Too pretty for a general? Chinese authorities police TV gender norms

– Dressed in ornate armour with his face flawlessly made up and his hair immaculately tied up, leaving some strands on the side framing his porcelain face, the fearless general grabs his spear and gallops towards his enemies . While most viewers gasped at the sheer cinematographic beauty of the scene unfolding in the Chinese hit drama Pursuit Of Jade and swooned over the suave general played by actor Zhang Linghe, some, however, had a different reaction. Some netizens called him a “foundation general”, scoffing that he would need to wake up at 4am to put on make-up for a…