n y? "face is beautiful, like jasper"; "" y? mi?n l?ng j?n "face, like the surface of jade". For comparison, we have also selected words denoting the unpleasant appearance of a man: "" ji?nzu? h?us?i "with a long nose and sunken cheeks"; "" p?ngt?u g?umi?n "a dirty, unkempt face"; "" qi? sh?u g?u mi?n"head - like a prisoner, face - like a mourner (mod. v. meaning: "unkempt and unwashed, shaggy and dirty")"; "" hu? r?ng t? m?o "dirty and ugly face"; "" mi?nm? k?z?ng "disgusting, repulsive face".

After comparison, it was found out that having a beautiful face is very valuable, since it is compared to a precious stone, it needs to be taken care of, and if a person does not care about personal hygiene, then he cannot be considered beautiful.

Therefore, it is no coincidence that the Chinese language uses the phrases di?li?n di?mi?nzi, which directly translate the same way: "to lose face", and the figurative meaning will be "to lose honor" or "to be humiliated". The comparison of the face with honor once again confirms its importance in the Chinese consciousness.

3. Unit describing eyes and eyebrows beautiful men: "" n?ngm?i d? y?n "thick eyebrows and big eyes"; "" m?iq?ng m?xi? "beautiful eye and eyebrow"; "" x?ng m?u "pupils, like a star"; "" j?nm? "brilliant eye"; "" l?ngm? "bright eyes"; "" m?ngm?u xi? m?i "clear eyes and graceful eyebrows"; ""m?im? r? hu? "eyebrows and beautiful eyes drawn", "" m? gu?ng ji?ng ji?ng "glowing eyes".

Of all the stable combinations of facial features in modern Chinese, those that describe eyebrows and eyes have been preserved. For example, chengyu n?ngm?i d? yn "thick eyebrows and big eyes" and m?iq?ng m?xi? "beautiful eyes and eyebrows" can be used to praise not only the eyes, but even the entire beauty of a man, which once again confirms the importance of these facial features. It can be seen that thick eyebrows and shiny eyes have always been considered an important part of male beauty.

4. Units describing the physical condition of a handsome man's body: "" ku?w? "tall and strong"; "" j?ngh?n "energetic"; "" q?ng l?ng "agile"; "" sh?nq? ku?w?i "imposing figure".

It seems that the physical standards of male Chinese aesthetics is not very different from the European, but this masculinity should match and the beauty of the face, if the facial features do not meet the standard that will be used in the following words, which usually have a negative connotation: "" h?b?i xi?ngy?o "back of a tiger and waist of a bear (arr. in Val.: Herculean addition)"; "" h? t? l?ng y?o "the body of a tiger and waist of the wolf (arr. in Val.: Herculean addition)"; "" bi?o x?ng d?h?n "broad shoulders."; "" c?gu?ng "barbaric and untamed". This shows that having too great physical strength was considered unsightly and even wild, but you need to have a slender figure that will emphasize a beautiful face.

Many of the units that have been analyzed are chengyu, that is, phraseological units that have become entrenched in the language. Other lexemes that are not idioms, according to the frequency dictionary ^{[21, p. 89]}, are rarely used in modern Chinese. This means that the importance of a detailed description of the beauty of men in ancient times was much more common than in modern times.

In addition, many analyzed units can describe both male and female beauty. But words that describe only male beauty are not suitable for describing female beauty, which from the semantic side confirms the element of femininity in the concept of "male beauty".

Thus, it can be concluded that male beauty in the Chinese worldview should be multilateral. The most important part of the appearance is the face, it should be white, smooth and well—groomed. Next, a man should have beautiful glowing eyes and thick eyebrows. In addition, a man should be talented and elegant, have an imposing figure that will go well with his face. This means that "male beauty" for Chinese culture is the ideal of everything in a man, the ideal of not only external, but also internal beauty. A handsome man should be perfect, have no flaws, and the closer to this ideal, the more beautiful a man is, according to Chinese concepts.

As mentioned, in ancient Chinese literature, men who were considered very beautiful were often mentioned. Therefore, it is no coincidence that there is a chengyu "" zh?gu? y?ng ch? peren. "Girls love to take care of beautiful men", dedicated to Pan An. This is a man who today in Chinese culture is called the most beautiful man in ancient Chinese history. This idiom is related to the following story: "Pan An's appearance and temperament were excellent. When he appeared on the street, riding out in his cart, countless young women who were crazy about him surrounded his cart and threw fresh fruit into it. There were so many fruits that when Pan An returned home, he had a cart full of flowers and fruits. An ordinary official, Zuo Taichung, who was ugly and envious, saw what gifts Pan An could receive, and wanted to leave on his cart, too, but, of course, he did not receive any flowers or fruits, but only old women spat saliva at him" ^{[18, p. 305]}.

This story, which describes the position of Pan An in society, says that beautiful people received great advantages in ancient China, because society respected and loved men with beautiful looks, and in ancient times the worship of a beautiful male appearance was almost stronger than in modern times.

In modern China, there are a large number of super—popular people - standards of beauty. These are young people who should have an attractive appearance by modern standards, should be elegant, talented. Usually their development is multifaceted: vocals, sports, dancing, acting and all other possible branches of development. They should not have sexual relations, use obscene language, use cigarettes or alcohol. In return, they get huge popularity, and countless girls go crazy about them. In a word, they should be as close as possible to the ideal of male beauty that has been formed in China for thousands of years. This once again confirms that the concept of "male beauty" runs through the entire history of China and is also of great importance in modern times.

In a generalized form , the ideological differences between the ideas of Russians and Chinese about male beauty can be presented as follows:

From the above comparison, we see that the Chinese and Russian ideas about male beauty are opposite. In the Russian tradition, it is customary to contrast men and women on the basis of external beauty. A woman should be beautiful, a man should be strong and courageous. Stereotypes of the perception of male beauty were formed under the influence of the heroic cult and the traditional perception of the role of men in society and the family as a protector and earner. The Chinese perception of male beauty is different. Its origins are in philosophy and in the physiological features of the Chinese — delicate skin, devoid of vegetation. The Chinese do not contrast male and female beauty, believing that it is governed by a single canon. Figuratively speaking, if a Russian man has a cosmetic bag and there is a deodorant in it, this is an achievement of Europeanization; in China, a man's cosmetic bag is no less than a woman's.