Chinese TV Dramas vs. Reality: What Chinese Royalty Really Looked Like
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- We found these pictures that were going viral on Chinese website. They are actual photos of what Chinese royalty and officials of the royal court really looked like.
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Well, those women don't really represent beauty standards of the time. Photography was something extremely rare back then, so any person having their photo taken did so because of their rank, not for how they looked. All the women there were older ones, likely ones who had already had children, and were living off the luxurious life as the senior concubines, with no need worry about attracting the Emperor's attention anymore.
Paintings are better indicator of what was considered to be beautiful and of what the younger concubines would (or should) have probably looked like.
I second everything you said!
That makes alot of sense
No way! Those were paintings and not old photographs? Good catch
@@condorX2 when he says painting, he meant is the painting that exist a few dynasty back then... Im sure there's many old ancient painting that exist (but ofc some of them are not so realistic sometimes)
And as what he said, ranks are important in chinese dynasty mistress, concubine and what not so it actually does make sense for them to get those picture first.
DarthJF yeah plus the times were different. Plump women were considered beautiful because it showed their status as a rich person. But now the beauty standards are all westernized.
I guess this is the case for all movies or drama, not only Chinese.
Yes 😅😅
u are right bro👍
off course, around the world
yeah agree
yeah.. coz nobody knows during that era..what exactly look alike!
Just a neutral argument here~ While actress and actors are chosen according to their beauty. these Qing empresses are not chosen because of their beauty but because of their aristocratic status: the so-called "political marriage". Also, one shall not ignore the fact that the appreciation to beauty depends on individual taste and cultural background or biological factors, which varies around the world and along the history.
Exactly what I was thinking, but worded better.
and it was more like that in the Qing dynasty. they didn't gave a shit abt women's beauty. The better social status they have, the better is for the emperor bcs politic.
Plus the fact that today's modern time, plastic surgery is very common
+Joy Y. Z. Exactly, it is like someone picking up pictures of not-so-flattering and deeming the entire population to look like that just because. Not only is it extremely rude but also unacceptable in modern society. Example: most of the general population does not fit on the same look scale as actors who polish their looks over and over -- not to hate on actors -- and at the same time general population and their industry doesn't heavily lie on aesthetic like the entertainment industry does.
The above comment. Tagged wrongly, sorry.
Historically speaking being a member of the Chinese royal court was not just about physical beauty, but also being extremely intelligent, skilled in the arts such as music, calligraphy etc. as well as showing maternity abilties and kindness. Being a stand out with just one of these talents could catch the Emperor's eye so that would be a small reason why the photos look like more real people than the TV expectation. Also birth rights play a key factor, the fact that people age and beauty fades, especially when modern medicines and hygiene was not practiced, and the fact that when you live a luxurious lifestyle waiting around for 1 man to spend time with you among hundreds, its no wonder some of them let themselves go a bit. Similar reasons go for the men. If you're living in times of peace and luxury why work out all the time and turn yourself into a muscle beef cake? Especially when you have a team of people surrounding you telling you how handsome and marvelous you are as is. Seems to me the ancient Chinese were able to look past many physical flaws and paid more attention to other attributes. But that's not what sells a TV show so bring on the sexy!
Back then women were encouraged to look plump too because it shows that you live a luxurious life and will be capable of bearing children. So body expectations were quite different back then too.
Only in some time periods were they encouraged to look plump. The major trend in Song dynasty preferred the look of fragility and paleness, and in Chunqiu there's the record of the emperors taking a fetish in extremely thin waisted women. Even when dynasties such as Tang wishes to the women to present themselves with a luxurious look, they don't mean overweight in our definition. The Tang dynasty prefer a round face, but not a round body.
The reason this video is potentially biased is because it represents the Chinese royalties falsely. There has been no research done but photos found on internet. They by no means represent all the royalties of the different dynasties. The drama-version of the women are not all from Manchu as well. Some of them were clearly wearing Han clothes. A. you can't say Manchu represent all the royalties in China, B. the photos are not conclusive even for people in that era. Usually, it should be fine, but the youtubers present themselves as a channel to reveal facts about China, which can be misleading to people who don't know more.
