Since the economic reforms of 1978, significant emphasis has been placed on female appearances in China, coinciding with dramatic social and political shifts that have shaped women’s perceptions of beauty and beauty practices. This book addresses the following questions: How is female beauty understood and defined in the experiences of young Chinese women (aged 18–25) and what insight does this offer into shifts in the construction of femininity and beauty culture since the economic reform? What are the everyday beauty practices that women engage in and how do they perpetuate gender norms? What were the initial reasons for women to engage in beauty practices? How do women articulate their reasons for engaging in beauty practices now, and how can this be understood in relation to feminist work on postfeminism and ‘choice’? It also discusses the role of beauty as a feminist issue, elaborating on the application of feminist methodologies in conducting research within the Chinese context.