Is it not in fashion?

Hey guys, here something I just noticed.
I have read quite a few novels so far, both CH and JP, but none of them feature a male MC with a beard. Why is that? And does anyone know of a novel that does?

Don't ask me why I'm asking this, it's just curiosity...

 

I am under the impression that IRL in Japan, people's beards are weak, so they don't like to grow them out.
The only bearded MC that comes to mind is old man from Jiisama Ga Iku.

 

Good point

 

Title: The Duke’s Daughter Is the Knight Captain’s (62) Young Wife [JP]

 

This handsome granpa from "The Duke’s Daughter Is the Knight Captain’s (62) Young Wife" is the only guy who has beard as long as I know
Well,, maybe because it's not a tren there? Even though a good beard can make you look more handsome just like Zayn Malik

 

The MC here is the girl, though...

 

From what I read never mind a beard when the MC grows a stubble, it is seen as someone who didnt leave the cave or building for some time through cultivation , overworking or going through depression. Anyway it is not a clean look and one novel during this 'unclean' period compared it to a homeless person. Hence I think in general in CH and JP it is not a recommended choice and is also seen when in negative condition or for older men in their middle age years and plus.

 

Because they're messy. Growing a beard in East Asia is usually either a religious obligation or a sign of a messy individual. Neither of which are acceptable much by employers or the people around you. In East Asia, you don't grow a beard for fashion, you grow it because keeping a clean shave is too much trouble. It is common among those in this region to see beards as dirty and lazy.

Adding to that, is the fact that pure East Asians (not those who crossbreed with South Asians or caucasians) do not have much facial hair in the first place. As a result it is very difficult for East Asians to grow thick beard that can be trimmed for a fashion statement. Before they can grow a beard, they'd be asked to shave first, because all that stubble is messy and puts off clients.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/science/studying-recent-human-evolution-at-the-genetic-level.html

So you will almost never see the 'beard culture' common in the western world being practiced around here. Those who do have beards keep their beards small and tidy. Goatees do exist, but the culture of them being a fashion statement does not exist here.

 

In other words, no Asian Kratos, got it. But they do have those wise old sages who have beards...
That aside, Ai Chan, since when do you care about men?

 

Ai-chan always care about men. Ai-chan goes both ways, though nowadays the only man Ai-chan plays with is Ai-chan's dude.

Technically, there is nothing preventing East Asians from growing long beards, but the beards won't be dense like caucasian beards and their beards will never connect with their sideburns unless their dominant genes are actually South Asians (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi). Having a small but long sparse beard that reach their bellybutton is actually quite possible if it's grown long enough. But it is unlikely for people to grow it that long because that'd be social suicide.

 

'crossbreed'... This wording is a bit...

 

More than the beard, long-haired guys in cn novels stress me more.

 

The long hair is inevitable. Chinese people used to consider one's hair to be a gift of their parents, so after coming of age, most don't ever cut it again. But I do get the stress part...

 

It's just the web novel thingy. If you see any CN historical series, you would find that almost everyone had a beard.
This kind of beard is the signature of old, experienced men. ( or Daoist/Taoist )

 

Aren't most MC's in these types of stories in there teens, that could probably be the reason you don't see many sporting beards.

 

Some of the CH MCs are hundreds of years old, though...
Even some of the JP MCs are past their teens AKA adults, some in their 20s others in their 30s.
Yet, every one of them is either a baby-face or gets Truck-kuned into a baby's body...

 

Even in manga, beards seem to be relatively common so maybe it is just a web novel thing. Though that's mostly for "mature" men (30's and up) so maybe it's something like young men shouldnt have beards.. or something.

 

Specifically, it was customary for Chinese men to start growing beards when they reach their late 20s. This custom was so prevalent that people would think that men who didn't grow beards did so because of health issues. Of course, everything changes once we reach the Revolution of 1911, and Western fashion began to displace all of the traditional Chinese ones. And so beards went away, just like the hanfu (or the Manchu styles), and the long hair for men (and of course the queues). Nowadays beards are uncommon in China outside of the areas with a lot of religious Muslims and some older men.

 

A beard is never in fashion if it is the beard of a nagging Flat-Earth and SJW mother-in-law that lives in a van down by the river with Seymour, a Chris Walken-sounding and silent film-watching vegan cannibal zombie moose!

 

well chinese writers like to write about other cultures (like when you clearly have viking-ish characters) but they don't care to put any culture defining fashion either out of incompetence (which is not uncommon in the web novel scene) or they don't want to "alienate" the chinese audience.