So they looked like normal people, thought so. :p I love how the ancient Chinese also valued beauty deeper than appearance. Also I am sure even though most people looked ordinary, there were some exceptions of very beautiful men and women as there has been throughout history of the world.
actually, are these "real people" ever be considered as beautiful in their period?
ZoraXire I think if u r in dat period..u can be one of the most loved concubine by the emperor
Different times, different standards.
Indeed
When starvation is common, overweight becomes sexy
The actors and actresses are mainly Han people while the real pictures of the royal family are Manchus...China have so many minority groups that look very different from each other.
Jacky Chew That's your opinion. Your pure Koreans mean no plastic surgery right? I think all Asians including South Asians are beautiful in their own way. Many pure Chinese are beautiful. Prime example is Chinese actress Fang Bing Bing. She is so gorgeous even Japanese people adore her beauty. So beauty standards depend on the people. It's your opinion so I won't go against it.
That's not true at all, there are many beautiful men and women in Mainland China, just go there and see, and btw, many Hongkong people are pure Han, some of them are even "purer" than mainland Chinese due to historical reasons. I assume what you mean by European influence is not of gene but of culture. :))
1) You were not given any argument on the first statement I made 2) Your ignore the fact that many (or some) mainland Chinese celebrities looks better than HK's and there are also many celebrities are not famous because of there beauty but their characteristics and talents, both in mainland China and HK China 3) Your statement that many HK celebrities are mixed blood doesn't cover all the beautiful HK Chinese people, even celebrities. 4) You closed your comment with a swear word which might, to some extent a reflection of your insensibility to the basic manner, which again, might suggest a certain possibility of illiteracy, and hence, If one assumes impartiality and literacy is positively correlated with manner and the credibility of observation, discredits the whole observation you made above. Cheers~
And Btw, please allows me to flag this point up with you here that there is no such thing called pure Chinese people, just like there is no such thing called pure British people. There might be something called physical unattractiveness, which exists all around the world and amongst all the races, depending on individual taste and cultural background or biological factors. Thank you :))
+Jacky Chew Bro, what I can see from your comment is that you hate your Asian heritage so much, and are basically living in your own dream. "HongKongers used to look like Europeans". It is kind of funniest joke I have ever seen recently. You are a "Banana wanna be" .
The very last lady from the old picture was very beautiful.
ikr!
She is the concubine xiangfei of qianlong emperor. She came from huizu (回族) and she is a muslim. She was loved by the qianlong emperor who built a special huizu-like building for her to stay at so that she wouldn't miss her hometown too much.
Chatlotte Meate there were Muslims in china at that time?
Yes since the Ming Dynasty given that they were more diverse than the previous eras.
LOl, go figure, she was a Muslim and the only one who even come close to all these actresses .
What’s wrong with you?
Qing dynasty cannot represent all of the ancient dynasties in China. And no matter in which country the appearance of an actor or actress in costume and makeup always looks better than reality.
Yep this is fact
Very simple explanation. The pictures that you see are of the Qing/Manchu Dynasty. The Manchu dynasty had a very unusual selection process for royal concubines. First of all only ethnic Manchus were eligible. Ethnic Manchus constituted about 2% of China's population at that time. So the pool of young women to select from was a lot smaller than you would expect. Second, and most important, Manchu royal concubines WERE NOT SELECTED BASED ON THEIR BEAUTY. This was a rule laid down by an early Manchu emperor and was strictly adhered to. Virtue and character were much more important criteria. Political connections of course was another important factor.
Tastes change. As a European, I see paintings and photos of our aristocrats from 1000 years ago and 100 years ago. Faces that were considered extremely attractive at the time, are average or downright unattractive now. Even looking at pictures of celebrities 80 years ago, I don't "get" it. Most of them look average.
I'd expect people from the past wouldn't find the same things attractive as modern people do. Another thing to keep in mind, is that modern medicine wasn't around. The most attractive feature people had in the past was good health in any culture. Mostly because it was something hard to come by. People had smallpox scars covering their faces. People lost their hearing to ear infections as young children. People lost their eyesight to cataracts and retinopathy. Syphilis disfigured people. People had bow legs due to rickets. Diseases that we treat easily today, often had long term consequences that people never fully recovered from. Such as weakened hearts, low liver functioned, damaged kidneys, etc...
