China’s Dilmurat to Japan’s Rola, why do Asians fetishise mixed race celebrities?
- Once denigrated for their mixed parentage, Eurasians are now idolised for ‘exotic’ looks
- That’s brought a bumper payday for celebrities and plastic surgeons, but there’s an ugly side to this development, too – internalised racism
With her large, double-lidded eyes, small sharp nose, narrow face and tall figure, popular Chinese actress Dilraba Dilmurat is, in many ways, the epitome of beauty in Asia today.
The 25-year-old sprang to prominence two years ago when she starred in Pretty Li Huizhen, a Chinese television show and remake of the South Korean drama She Was Pretty. As of last year, she had 40 million followers on the popular social media website Weibo, making her the second-most-followed celebrity after Chinese actress Yang Mi, who has around 80 million followers.
After photographs of her at a 2017 fashion show appeared online, netizens gushed with comments like: “Dilmurat’s skin is so white it glows”, “Her skin is whiter than white”, and, “So white and beautiful”.
A Weibo user reported: “I saw a beauty who resembled Dilmurat on the bus today. Being near a beautiful woman who looks mixed [Asian and] Western, makes me sigh over such amazing genes.”
The fascination with facial features and skin tone that are a mix of Eastern and Western, referred to as Eurasian or Pan-Asian, has made celebrities of actors, models and others in the entertainment and advertising scene.
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It has also kept alive the never-ending debate over concepts of beauty, and whether Asians have fallen too hard for Western ideals of good looks instead of celebrating their own.