Fashion classes for women at Chinese university

BEIJING - A university in China has launched fashion awareness classes for women students in a bid to help them improve their appearance and boost their confidence, according to a media report.

Nankai University in Tianjin province has launched a “female studies” class, because it says women are spending too much time in the laboratory and need training to be more appealing to employers and potential life partners, Global Times reported Tuesday.

The new class aims to give the students traditional practical skills, such as make-up and fashion awareness, to help them improve their appearance and boost their confidence.

“Around 25 percent of students in the college are females, and have spent most of their time in the laboratory and little on entertainment or caring little about their appearance,” Wang Jian, a counsellor at the university was quoted as saying.

“Most women face problems finding employment, love and marriage. This class allows them access to art, make-up and dress skills, and we hope it brings them more pleasure in life and makes them more attractive and confident,” he said.

The classes, a weekly one-hour affair on Chinese knot-making, flower arranging, make-up and fashion, could become an elective course at the university next semester, the report said.

The teachers are volunteers from the Chinese Language Council International, a Beijing-based non-governmental and non-profit public institution.