The picture of health before modern medicine, rendered health the most attractive feature anyone could offer.
true.
i totally agree with u, we think that way 'bout they aren't attractive becoz we have 'nowadays' mindset
Thank you, I was going to say this. Seriously, we have people making fun of what people in the 1990s looked like because of fashion trends and "expectations." add several hundred years? Forget about it!
But also just because you are royalty does not mean your born pretty..
you can be very ugly for that times standart to
Supposedly because attractive people would get laid more often, we have selectively bred ourselves to become more attractive than we once were
But you used Machu Chinese to compare with Han dynasty in half of them...
True... But... Any drama depicting any part of China's history don't really have ugly actresses
So true just look at their hair style
Han Stephanie exactLy wat i wanted to say
@fabrizzio monsalve no
fabrizzio monsalve actually if you look at history more clearly. The Manchus were more related to Han because the Chinese you see today are just break aways and that the minority that used to be the Manchu empire was the real successor to the Qing empire (the last Chinese dynasty) and so they are all related in the end of the day. Plus they are probably just old concubines.
You're comparing Qing Dynasty robes to Han dynasty robes?
Timber and what is the difference between them!!
everything ?!
Jeez I'm here thinking the same thing
You can't compare things from two different time periods like that loool
Baccha Bessima appreciation of the beauty & temperament are different between them
@@KBenKL its like kimono vs. cheongsam
like literally
1. Different standards of beauty. 2. Political Marriages. 3. Internet.
4. cosmetic enhancement/surgery
5 smiling 6 lighting 7 they wear a lot more layers of clothes back then making them look rounder 8 hairstyles where everything is combed back is not flattering on everyone 9 unfair comparison between v young actresses vs older women. Basically looking at photos of Wan Rong and Zhen Fei I draw the conclusion that they both would look much prettier if a) they smiled and 2) the photos weren't grainy b&w
5. People get old.
Especially number 2.
6. Wigs
7. Makeup
8. Modern skincare
You are messing up the dynasties, people in Qing Dynasty dress really different
Yeah yeah, I screamed when he compared someone with a handy with Qing peasants
Maybe some did look better, they just didn't have photographs of them? lol If only life was like in the movies all those girls are gorgeous
:P
Maybe only the people that had alot of power had photos of them. And the pretty ones didn't have power so they couldn't get a photo.
+bob burger. If all of that was coincidence then it would be too much of a coincidence.
OMG, as a Chinese, I wanna say that the video compared different nation people who dressed different traditional clothes from different dynasties😂They even were not same nation😂Han people have different dressing up with Manchu people...
The photos all showed Manchu people, cause it's Qing dynasty which is Manchu people control Han people in China😂 Their looking and tradition have much difference from main Han Chinese😂
Actually those Chinese actresses look horrible without makeup. These days just look at the hottest supermodels without makeup. They are gross as he'll.
You are comparing two different costumes and hairstyles of two different ethnic groups. It’s like comparing apples to oranges and claiming that the apple is the expectation and the orange is the reality. Wtf.
the woman at 2:13 is actually pretty, and to compare with all those actresses with heavy make up is not fair
agreed
Its just a painting of her protrait. She could look however she wanted.
junkfood1991 then why did she opt to look ugly then?nobody in their right mind would do that
@@junkfood1991 That's a portrait of Xiang Fei. She was a legendary beauty and I've seen black and white pictures of her. She was actually really pretty especially comparing to the other women of that time
Yeah I agree
First things first, you guys are showing images of concubines and consorts in drama/movies which were from completely different dynasties, the "expectations" you showed were all women from the Qing Dynasty, GUYS NOT ALL CHINESE ARE MANCHURIAN, like seriously....
Like either you guys just straight up don't know what you're talking about, or you just found random images and proceeded to match the ones that look even remotely similar.
Don't you mean "reality"? Expectations were Han actresses, not Manchu.
It is not accurate to compare Han clothing with Manchurian clothing in the Qing Dynasty. To compare expectation vs reality of clothing from Ming dynasty and before, it will be more accurate to compare with historical portraits.
