Legend Zhu was the conventional ideal of Chinese beauty. Tall with shoulder-length hair, she led her university’s modeling team, whose members were often called upon to strut down runways at campus fashion shows wearing body-hugging dresses and dramatic eye makeup. A recent college graduate, Ms. Zhu has attracted attention for her appearance once again, but in a far different way. Over the summer, she took to Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform known for its lifestyle influencers, to post a selfie with buzz-cut hair and a cosmetic-free face. “From a…
Chinese Women Who Defy ‘Beauty Duty’ With Buzz-Cuts and Bare Faces
