{"id":52312,"date":"2021-10-16T13:29:38","date_gmt":"2021-10-16T18:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52312"},"modified":"2021-10-16T13:29:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-16T18:29:38","slug":"all-purpose-word-for-glamorous-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52312","title":{"rendered":"All-purpose word for \"glamorous woman\""},"content":{"rendered":"

The PRC authorities have always policed human behavior and thought, but especially during the last half year or so and particularly toward young people, for whatever reason, they have been coming on more gangbusters than usual.<\/p>\r\n

First they went after the phenomenon of t\u01cengp\u00edng \u8eba\u5e73 (\"lying flat\"), i.e., those who chose to opt out of the cutthroat rat race.\u00a0 Then they chastised ni\u00e1ngp\u00e0o \u5a18\u70ae (\"effeminate men\"), i.e., girlie boys and men.\u00a0 The social minders even drew a bead on j\u012bngf\u0113n \u7cbe\u82ac\u00a0 for socially averse millennials who identified themselves as spiritually Finnish<\/a>.\u00a0 These were serious efforts to squelch such unwanted tendencies in the population.\u00a0 Now they have taken quite a different turn and are aiming at an altogether different target:\u00a0 beautiful women.\u00a0 Strange to say, they are coupling this campaign against female pulchritude with a crusade against Buddhism.<\/p>\r\n

Well, it's not that strange after all, since communism has never been fond of religion<\/a>, and Buddhism has often been persecuted by Chinese regimes<\/a>, almost from the time of its arrival in the Middle Kingdom nearly two millennia ago.\u00a0 Even the combination of feminine beauty and Buddhism reveals a certain psychological fixation on the baldness and celibacy of nuns in traditional Chinese society.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

The current offensive against beautiful women, especially with regard to their Buddhist devotion, is described in these two articles:<\/p>\r\n

\"Chinese Social Sites Ban Online Influencers Capitalizing on Buddhism<\/a>:\u00a0 Several state media outlets have criticized the trend dubbed \u201cfoyuan\u201d for turning religion into a profit-making tool.\"\u00a0 By Luo Meihan, Sixth Tone <\/i>(9\/24\/21)<\/div>\r\n

\"A Chinese Word Describing \u2018Beautiful Women\u2019 Is Taking an Ugly Turn<\/a>:\u00a0 Certain terms have been distorted to fit a sexist narrative and insult young women online, experts say.\"\u00a0 By Zhang Wanqing, Sixth Tone <\/i>(10\/14\/21)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sixth Tone<\/i> purports to be an objective, balanced journalistic outlet, but it always has a smoothly nuanced agenda.\u00a0 Read the first couple of paragraphs of the first article and judge for yourself:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A woman is praying to a Buddha statue. Another one has parts of the Buddhist scriptures painted on her nails. A third sits writing religious texts but in the wrong sequence.<\/p>\r\n

The women are all so-called online influencers, part of the growing community using Buddhism to boost their social media rankings. Known as foyuan<\/em>* \u2014 which loosely translates to \u201cfemale Buddhist socialite\u201d in English \u2014 the women usually post photos, often in seductive poses and sometimes wearing revealing outfits, with some hoping to profit from advertisements and sell products related to Buddhist culture.<\/p>\r\n

[*VHM:\u00a0 f\u00f3<\/span>yu\u00e0n \u4f5b\u5a9b (\"Buddhist socialite\")]<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From the second article:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the wake of the female Buddhist socialite trend, China\u2019s influential state media outlets have banded together to denounce such behaviors. A\u00a0commentary<\/a>\u00a0published by state broadcaster China Central Television on Thursday said the Buddhist socialites have not only \u201cdestroyed the serious atmosphere in religious places,\u201d but are also suspected of\u00a0breaking regulations<\/a>\u00a0that ban commercial promotion in the name of religion.
<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhile seemingly standing aloof from the world, they are in essence materialistic,\u201d the commentary said. \u201cBuddha, for them, only means a persona and a tool to attract traffic and seize profit.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The Workers\u2019 Daily newspaper, which is backed by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, also slammed<\/a> the online trend, saying, \u201cA fox cannot hide its tail by wearing a kasaya<\/a>,\u201d referring to the robe worn by Buddhist monks and nuns.<\/p>\r\n

[*VHM — There are many medieval Buddhist tales of fox spirits seducing supposedly innocent young men who should rather be studying for the civil service examinations.\u00a0 See here<\/a> and here<\/a>.]<\/p>\r\n

Read between the lines.\u00a0 It seems that the overall point of view of the anti-beauty media mavens is not at all disinterested, but has a strongly anti-Buddhist ax to grind.
<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The focus of the anti-beauty rhetoric is concentrated in a single word that, until recently, was of only moderate frequency (#4078 out of 9933<\/a>):\u00a0 y<\/span>u\u00e0n \u5a9b (\"beauty; glamorous woman\").\u00a0 The animus of the movement against feminine beauty is exposed through the locutions with which it is associated:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

m\u00edngyu\u00e0n \u540d\u5a9b (\"female celebrity\") — a long-standing term<\/p>\r\n

b\u00ecngyu\u00e0n \u75c5\u5a9b (\"bedridden beauty\") — this and the following terms have only recently become popular<\/p>\r\n

l\u00edyu\u00e0n \u79bb\u5a9b (\"socialite divorcee\")<\/p>\r\n

y\u012byu\u00e0n \u533b\u5a9b (\"pretty doctor\")<\/p>\r\n

xu\u00e9yu\u00e0n \u5b66\u5a9b (\"studious beauty\")<\/p>\r\n

zh\u012bji\u00e0oyu\u00e0n \u652f\u6559\u5a9b (\"volunteer socialite\")<\/p>\r\n

y\u00ecsh\u00f9yu\u00e0n \u827a\u672f\u5a9b (\"artistic beauty\")<\/p>\r\n

The articles also take into account the innate misogynism of the Chinese script, a topic which has been well covered by David Moser and others (see \"Suggested readings\" below).\u00a0 One thing is certain:\u00a0 the present wave of anti-beauty \/ Buddhism fits into a pattern of communist puritanism, as adumbrated at the beginning of this post.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n