Those pictures are all manchurians, not Han
+Christine Chang since this an anonymous forum I can say this. But I have been trying to find pictures of Manchu people (since my novel is set in the 1640's-the Ming is collapsing and the Manchu's are about to rise)... and I am sad to say the photographs of Manchu people I have seen (both black and white photos of the Aisin Gioro clan members and modern Ice skaters) and they may sadly be the plainest people in East Asia (not the ugliest people on earth-a title won by the Irish, with Hungary and Lithuania as a distant 2nd and 3rd place). They have the longest faces, bad jaws, receding chins...and their eyes aren't the attractive shape that Mongolians, Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese and Han Chinese people have.
I am so ashamed of myself for saying this, and I am sure they have other virtues and talents (ice skating being one of them). Hopefully no member of the Manchu ethnicity will read this (and have their feelings hurt)
Noblebird02 nah man, the only ones who could afford photography were the royal family manchus, and they indeed were extremely ugly. but i got a manchu friend, and she is indeed really short, but she has large beautiful eyes, good at ice skating, beautiful dark hair, and just generally pretty. her nose is quite wide, but she is still really pretty. I feel like the manchu's who were photographed were just hell ugly, but some manchu's are pretty, especially not pure manchu's. but hell yeah, these people are hell ugly.
Noblebird02 but i do believe that they got prettier overtime because of cross breeding with the hans.
yeah, but that's probably because the Qing is the only dynasty where cameras where brought in by the westerners, so we don't have any photos of the Hun ruled dynasties
+Christine Chang LOL. This thread. "Hell ugly". That's ugliness on a whole other level.
Well, I think this kidda inaccurate. I guess it is just for fun:) The reason is the pix you show in the video are from the last dynasty Qing. But a lot of those characters are from previous dynasties, their making up and dress were not same, their standard of beauty were not same, even their ethnicity were not same, the people in the pix from Qing dynasty, most of them were actually Manchurian people not Han people.
ugly af manchurian
***** Rosamund Kwan is manchurian, personally not my taste but would you say that to her?
zeiitgeist
ugly af rosamund kwan
Do Han people look better?? Hmm let me compare them..
Was looking for a comment like this, thank you.
Actually, Tz'u Hsi T'ai Hou was quite the looker when she became Noble Consort Yi in 1857. She was still very powerful in 1908. You can't blame her for looking 72!
"dear chinese emperor, i feel bad for you" this one is really cracked me up lol
you can't use Qing dynasty's pictures to compare with all the other settings...
Guys, you're not being fair. That was a completely different standard of beauty back then! In those days being curvier and lighter skinned was associated with being rich because it meant that you could afford to eat meat and didn't have to work outside during a time when a lot of people were starving and had to work in the fields. This standard of beauty is very common during ancient time periods (and places that have a history of long famines) since it's a definite sign that you're not malnourished and dying.
im starting to doubt the whole "hotest guys in chinese history" video loool
+beqqali hassani manal lol that's why they got swarmed because they weren't common >.
lol
Well these women a picked from a small pool of acceptable and reputable noble families. Looks are secondary. They also liked slopey bad posture shoulders too.
aaaand the 4 beauties of China hahahahaha
bad posture was common due to diet and health nowadays we eat much better and have antibotics and vaccines so we has less problems
Standards of beauty change over the centuries. Compare European artwork from the Victorian era or earlier with modern standards and you'll find as much a difference as well.
thats an unfair justification. you didnt compare the dynasties either 😂
This was a poorly researched video :(
one of the main reason why I love the historical chinese drama is because everything is so beautiful, not just the actors and actresses, but literally everything is eye candies.
I'm sorry but u guys are comparing clothing from 2 different eras .. think if it like this.. Romans took over Britain and enforced a lot of their clothing and culture onto the Country... same Same as as Han clothing vs Manchu clothing (monglian) .. Pre Han clothing before the Manchu took over looked more like Kimonos or Japanese styled clothing.. Search up "Hanfu" to see what real Chinese clothing used to look like before the Mongolians took over and enforced their dress codes on the Chinese.
I forgot to mention Hanfu is the basis and inspiration for the Japanese Kimono and Korean Hanbok.. Chinese was the world and super power of Asia for thousands of years up until the Manchu took over.
