Appearance Politics

<p><strong>Lex Lu</strong> argues in Appearance Politics that crafting an appealing and powerful outward image has long been an essential political</p><p>instrument in China. Its traces may be found in historical records imperial portraits physiognomic prognostications photographs poster statues</p><p>and digital images. Employing rare archival materials from Beijing Shanghai and Nanjing Lu tells the story of these political maneuverings. We learn</p><p>the ways in which political actors and their agents designed their images and we observe the shifting standards of male beauty that guided their</p><p>decisions.</p><p><br></p><p>Appearance Politics examines five case studies: the usurpation of Ming Prince Zhu Di; the rise of Manchu masculinity and its mixed standards of Han</p><p>Chinese and Manchu beauty at the Yongzheng court; the use of modern photography and Western male beauty standards at the turn of the twentieth</p><p>century; the making of the republican founding father Sun Yay-sen and the creation of visual templates of Mao Zedong. Lu's rich empirical study</p><p>counters systematic stereotypical descriptions of Chinese male leadership embedded in Western media and scholarship.</p><p><br></p>