Alex K. Fong / Shanghai Star

Shanghai has China's most henpecked husbands?

Armpit hair here to stay

For men in China, physical appearance has never been regarded as important — but this traditional viewpoint may be changing.

A recent post on the social network website Tianya community claims "women on Shanghai streets are obviously dressed at a higher level than men", and it was accompanied by snapshots of men either poorly dressed or ill mannered. In contrast, their female counterparts appeared fashionable and attractive.

The post stirred up debates, which soon led to even more argument on related topics: Should the men be blamed for not caring about their appearances, do they sacrifice style for comfort, or if they deserve to stand beside Chinese women in terms of physical appearance.

In a virtual space where even the tiniest issue may lead to intense debate and disagreements, opinions were unusually unanimous. There was no doubt about it — Chinese women are better groomed and better looking and that Chinese men are not catching up quickly enough.

Even the men themselves admit this, although they each have their own defense.

"The Chinese have a saying that a girl's face determines her fate. Better-looking women tend to do better in their careers. This is less true for men, who don't face that kind of problem.

"However, I think the key to the question is the role different genders play in the household. Men have played a big role as the main breadwinners, so it's not fair to blame them for not keeping up appearances," says 39-year-old Ping Jiang, an editor in Shanghai.

A survey by Guangzhou Daily shows that 86.5 percent of male interviewees spend less than one-fifth of their monthly income on cosmetics and clothes, while 38 percent of them fully support the family expenses and 52 percent partly support the expenditures.