How dare you compare qing to other dynastys , qing was hell and disaster in all aspect
So Qing Dynasty is the latest dynasty??
@@icefrost5355 yes, and the last dynasty in china
god the qing men shaved hair. absolutely no sense of aesthetics.
Royalty of the Qing Dynasty (清朝) were ethnic Manchus (满族) who hailed from what is modern-day Northeastern China (中国东北); both linguistically and genetically quite/very different from the ethnic Han Chinese (汉族) who inhabited the Central Plains and much of Southern China. They are more so related to the Mongols (蒙古族) instead and they were nomads who eventually settled down, adopted agriculture and became sedentary peoples before being culturally influenced by the Chinese.
Yeahh... I saw Mongolian in Tv... They have dark skin, short, small body... Their appearance really not attractive like major part of another Chinese
@@icefrost5355 WHOAH THERE MY DUDE, they look different from Han people but stereotyping a whole race to be “unattractive” is really weird.
It shows how much knowledge you have about Chinese history. During Qing dynasty, the emphasis on picking the wives are the health not the appearance, which is different from others.
Ohhh... I thought all the dynasties emphasize on the appearance only...
I still find them lovely during those times. pure & simply beautiful.
Sadly you guys are comparing 'real photos' of the last royal family of China towards people of thousands of years back which there is no 'real photograph' of.
Given there are plenty of gorgeous people in every country, back then as Emperor with the world at their feet, there is no doubt, only the prettiest are chosen to be concubines/empresses. Just as how the rich people of today only seek to marry beautiful/nice looking partners.
you two know really little about china, I mean seriously
one is a Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) costumes, the other on is a Qing Dynasty(1644-1912) costumes.
Qing dynasty 1644a.d - 1912a.d was ruled by Manchurian. that's traditional Manchurian clothing on the left hand side. Manchurian is one of the 55 minorities in China. The drama is Han Dynasty 202 b.c - 220a.d. the clothes on right hand side is Han Chinese traditional clothing. Designed according to unearthed han dynasty relics 2000years ago cultural relics. You know nothing about China. Study Chinese History properly before you spreading some misunderstandings.
it same when you see the anime and real life anime version..
I think you would find the same in European royal houses, compared how they look in films vs reality, say even if you looked at the actors in the Tudors vs the paintings of the real people.
Yeah, like when Jonathan Rhys Myers played Henry Vlll when everyone knows he was obese,old and diseased...he had Syphilis. And his only legitimate son was born with it. 😒
@@Ciara1594 Hell disgusting
Royal houses = incest
Modern actors = not incest
Different periods of history have different beauty ideals
Yeahh... Agree
If this is back from chinese dynasty.... how the hell did they take the picture? i mean like... camera was invent on 1855
The last Chinese dynasty (the Qing Dynasty) ended in 1912. Imperial China literally lasted thousands of years.
That's why all the old photos came from Qing Dynasty. We only have paintings for older dynastsy
It looked like the people in the reality photos were older than those in the tv/movie photos. If there's an age discrepancy, then it might not be an entirely accurate comparison.
It's not accurate at all because the actresses aren't even the same ethnicity as those concubines
I do agree with YangQinTony1117 in that this episode does not represent Chinese beauty. The pictures were from Qing Dynasty and the people in the photos were most likely Manchurians. Also in the "expectation vs reality" part, you compared actresses wearing different era's costume and that's a big no-no for me. =/
helo... those "historical reference" are all manchuria....
Beauty is a fluid concept... Let's wait another 300 years and see whether those people in the old photos become style icons :)
You have to explain. " All or most of photos are in some last imperial era, means they are all , or almost all , are Manchu. Most of actors are Han. They are genetically different. "
From what I've seen- 90% of all K-Pop Stars today have looked similar to the people in the photos before they had plastic surgery done.🙀
Hahahaha Exactly!!! Some of them are totally different from their original ones... Gave me big surprise...
The beauty standards were different back then. Even so, I consider Guangxu's consort Zhen and Puyi's empress Wanrong to be good-looking by today's standards
Watch this drama called "Control by Zheng Guan贞观之治", it stayed true to the history of early Tang Dynasty, and probably the best Chinese historical drama ever made.
how can you compare people from different dynastys in your photos and made conclusions about them being ugly? the photos wete from qing dynasty where they are mostly Manchurians and had camera but some of the tv drama photos you took were from tang dynasty which were chinese and they had no cameras. they clothes they wear are different too. you can expect ppl from different eras/dynastys to look alike especially when they are of different races such as chinese and Manchurians.
