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Not to rain on your parade, but in these cases it's hard to make a convincing separation between your looks per se and the cachet in Chine of having a Westerner

Not to rain on your parade, but in these cases it's hard to make a convincing separation between your looks per se and the cachet in Chine of having a Westerner working for you.

ryanklee 15y ago
His point is that he looks stereotypically Western and therefore is considered more attractive than most Chinese natives or Asians generally by Asians and the Chinese themselves. He's making no claims about how attractive he actually is, but that he has first hand knowledge of the difference between being perceived as nothing too special in the looks dept. and being perceived as probably in the top 1% of good looking people in a certain culture. I can attest to this as well. I lived in Korea for a good while, and let me tell you, it doesn't get any better than being a white blond, blue eyed male or female of any sort (as long as not gay or fat) in SE Asia, and from what I hear, basically every other part as well. We be some sexy, foreign beasts. And I, too, am just an otherwise average looking guy.
- reinhardt 15y ago
  The GP's point is how do you know it's the "stereotypically Western looks" and not just the fact he's Western? Unless you claim that all Westerners look attractive to Asians (in which case there's no practical point in separating ethnicity from looks), the question to ask is how non-attractive Westerners are perceived.
  - olalonde 15y ago
    You know, it's weird. Some of my Western friends in China would be considered much more handsome than me by Western standards. Yet, Asians seem to consider me more handsome than them. Just like I sometimes consider a Chinese girl to be very pretty and yet, my Chinese friends consider her so-so [1]. The point of my story wasn't to "parade" (that would be silly on HN) but just to communicate my personal experience. To go back to your point, the Western look definitely helps in China, regardless of beauty. Many businesses want to hire Westerners to project an international image. That being said, I think my luck had more to do with my perceived handsomeness than my Western look. I know, this doesn't sound terribly humble, but like I said, I'm not amazingly handsome by North American standards. Also, to clarify, I'm not taking a moral/ethic position on the subject, just communicating my personal experience. [1] http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?tid=707742 http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?tid=707742
- ArbitraryLimits 15y ago
  If the OP were being asked out on a date, I could say with 99% condfidence it was because of his looks. If he's getting job offers, from presumably (just going with the odds) heterosexual men, then I strongly suspect there are other factors at play besides just how he looks, regardless of the ethnicity of the person perceiving those looks.
  - ryanklee 15y ago
    You'd be surprised, I think, just how much looking (and being?) stereotypically Western is considered a PR advantage in many Asian countries. There is a practice, for instance, of hiring Western males to attend business meetings not for any reason related to that person's business acumen, but because it looks very good for a company if you've got a white English speaking male in attendance.

Not to rain on your parade, but in these cases it's hard to make a convincing separation between your looks per se and the cachet in Chine of having a Westerner working for you.

ryanklee 15y ago

His point is that he looks stereotypically Western and therefore is considered more attractive than most Chinese natives or Asians generally by Asians and the Chinese themselves. He's making no claims about how attractive he actually is, but that he has first hand knowledge of the difference between being perceived as nothing too special in the looks dept. and being perceived as probably in the top 1% of good looking people in a certain culture. I can attest to this as well. I lived in Korea for a good while, and let me tell you, it doesn't get any better than being a white blond, blue eyed male or female of any sort (as long as not gay or fat) in SE Asia, and from what I hear, basically every other part as well. We be some sexy, foreign beasts. And I, too, am just an otherwise average looking guy.

reinhardt 15y ago
The GP's point is how do you know it's the "stereotypically Western looks" and not just the fact he's Western? Unless you claim that all Westerners look attractive to Asians (in which case there's no practical point in separating ethnicity from looks), the question to ask is how non-attractive Westerners are perceived.
- olalonde 15y ago
  You know, it's weird. Some of my Western friends in China would be considered much more handsome than me by Western standards. Yet, Asians seem to consider me more handsome than them. Just like I sometimes consider a Chinese girl to be very pretty and yet, my Chinese friends consider her so-so [1]. The point of my story wasn't to "parade" (that would be silly on HN) but just to communicate my personal experience. To go back to your point, the Western look definitely helps in China, regardless of beauty. Many businesses want to hire Westerners to project an international image. That being said, I think my luck had more to do with my perceived handsomeness than my Western look. I know, this doesn't sound terribly humble, but like I said, I'm not amazingly handsome by North American standards. Also, to clarify, I'm not taking a moral/ethic position on the subject, just communicating my personal experience. [1] http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?tid=707742 http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/viewthread.php?tid=707742
ArbitraryLimits 15y ago
If the OP were being asked out on a date, I could say with 99% condfidence it was because of his looks. If he's getting job offers, from presumably (just going with the odds) heterosexual men, then I strongly suspect there are other factors at play besides just how he looks, regardless of the ethnicity of the person perceiving those looks.
- ryanklee 15y ago
  You'd be surprised, I think, just how much looking (and being?) stereotypically Western is considered a PR advantage in many Asian countries. There is a practice, for instance, of hiring Western males to attend business meetings not for any reason related to that person's business acumen, but because it looks very good for a company if you've got a white English speaking male in attendance.