Chinese Glamour Shots

When visiting China, the top activities for tourists always include eating Beijing duck, taking pictures at the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower, and shopping at one of the many famous fake markets.  Well I have something new to add to this list: take glamour shots at a local photo shop.  In China, taking beauty shots is very common and customers get to take large self-portraits and photo books home to show off to family and friends.  Ever since I left for China, my mom has been pushing me to get these pictures done and dress up as a Chinese Empress.  Almost 2 years later, I got the pictures done but I'm sad to report that I didn't choose the Chinese outfit.  It wasn't quite my style.

At the photo studio, I got to  relive my days as a little girl and play dress up with dozens of costumes to choose from.  There were lacy wedding dresses, ball gowns of all colors, men's formal wear, kimonos, and Chinese traditional outfits to pick from.  The photo shoot started at 10 AM and was scheduled to finish around 2 PM.  However, since there were 5 of us with 4 costume changes each, we didn't actually finish the project until 6:30 PM.  I left the studio feeling accomplished, but exhausted.

Today, I got to be a lady in red going to the ball, a geisha with traditional clothing and massive hair, a bride in a puffy white dress (sans the groom), and a 旗袍 (qi pao) clad Chinese girl.  Qi paos are a traditional Chinese woman dress with a high collar and long skirt.  They sound conservative until you see the thigh-high slit on both sides of the dress.   Looking back, dressing up as the geisha had to be my favorite.  They first made my skin 10 shades paler than it normally is but still claimed I was "dark".  Afterwards my face got the makeup treatment with enormous false eyelashes and bubble-gum pink cheeks.  My hair was done up in the traditional style with a large bun at the nape of my neck.   Six chopsticks, eight red beads, and glittery hair ornaments were then added to complete the look.   The employees claimed my pictures would be very beautiful (漂亮)  but if not, there was always the airbrushing that could take care of any problems.  They promised to remove facial blemishes and slim down any part of my body that wasn't up to their skinny standards.  It should be interesting to see how the pictures turn out...  

In our "foreigner deal" package, each person will get a mini book devoted to printing his/her pretty face as many times from cover to cover.  There is also a 16" photo frame and a CD with 14 pictures we'd like to keep from the photo shoot.  The entire photo shoot + hair and makeup went for the extremely low price of 280 RMB or $43.33.  I had a surprisingly great time taking these pictures hanging out with friends and watching everyone get dolled up.  If you ever come to China and have half a day to spare, I highly recommend taking these.

The next Ms. China??  I don't think so...

Who knew taking pictures could be so tiring?
Jac