Didn't the infamous "four beauties of China" come from Tang dynasty?
@@LindaTran88 Only yang guifei is from Tang. The other three were muuuccchhh older dynasties.
Lol! Nice shirt Mike.
Serena Tsukino Thanks :-)
Sontard from the shaytards has the same shirt
agreed
市松騰美，又看見你了。
I want that shirt
the reality pictures are Machu, and some of the expectations pictures are Han...
they are different ethnic groups
You are absolute right! And they are comparing women in reality from Qing dynasty with all different dynasty from the tv show. Totally wrong!!
The problem is that the camera wasn't invented before the Qing Dynasty
So the Manchu royal clan are uglier than Han royal clan??
@@icefrost5355 yeah that right they are different between han chinese and manchu
Oh well... lightening, make up, and photoshop also help alot.
great lighting in your prof pic. :)
All natural from outside and no photoshop, ain't that cool?
Stéphanie OkHee no way! That's incredible...you normally don't get that warm glow due to the UK's terrible overcast skies. And no photoshop? omg that's some natural beauty right there? If only i were the emperor...you'd be
Oh we do have good, sunny days. It's not south California but yeah.
Stéphanie OkHee The natural light, in the right hours (during the morning and after 3 or 4 PM), is the best light, and it is way easier to use those than to get the best professional light (it is also cheaper), And cloudy days are the best to use natural light for pictures.
Camera doesnt exist in Huanzhu Gege's dynasty
I thought hers was based on the Qing dynasty... The last dynasty ever?
Yes it did
Perhaps the expectation of what was beautiful back then was also different. Beauty standards change over time. In the middle ages, in Europe, having your hairline plucked to half way back your head was beautiful for women,like the queue was for Chinese me. Also if you look at Medieval art they all stand like they're pregnant. Perhaps in several 100 years people who are now considered fit and beautiful will be looked at as overly muscular or too thin and un attractive?
good point. But the original paintings that depicted beautiful women looked pretty darn good? Now keeping that in mind, photographs in those days took maybe 3+ minutes to develop and everything, so people didn't smile. Not smiling in a photograph makes a really big difference :P
Yeahh... I agree with you... Beauty standard change all over the time
oh come on! you can't trust TV! it's show and entertainment. People should know that already.
Yeah... Their beauty are for commercial purposes only...
Fine clothes make the man. Beauty, clothes and makeups. If they had the colours, cloth materials, makeup artists and the advanced imaging and filming equipments they would look just like what we saw on TV today. I do enjoy most of your videos but this one is lack of depth. TVs and films are from reality but are beyond reality and that's a fact.
Absolutely! Even the posture and post could make a difference
this is a really shallow and out of context video. Lacks research and comparing beauty standards of han dynasty to qing dynasty? Royalties to servants in a few pictures.
I don't think the reality pictures were bad , infact I think those ancient ladies were so beautiful and natural unlike woman of today , full of plastic surgery and self hate and fake personalities gold diggers .
+sakurakou2009 soo true!!
Look at the photo of Queen Victoria and today's British princesses - they are world's apart, too.
Jacky Chew very ignorant statment , beauty is subjectble .
Jacky Chew Most? If most, why are the famous celebrities not married to whites? These celebrities could have what they want, right? [fact is that most do not want white men, and therefore the prettiest Asians are married to Asians] But when you see white men with Asians, why are those Asians below average in terms of beauty? If they are so desired, then they should be having at least above average, right?
Even back in the day, women used whatever means were available to enchance their looks... Plastic surgery was not available, but ... they still weren't all 'natural' .. foot-binding was the norm and that definitely was not natural...
Back in those times, families often hid their beautiful daughters and sent someone else to replace them in the maiden selections. They did this because they knew that life in the palace was brutal and unhappy. That's why beautiful concubines are rare.
