Hong Huang, a well-known Chinese writer, recently wrote in her blog: Because I am not good looking, I must cultivate my other values.

Sharing her, well, "average" looks and being a writer like her, I smiled in agreement with her point of view. I've always believed God is too busy to care for everyone, so we need to open doors for ourselves.

A beautiful look is a rare gift from God. So is wisdom. But in the increasingly materialistic society of fast developing Shanghai, beauty is what catches people's eye. A wise woman, no matter how witty and sharp she may be, often feels at a loss in finding her place in work and in play.

Indeed, physical looks have never been raised to such a high pedestal in the minds of men and women since the founding of New China 60 years ago.

In the early days of the People's Republic, Chairman Mao once called on all women to pursue gender equality through hard work. In that poverty stricken era, women were admired for their physical toughness and mental dexterity. Strength was beauty.

Even during my childhood in 1980s, my parents and teachers kept reminding me that studying to improve my mind should always take precedence over efforts to enhance my outward look. Hence, I found my idol in Jane Eyre rather than those teenage heartthrobs from Taiwan or Hong Kong who had a big following among my high school peers.

My friends and I, who shared the same values, used to sneer at those "social butterflies" in their fancy dresses and designer hairdos. In our Wal-Mart clothing and straight hair, cut short above the neck, we didn't really feel deprived at all. On the contrary, we actually succeeded in conditioning ourselves to feel superior toward those whom we derided as chou mei, or stinking tarts.

Not anymore. Whatever confidence we had in our superior intellect against the "bimbos" has been chipped away by a rapid shift in social norms shaped by money, manifested in the madding crowd's ignoble strife in stocks and properties.

The saying that beauty is skin deep may still hold true. But as a popular line from a South Korean movie suggested, "a pretty face will win the bread". Most of the time, it wins more than just the bread.

Pretty kids win more care in the kindergartens, beautiful girls have more choices in their pursuit of career or men.

The privilege that comes with good looks has become ingrained in the minds of many young people. Their obsession with beauty has helped the growth of beauty parlors, face-lift clinics and assorted health centers, making promises only the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella could fulfill.

Of course, Shanghai women's preoccupation with looking good is not necessarily a bad thing. A well-groomed and elegantly dressed woman with a beautiful face and a well-proportioned body is an inspiration not only to men, but also to those of us who are either too lazy or uninitiated to doll up every time we go out.

But what I object to is the over-emphasis on outward appearance over other, I dare say, more important attributes. The Shanghai Dragon TV station recently staged an "Oriental Angel" contest to "dig out," as the host said, young talent in singing and acting.

To nobody's surprise, the winners were all pretty faces. But none of them had shown any promise either in singing or acting.

Now you know why I still prefer my hair short and hardly wear any makeup.

(China Daily 08/21/2009 page9)