HK Girl Talk

HK Girl Talk – by Jin Wong – is a blog of the author's randomness and her being fascinated by all the interesting cultural phenomena in Hong Kong and China.

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Why Chinese People are Fully-clothed on the Beach?

17 Comments Posted by Jin on May 6, 2011

The other day I went to the Hung Shing Yeh Beach on Lamma Island and saw this army of fully-clothed Chinese people sitting on the sands, with hats and umbrella covering their face. Normally, people go to the beach for swimming or suntanning. However, they don’t swim nor get sun-tanned, so why on earth do they go to the beach fully-clothed?

Fully-clothed Chinese people on the beach

Why is that?

Apparently, the reason is that they just want to keep themselves white. On a social reason, in traditional Chinese thinking, being white symbolizes being more rich because that means you don’t need to do physical work in a field where you will be exposed under the sun and get tanned easily. Richer people in general don’t do physical but more clerical work, and they work indoor so they’re more white. Since Chinese people want to look rich, then they need to be white. Also, because of the prevalence of white expats migrating to China and Hong Kong where they earn much more than locals, so again, being white represents having more wealth.

On a physical point of view, being white means being more beautiful in Chinese thinkings as white skins make a woman look vulnerable whom you want to protect, hence she would find it easier to find her desire husband because of Chinese man’s protection and controlling instinct.

So What do they do on the beach?

During my stay on the beach for a few hours, I saw them (the proportion of time spent is shown in brackets):

putting on suncream 5 times in 1 hour (40%)
just sitting and doing nothing (30%)
gossiping about celebrities (20%)
talking about why people like doing suntanning (10%)

After a few hours on the beach, nothing really changed for them – they left with their un-tanned skin, but maybe the only difference was that the suncream was getting more consumed. Now I honestly think that ultra-strong sun-blocking products (high UV protection umbrella and SPF50++ suncream etc.) for beach will be a big profit-generator for skincare brands in the Chinese market.

Culture Beach, Culture, Mainland Chinese

Why Hong Kong Guys Look Gay? →

17 Responses to Why Chinese People are Fully-clothed on the Beach?

Konstantin May 11, 2011 at 2:08 pm
I like this post
It’s kinda scientific and very interesting to me. I didn’t know that being white in China = being wealthy)) thank you for this.

Reply
- hongkonggirltalk May 11, 2011 at 2:16 pm
  Thanks Konstantin! Yes being white is a big deal in China and young girls are constantly told by their mom to avoid sun so that more men will find them more attractive.
  
  Reply
Bored in Melbourne May 13, 2011 at 3:46 pm
The other thing they will be doing on the beach is perving and taking photos of the few people who are wearing less clothing. Especially the mainlander, they are not even embarrassed that they are so obvious about it. What a special bunch of people.

Of course they are not all like that. I have a lot of Chinese friends who love to strip down on the beach, especially the girls, once they realise that their natural shape works well in a bikini.

Reply
- HK Girl Talk May 13, 2011 at 3:54 pm
  That’s true! I mean, the fact that they don’t swim nor do sun-tanning while still going to the beach may be just to see those girls in bikini. And they also take pictures of themselves sitting on the beach so that they can tell their friends “hey, I’ve been to this nice beach in Hong Kong!” When I was on the beach they also took pictures of me LOL.
  
  I really admire those Chinese girls who love wearing bikinis. You have to love your body before others will do.
  
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  - Bored in Melbourne May 13, 2011 at 8:47 pm
    Well did you wear your bikini? I used to have a girlfriend who had lived on Lamma island, and she had lived in Europe and used to go topless when we went to the beach. I can only image how many men with zoom lens would have been following her on the HK beaches
    
    Reply
    - Jin @ HKGirlTalk May 14, 2011 at 3:33 am
      Yes I did wear my bikini, or what’s the point of going to beach? LOL your ex-girlfriend must have been overwhelmed by her popularity in Hong Kong
      
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Bored in Melbourne May 14, 2011 at 9:28 pm
She is originally a mainlander but grew up in North Point so I guess HK is not going to surprise her. However she does enjoy the attention of men a lot, and knows how to use her sexuality. However as her partner I found her jealousy ploys just too needy and her habit of having too many exes around her undermined the trust. So after we separated I cut off contact, I don’t need to exist to feed her ego

Reply
- Jin @ HKGirlTalk May 15, 2011 at 2:42 am
  Everyone loves to get attention, but if someone try to do that in a way that annoys you, the attention he/she gets wouldn’t make that person any cooler or just even worse. I’m glad that you made your choice that you didn’t regret in the end.
  
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Nige May 25, 2011 at 10:55 am
Funny thing is that in Europe its the other way around. If you have a tan that mean you have enough money to go abroad on holidays, where as the less rich can’t afford nice holidays! We love getting a tan LOL!

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- Jin @ HKGirlTalk May 25, 2011 at 12:19 pm
  Yes. I think that people always want something that they are not having.
  
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  - zenlifefrugal May 26, 2011 at 12:57 am
    Having tans in USA tends to be something that many want. I am not exactly sure as to the reason but some seem to think its more attractive to be darker than what they currently are.
    
    Reply
    - Jin @ HKGirlTalk May 26, 2011 at 1:33 am
      Yes. Because darker skin is more exotic.
      
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      - Mr. USA July 27, 2011 at 7:55 am
        Actually that is not true. Darker skin is not considered exotic in USA. No one wants to be the dark skin type. The reason people get tan is because they just get tan when they spend too much time in the sun. Duuhh!! It’s unavoidable. Sure enough they could wear clothes. But then who wants to wear clothes on the beach? Anyone gets tan whenever they playvolleyball, surf, splashing, or have beer parties on the beach for many hours.
        
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        Jin July 27, 2011 at 9:33 am
        Thanks for your comment.
        
        I think that it’s true that people get darker skin when they do outdoor activities, but if they want to keep their skin white, they would wear sunglasses and put on more sunscreen. Those people who don’t put very strong sunscreen are either don’t care about their skin color that much, or that they just want to get tanned because they like tan skin more.
        
        I don’t know much about the situation in the US but there are actually some people thinking that darker skin is exotic, at least that’s what I heard from my American friends.
        
        Reply
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Jeffrey D. March 1, 2012 at 2:24 am
Something about asian (chinese) skin pigments that reacts very strongly below the sun – if you are under the sun a lot, your skin will be very dark vs. if you stay indoor you skin will be very white. Compare that to caucasian or other races, their skin are a lot more modifiable. So that may cause more paranoia on the suntan thing.

Reply
- Jin March 1, 2012 at 10:05 am
  Didn’t know that. Thanks for the knowledge.
  
  Reply