OMG that is so sad
A perfect example would be The Emperor's Harem (2011) episode 1. In Ming dynasty.
i thought alot of the reality ladies were pretty...they had much different trends in beauty from now days so they look not as attractive to us for that reason...but if you look at there bone structure and everything you can see that they are pretty...you can even imagine them in modern makeup and see that they would be just as pretty as other ladies you see online...
Chrissie Kay true makeup is deception
because it's TV, everyone in TV are mostly beautiful people as they attract audience
Well it makes sense. There are a billion people in China, and the most stunningly beautiful are going to end up on TV. There was a much smaller pool of aristocratic people, so naturally they would be less attractive. People adapt to what they see around them, so if you're exposed to only a small group of people you're going to find them much more good-looking- in a world without internet or TV I'm sure some of those people were considered quite attractive. Also, like people all over the world at that time they suffered from diseases like smallpox and polio that we are now able to treat, so they often had bad skin and posture. But this is fascinating- I love Chinese history (especially the Dream of the Red Chamber era) and will have to check out these miniseries. Any recommendations?
The Princess Wei Young
People do evolve specially now that PS is very common.. And the fact that those beautiful people are actors and actresses
Dear Emperor, I feel bad for you----_---} That sentence got me laughing so hard 😀👍
There were actually no photographs of huang zhu ge ge. The story was set in the 18th century and cameras were not even invented that time.
OMG SAME WITH KOREAN ROYALTY! I went to Korea for a short visit to Seoul, and I visited the royal palace there, and I saw the kings and queens. I got so disappointed, after watching The Sun Embraced The Moon. OMG I thought the King would looked hot like in the movie, I felt that I was trolled. XXD
+Tracy Sweet How old are you? Maybe around age 9?
*****
Lol no... Im in highschool
Korean royal palace was simple Chinese building .
Beause ancient Korean were China's slaves. kings and queens clothing was copied Chinese royal clothing after 1850. They make a lot of fake history and cutlure (textbook, drama, videos in youtube....) .
Maybe because of the tradition of marrying close relatives has resulted to the unstable look. As you can see, all of them seems very identical. And they married at a very young age too. We should get it why but i really expect Dou Yi Fang to be as gorgeous as in the drama :')
This video is so unaccurate and misleading. All the photos are from Qing dynasty (the last dynasty), and photograph doesn't exist before, it is when China was conquered by Manchus, they forced han people (the majority of Chinese people) to shave their hair, change their hairstyle and their clothes, otherwise they would kill them. In ancient China hair and skin are thought to be given by parents and to show respect for, so they rarely cut their hair, not to mention having half of the head bold. So back then there was a saying like if you keep your hair you may not keep your head.
Since the royal family back then were Manchus, royal things or people of the Qing dynasty don't really represent the beauty taste or culture of Han people.
I don't think they looked that bad. I could see how some of them would've been considered beautiful.
Bro you're comparing pure-blood Manchus with Han Chinese actresses???
I love Chinese dramas and movies with the beautiful people and costumes. You've just shattered my illusions! Thanks guys! 😢😂
Mike's shirt is amazing.
had the same thought
As well educated people, I expected you guys to know that beauty is seen differently in different time periods but obviously you guys don't.
they didnt have plastic surgery back then lol. But I love how you have so many pics of Eddie peng , soo handsome!!
I mean, this is like comparing apples and oranges. Standards of beauty vary greatly depending on the region and time period. Also, I’m assuming the photos were only reserved for the wealthiest of ladies from prominent families so you’re really cutting down the pool of women who even could have a photograph taken.
Those ancient women you posted are not even the same race of those actress, you sure you guys really know the history?
lol wth u talking about they not the same race they are still Asian, mongoloid
@@abcwarrior91 actauly they are not lol tungist face are different then Han
@abcwarrior91 how are they different? they are still asian mongoloid no two human beings have the same face anyways unless they identical twins, some people thinks i'm japanese, some thinks i'm chinese or korean some say i'm just average asian i can fit into any groups but i'm really hmong/maio. Its ur style and behaviour thats determined how people know what ethnicity you are just look at every different asian culture they all behave and act different to the other also their style of cloths and fashion is different from countries to countries. I personally know this asian girl that i work with at first i thought she was Japanese cause she was born in japan and she has a Japanese name but her last name was Chinese told me she 100% Chinese i was kind of surprise cause she really looks like your typical Japanese girl and she behaves like one too but she not the only one i met many many different asian people through out my life and i have misjudge some.
