For Some Chinese Uighurs, Modeling Is A Path To Success

[rott]

She looks 90% like Han.

Marry her and make it 99%.

 

[beijingwalker]

Marry her and make it 99%.

Her boyfriend is a Han,so it seems that it's already happened.

 

[scherz]

For Some Chinese Uighurs, Modeling Is A Path To Success
September 27, 201710:01 AM ET

Parwena Dulkun is a Uighur model who divides her time between Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, and Beijing. Uighurs share traits from both Asian and European ancestors, a look that is in demand among modeling agencies throughout China.

Photo courtesy of Parwena Dulkun

Speaking to a foreign journalist is usually a stressful endeavor for a Uighur in China. Uighurs belong to a Muslim ethnic minority and speak a language closer to Turkish than Chinese. These differences from China's dominant ethnicity, the Han, have been at the root of a tense and sometimes violent relationship between Uighurs and China's government.

But there's another difference many Uighurs possess that the rest of China is attracted to: their appearance.

Speaking to a foreign journalist about that is easy for Xahriyar Abdukerimabliz, a 19-year-old model from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region in China's far northwest.

"Not to brag, but we are very good-looking," he says. "Our facial features are naturally attractive. We've got great eyebrows, big, beautiful eyes and double eyelids that weren't created by a surgeon."

Abdukerimabliz blinks, revealing his naturally creased eyelids. More and more Chinese are undergoing surgery to create a crease in their upper eyelids that about half of all East Asians are born without. Abdukerimabliz's "double eyelids" are topped with striking eyebrows, a long nose and expressive eyes that look either Asian or European, depending on his mood — or pose.

The demand for this look has roots in the birth of Chinese consumerism back in the 1990s.

"There were fewer local brands in China back then," says Max Liu, CEO of the Beijing-based modeling agency Fun Models. "All the famous brands were international, and they all used Caucasian models. As China has developed, local brands now want a local image, but not too local. So they've turned to models who have half-Asian, half-European looks for their brand identity."

Plus, says Liu, Uighur models are Chinese and they speak Mandarin, making it a cinch for agencies to work with them. That's why he's seen a 10 percent increase in Uighur models year to year in China.

"With their looks, they can easily flow through cultures," says Liu. "They can play multiple roles. If you need to cast a foreigner in a movie, they can do that while speaking flawless Chinese. They're incredibly versatile."

At a teahouse in Urumqi, Uighur model Parwena Dulkun shows off a video on her smartphone of her dancing to a local song on Walk of Fame, a talent show on CCTV, China's largest broadcaster. Later, she scrolls to another video of her in a nationwide beauty pageant.

She's busy. Her shape-shifting appearance is in such high demand that she says she has taken to turning down offers of work from some advertisers. "I was in the States recently," she says, "and after that, I went to Europe — I was in Italy, France and Switzerland — and then I had a job in Hong Kong."

And wherever she goes, she says, she gets the same response. "In France, people spoke to me in French, thinking I was French," she says. "In Italy, they spoke Italian to me. The immigration officer in Europe wouldn't stamp my Chinese passport at first because he didn't believe I was from China."

The only country where she isn't mistaken for a local is her own.

"In many Chinese cities, people think I'm a foreigner," Dulkun says, giggling.

She uses these moments to educate her countrymen.

"They try to speak English to me, and I answer in Mandarin," she says. "Cab drivers always turn around and ask me what country I'm from."

She says she smiles proudly and concludes her lesson by announcing: "I'm Chinese."

Not bad, she looks like a mix of turk and slavic. -> she passed my approval

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

the Xinjiang Uyghur and Xinjiang kazakh and last two famous ones (think Uyghurs) look han chinese..

ya thats what i thought- the last 2 looks chinese to me.

 

[AViet]

Asian womem do plastic surgery to look white like double lid eyes, face of the shape etc. But the uyghurs there have it naturally and they dont have to waste 1000s of them dollars to look like that so it's no wonder they become famous. I was chatting chinese friend once and i asked why these minorities who have caucasian features live in poverty in a region where whites are worshipped and the homeboy bad no explanations but as expected they are exploiting the entertainment industry.

Skin tone aside, no one worship white facial structure here. Our East Asian facial structure are perfect. And a lot of northern Vietnamese (especially in Hanoi) have porcelain white skin, let alone our northern neighbors.

White people who is naturalized and live permanently in an East Asian country always have lower income, lower education level and lower social position than native. Surely, tourists and expats are different. But increasingly, white tourists are seen as poor and unwelcome (because of their behavior) compared to East Asian tourists (Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean Singaporean, etc.).

