White magic

摘要

To be beautiful in China is to be fair skinned,and for cosmetics companies that's an opportunity to tap the world's largest emerging market for whitening creams.According to Chinese government figures,China's beauty and cosmetics market was worth 42-46bn Yuan(US5-5.5bn)last year and a third of that total was spent on whitening products.Such is the demand for skin care products that cosmetics giants such as L'Oreal,Estee Lauder,Procter & Gamble and the Japanese Shiseido Co are scrambling to target the Chinese market with cosmetics that cater to the Chinese compulsion for a white complexion.After L'Oreal's 2004 sales almost doubled from 2003's figure of l.Sbn Yuan(US180m),the company set up a research and development centre in Shanghai solely to study Chinese skin and hair.