The difference is only in the quality of the photography. It is much better now.
Dear Chinese emperor, I feel bad for you.
Some of the clothing from the past is far superior in its construction than the new. You can see the quality difference, black and white just doesn’t do it justice.
Accuracy fail.
Most period dramas you listed took place centuries before cameras were invented. So comparing them with photographs taken barely a century ago and presenting the difference as fact is completely false.
I saw your video on ancient Chinese period dress styles. You guys already know this. Come on, now.
-- Unless the difference between dynasties is like the difference between ancient Egypt and Cleopatra then the only difference is different clothes.
Different times, different standards of beauty.
It's my 1st time watching this video and I love that u are one of the few CZcamsrs that are taking the initiative to tackle the Chinese TV dramas expectation vs reality topic.
Unfortunately, the inaccuracies are very disappointing and I would appreciate it if you could make an updated video of this topic. Preferably add more variety of Chinese dramas (does not have to just be Huan Zhu Ge Ge) and use more non-Qing Dynasty photos.
Like other people who watched this video, mention before, the photos of the era/dynasty vs the picture of the show are not matching. You cannot use Manchu era (Qing dynasty) photos to compare it to Chinese dramas that talk about dynasties that were older than the Qing Dynasty.
They probably didn't look like movie stars but I'm pretty sure they were very elegant and well educated and sophisticated considering the education and life styles they had to have as royal families
Haha but this video is so misleading. For one thing they can't even prove that HZGG existed; even if she did I hope you're not really saying that that is the literal reality because uh, 1700s Qian Long era China - cameras?!?!. For another you're comparing a modern, young actress' photo shot professionally to a badly lit, grainy photos of older women in the early days of the camera when people were definitely not used to their photos being taken let alone know to smile in them. Really the only one remotely comparable is the one of Xiang Fei because that is actually a painting of the woman vs her portrayal on TV.
well, the standard of beauty keeps changing tho, maybe they were considered as beauty in their era
There goes my fantasy......
anything called a drama shouldn't be taken seriously.
Can you take photo from beginning of ancient China😅 lol
The very last girl they showed from back then was gorgeous
That's unfair there were no camera's back then. Some of them could have been beautiful.
Most of the pictures they showed were photographs. Towards the later Qing dynasty, they had cameras.
MelodyStyx Sorry, I think I should have specify more information. I meant like in the Ancient and older times of Chinese periods. Like say Zhou Qin, Han, Tang, Song Dynasty periods of Chinese history.
It is more like how those people look like in TV shows VS. how they actually look like in real with same hair style and dress minus the make up.
the clothes in pictures are from different dynasty! how can you compare that in such a different and say one is reality one is expectation? Do not used all han clothes to compare with manchu clothes.
They all seem to have fine features, which speaks of natural born beauty. Cameras couldn’t capture as much back then, and beauty standards and way of living was just something else. Makes me wonder how all of us will be portrayed and perceived in the future.
Some of the dramas are set in previous dynasties. Most Chinese serials seem to be set in the Qing dynasty (and the costumes are accurate, even if the actual ladies were beautiful only by Qing dynasty standards, not our modern, western influenced standards, thus the modern actresses are pretty in a modern way, as well as being physically fitter, healthier and wearing modern make up). But others are set in the ancient dynasties (Han seems popular). Sadly for me as a writer of a novel set in the Ming dynasty, the only Chinese serial I could find set in the Ming dynasty and subtitled into English is The Four, and it is rather silly.
i think it makes sense if you think about it. media picks the hottest people but in real life they probably look less hot
I would like to go on record and say that I have officially beat, puppy girl, bunny girl and batman.
congrats.
***** Heehee it actually still runs on DOS :P
Sir Green Tea
Thanks for this video & remind me. Recently im fall in love with great emperor Qin character in chinese drama : the kings woman 😂
He's super duper triple handsome... Can you imagine if the real ancient Qin Emperor does look like Qin Emperor which you watched in TV... I'm sure all the girls at the ancient era included Somebody's wife, granny would be crazy on him badly!! Hahahahah