To tan or not to tan?

[Peeter]

Hypothetically, were an European to go to China (the warm Shenzhen, to be exact), would he appeal to the people more if he had pale white or well-tanned skin?

[magores]

I have to admit, it's kind of an odd question in my opinion.

But, I'll bite...

In Beijing, at least, the Chinese seem to prefer that Chinese women be pale on the paler side of things. (Milky-white, and all that.)

One of the women I work with has commented that she finds it interesting/odd that many Westerners sit outside in the sun in order to get darker on purpose.

I'm a basic American white guy. And, because I spend as much of my free time outside on a bicycle as possible, I'm actually darker than most of the Chinese I work with. Not much, but a little. I'm nowhere near as tanned as the people that work outside all day.

Chinese preference for foreigners? I couldn't say for sure. But, I'm going to guess that if you have a tan like professional body-builders do, you will get more odd looks than otherwise. (Besides, the super-tans that bodybuilders tend to have are odd-looking, no matter where you are located.)

So, if I had to make a choice on your behalf, I'd say... Don't tan on purpose, but don't hide from the sun either. If you are coming to China for the first time, you have bigger issues to plan for than something like this.

(Also.. "European" includes a huge range of natural pigmentation. Dutch vs Italian vs English vs Greek, etc. So, it's hard to get a mental picture of exactly what you mean by pale/well-tanned.)

[gougou]

Also see this thread about "White skin"

[MartinF]

in my experience Chinese women didn't care if their men were darker or lighter. It's not that important. The women I met seemed to like my white skin, though, and often compared it to their yellower skin and wished they had skin like me. I would like to be a bit darker but I don't want to get sun damaged skin either, because it makes you look much older.

[Millaray]

oooh I´m a girl and I chinese friend came to visit me this year... I´m latin but my skin is white. one day we were shopping and she ask for some cream to make her skin white and told me that is China girls loves this kind of cream... (sh) she said chinese men like pale women.