Swallowing pieces of silk, eating cacti or just 1 meal a day – all in pursuit of thinness in ancient China

Long before calorie counting and healthy diets, women in ancient China were already under intense pressure to stay slim, even swallowing cacti or silk in pursuit of what was perceived as perfection. Many assume ancient Chinese women prized fuller figures, but the reality was more nuanced. The Tang dynasty (618–907) is often cited as the classic example, thanks in part to figures such as the female sovereign Wu Zetian and the consort Yang Yuhuan. Yet plumpness was never the sole ideal. In most historical accounts, the preferred look in ancient China was still chang bai: fair-skinned, tall and slender. During the Eastern Zhou period (770–256 BC), King Ling of Chu prized thin waists and his court quickly followed suit, cutting back on food to stay slim regardless of gender. Historical records show that officials ate only one meal a day because they feared gaining weight and losing the ruler’s favour. Each morning, they held their breath, tightened their belts and steadied themselves against a wall before setting off for court. Some court women even swallowed cloth or silk to curb their appetite. However, extreme dieting left many weak and emaciated, and some consorts and ministers died as a result. During the Wei and Jin periods (220-420), the literary elite took a liking to Five Mineral Powder, a mix of ground minerals such as stalactite, brimstone and quartz. Valued for its intoxicating effects and supposed slimming properties, it also proved highly dangerous. Historical accounts tie it to repeated cases of poisoning and death, including those of Emperor Ai of Jin and a Northern Wei emperor. Han dynasty (206–220) beauty Zhao Feiyan, a favoured imperial consort, was famed for her slight frame and narrow waist. Legend has it that she was so light she could dance in the emperor’s palm. She was also said to have used a slimming remedy made from musk, ginseng and deer antler, applied to the navel. According to the Book of Han, the remedy was believed to whiten the skin and lighten the body, though it was also blamed for causing infertility. In the early Tang dynasty (618–907), women turned to slimming teas brewed from ingredients such as dried tangerine peel, poria peel and ginger peel. The Compendium of Materia Medica, an encyclopedic work of Chinese medicine, records the slimming properties of foods such as tea, hawthorn and lotus leaf. The dietary manual Yinshan Zhengyao also mentions soups believed to aid weight loss, including winter melon soup for reducing fat and crucian carp soup for easing swelling and water retention. By the mid-Tang period (766 to 835), social stability, economic prosperity and the influx of Western culture carried by the Silk Road had begun to reshape ideas of feminine beauty. The long-standing preference for slenderness gave way to a more confident and healthy ideal. Yang Yuhuan, whose fuller figure won imperial favour, came to embody this shift, while the layered fashions of the time also made women appear more substantial than they were. But the change did not last. In the late Tang, beauty ideals swung back towards delicacy and slenderness, as war, displacement and the demands of daily labour placed a renewed premium on lightness and physical agility. Ancient people also turned to physical methods to lose weight. In the Song dynasty (960–1279), women soaked towels in cold water and repeatedly rubbed their bodies, believing the practice would burn off bodily heat and help them slim down. The Mongols later adapted the method in the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), replacing towels with bristle brushes and scrubbing the skin until it flushed red. By the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), court women had begun tightly binding their waists with a garment known as white button cloth, much like the modern corset, to compress the abdomen, shape the body and suppress appetite. The practice was risky; however, in extreme cases, excessive tightening damaged their internal organs. At the time, cactus entered China through maritime trade and came to be seen as a slimming aid. Some women believed its sticky sap could suppress appetite, though modern science has not borne that out. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is also valued for cooling the blood, stopping bleeding, detoxifying the body and reducing swelling, while long-term use was believed to help regulate blood sugar. Exercise was another favoured route to weight loss in ancient China. The book Zhuangzi describes deep breathing and full-body stretching as ways to prolong life and keep the body slender. Han dynasty doctor Hua Tuo later devised the Five Animal Exercises, often seen as China’s earliest form of slimming qigong, in which practitioners mimicked the movements of the tiger, deer, bear, monkey and bird to build strength and agility. By the Song dynasty (960–1279), some elite women had taken up cuju, an ancient Chinese form of football, while others drank slimming tea after their morning runs.

Swallowing pieces of silk, eating cacti or just 1 meal a day – all in pursuit of thinness in ancient China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}While being plump had a place in China’s history, extreme diets, constricting clothes formed part of nation’s centuries-old desire for slimness

While being plump had a place in China’s history, extreme diets, constricting clothes formed part of nation’s centuries-old desire for slimness