 

[mike2000 is back]

Asian womem do plastic surgery to look white like double lid eyes, face of the shape etc

Yes, I've heard about that alot. During my stay in some East Asian countries I came across quite a number of them who had very wide eyes. Wasn't sure if it was natural or fake.
Guess so many have carried out surgery on their facial face/eyes that we don't even know which ones are real or not.
Anyway, it's becoming a general trend nowadays.

 

[haidian]

Asian womem do plastic surgery to look white like double lid eyes, face of the shape etc. But the uyghurs there have it naturally and they dont have to waste 1000s of them dollars to look like that so it's no wonder they become famous. I was chatting chinese friend once and i asked why these minorities who have caucasian features live in poverty in a region where whites are worshipped and the homeboy bad no explanations but as expected they are exploiting the entertainment industry.

I don't know about your country, there's no white worshipping here.

 

[AViet]

loool ok.. you can believe in whatever you want to make yourself feel better. that's not what i've seen in my personal experience tho. i know loads of chinese, korean and vietnamese women and most of themthrow themselves at even the most average white blokes. these men are the ones who usually get no P tang from women of other races but asian women would happily accept the leftovers as long as they are white.

East Asian women like white men, not unlike white women prefer black. East Asian men do not like white women, not unlike white men do not like black women. Can you see the hierarchy?.

In Caucasoid view, it would be East Asian women run after white men and black man run after white women. I do not care who run after whom, but this view seems to satisfy the ego of Caucasoid people (including Sri lankan)

 

[haidian]

loool ok.. you can believe in whatever you want to make yourself feel better. that's not what i've seen in my personal experience tho. i know loads of chinese and korean women and vietnamese women and most of them throw themselves at even the most average white blokes. these men are the ones who usually get no minge from women of other races but asian women would happily accept the leftovers as long as they are white.


did they throw themselves at you too? the funny thing is i hang out with wihte, black and indian girls all the time and i get no problems but as soon as i move into these wannabe-white asian women, i get loads of racism for my skin colour. i don't bother with them anymore and simply ignore them. there are also lots of articles about racism in east asia.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/01/lou-jing-chinese-talent-show

take a look at this article. i saw comments like her mom could have mixed with a white man to improve the gene pool LMFAO. and in the meanetime white people get treated like this:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.people/index.html

I won't even bother talking about koreans. they are the most racist backward people i have ever met.

Didn't realize that you are talking about Asian women. They may think white people are exotic but still the majority of Chinese women only want to date Chinese guys, they may casual date white guys for fun, that' s very natural but that doesn't mean we worship white. Your understanding of the word worship is very strange.

 

[kankan326]

yes men don't have this problem. i don't care about racial preferences either. what pisses me off is worshipping whites while hating the shit out of people dark skin colour like me. i never knew the meaning of racism until i met asian women (who are not westernized) and i grew up in the uk.

what i talked about is even in the article in the OP



btw i thought sri lanka is a backward shithole but we had black actors casted in music videos and black rappers without anyone even noticing.

watch from 1:45

Chinese prefer fair skin. But it's a thousands years of tradition has nothing to do with white race, which our ancestors didn't even know they exist by then. Chinese used to call white people "ghost" because they looked weird and ugly. Even now a big part of Chinese still believe white people are not good looking. The purpose of plastic surgery is to acquire more Asian style beauty, not white race beauty.

 

[NoOne'sBoy]

it is South Koreans, they are quite obsessed with plastic surgery.

White worship/White privilege is a widespread phenomenon across Asia Pacific countries, it has become a norm.
Not sure if the same can be said about Middle East and African region

sadly spreading to sri lanka too through kpop and bollywood.

 

[haidian]

i don't know what else you call it and asian men are victims of this too. you have many women running around saying "i don't date asian men"

I don't know how much time you spent in China, most people treat foreigners the same here . I never know any Chinese girls saying they never date Asian guys and I live in China my whole life so I don't know why you say that I am a victim too. If you always believe that Asian women don't like you maybe deep inside you yourself subconciously have inferiority complex.

 

[rambro]

Chinese prefer fair skin. But it's a thousands years of tradition has nothing to do with white race, which our ancestors didn't even know they exist by then. Chinese used to call white people "ghost" because they looked weird and ugly. Even now a big part of Chinese still believe white people are not good looking. The purpose of plastic surgery is to acquire more Asian style beauty, not white race beauty.

True to China's past preference before the arrival of European colonials.

Also in general all Asians prefer fair skin tone as fair as possible.

Even the late Michael Jackson likes to be white

 

[haidian]

Speaking of skin tones I have to say that Asian girls have the best perfect impeccable skin that many western girls say that they would kill to have it.

 

[rambro]

Speaking of skin tones I have to say that Asian girls have the best perfect impeccable skin that many western girls say that they would kill to have it.

Correct, the reason being freckles and wrinkles.
Them Yellows tends to age slowly, Whites seems to age a lot faster.
Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves are immortal though LOL