In East Asian cultures, fair skin is often associated with beauty. Was fair skin always associated with beauty and class before contact with the west? How did beauty and fair skin evolve with the advent of western imperialism?

Probably not. They're just coping because they want to be white so bad.

people have always found some reason or another to elevate themselves that doesn't involve their own individual actions or choices. to answer your question though, it is likely a mixture of western influence and the "brown skin from working in the sun, light skin from sitting in a palace" dynamic.

>>507563345 (OP)
>Was fair skin always associated with beauty and class
same here, tanned skin means farmers/workers that get sunlight working in the field bein peasant.

here its called "blaublut" or blueblood if you stay in castle your skinn becomes blueish cuz you can see the veins due to whiteness of skin.

Japanese are White

>>507563891
No, they're not. Unless you believe in transracialism. They just bleach their skin with skincare products.

>>507563345 (OP)
Yes, it’s a sign of youth. Chinese women tan in summer and go pale in winter, just like Europeans. As they age, this stops, there is a saying, which roughly translates: his wife has turned to yellow, meaning she’s got old.

>>507563531
This.
Farmers and other poors work outside, thus get tanned by the sun.
Rich people can afford to stay inside and buy fancy parasols.
It is a high status thing

>>507563345 (OP)
It still is. My Hong Kong fiancée has very slightly tanner skin than I do (and I was mocked back in elementary school for being the Whitest and Blondest guy there). Advertising agencies wanted her to model for them, but she refuses to sell out her body.

>>507563345 (OP)
Her skin is either bleached or completely covered in make-up. Also this is a photoshoot so there's almost certainly post-processing as well.