User:Yotd2022/China's Cosmetic Industry in the 21st Century

China's cosmetic industry has a long history that was believed to have dated back to around the Zhou Dynasty (770-476 BC) where cosmetics were first derived from natural ingredients sourced from plants and animals. Entering the 21st century, China has now grown to be the second largest cosmetic market in the global economy where its citizens are developing an affinity towards products that remain natural and that are healthy for both the user and the environment. While there have been evidence of environmental progression in China's cosmetic industry, there remains concerns over the newly established regulations for the industry and the Chinese government's ability to hold cosmetic companies to such rules. These concerns remain as a result of China's reputation of lacking the ability to enforce such regulations which generally has translated to faulty or knock-off products that drastically affect the global conditions of climate change with outcomes such as high carbon emissions, marine pollution, and increased health risks among cosmetic consumers.

Background

Growing Domestic Market

As of 2020, China's cosmetic market has grown to the second largest cosmetic market, right beneath the United States. With this growth, the country's domestic market has also had the opportunity to develop its own beauty products including but not limited to Florasis and Chioture, domestic brands that have been able to appeal to local taste by presenting packaging familiar to culture motifs and creating affordability. Having the pandemic force offline cosmetic markets to online operations, this provided a new opportunity for Chinese brands to leverage digital platforms to garner brand loyalty through the partnerships of local influencers who are able to initiate community interactions -- resulting in consumers being able to help each other strategically choose the best cosmetic brands and increase word of mouth for Chinese beauty products. While these local brands have marketed their products being made from herbal medicine and other natural ingredients, many Chinese consumers have been surveyed and were found to remain skeptical about local brands labelling their own products with key words such as "clean" and "safe" due to the Chinese government's lack of regulation and vague criteria of determining a products' safe usage. As Chinese consumers are gaining more awareness, local companies will have learn to better adapt and understand the nuances that are the expectations of environmentally-conscious customers.

Newly Established Regulations

At the beginning of 2022, China's cosmetic regulations were updated with requirements that presented the opportunity for better accountability of local products to be authenticated of efficacy claims and provide safety assessments of products before releasing new items into the Chinese market. When importing international brands, entrance for foreign products into the Chinese market becomes more challenging as a result of stricter requirements including higher tariffs which vary based on the category of product, as well as additional inspection with supplemental paperwork specified for foreign brands. When considering the environmental effects of these regulations, it is important to keep in mind of China's history around enforcing industrial regulations contributing towards climate change. One example would be a written observation by Alexandra Harney called The China Price, which covered the experience of Chinese workers being exploited for cheap and efficient labor to meet the large demands of foreign investments. With this reference in mind, the current market in China continues to share similar reservations as a result of consumers demanding transparency in the ingredients companies choose for production, including the methods of which these cosmetic products were produced from. On the other hand, regardless of these changes, the domestic market remains concerned about the value that transparency will bring since it does not necessarily translate into increase in sales. Lastly, even with new regulations instated, there remains space for companies to discover loopholes and create false claims on their commitment towards safer experiences for the consumers' cosmetic usage.

Brands Going Green

Despite consumer concerns over local brands, China's cosmetic market is demonstrating gradual changes from both domestic and foreign companies. Looking at 2015, French cosmetic brand L' Oreal had taken initiatives to establish carbon-neutral production facilities located in China. In brief, the French brand was able to establish facilities that were capable of harnessing water and solar as its main energy source along with the focus of the reusage of current resources to lessen the need of consuming or replenish with new resources. Domestically, Florasis had committed itself to be a unique brand that prioritizes Chinese culture through their product design and implementing Chinese medicinal recipes amongst their cosmetic lines. Florasis source from natural ingredients that can be easily broken down at the end of a products usage life, as well as, aid the country's effort in abiding by the global ban on cosmetic microplastics previously implemented in exfoliation cosmetics. Having these commitments in place would then open opportunities for China's cosmetic industry to strengthen the trust of the country's consumer base. Amidst a lack of documentation of the environmental contributions made by both foreign and domestic brands, the steps taken by Chinese cosmetic facilities can infer that the Eastern power is actively evaluating its ability to do its part in improving the conditions surrounding climate change. Of course, there will remain skepticism amongst China's citizens as the lacking enforcement of cosmetic regulations will remain a conversation to be had until there are clear signs that the Chinese government is capable of implementing its own standards.

History

Zhou Dynasty

As far back as the 11th century, Chinese society was introduced to the first variations of cosmetics in the country. Sourced from floral fragrances, animal fat, and seed oils, early Chinese cosmetics were produced to be remain simple and allow self-sufficiency by relying on local agriculture when sourcing for cosmetic raw material. Although ancient Chinese beauty products would be currently considered as elementary, the popularity for cosmetics at the time was relatively high as one's makeup was an indication of one's social, political, and economic status. Ancient Chinese women would come across a plethora of local trends from shaping of the eyebrow, the color and shape of one's lips, to the shape of one's eyes. Post-Zhou Dynasty, China would witness an evolution in domestic beauty products that would become an amalgamation of both traditional and newer trends that would result in the consistent preference for simplicity yet modernized through the changes of products such as cosmetic powder and the use of bolder colors to accentuate facial features.

People's Republic of China

After centuries of Chinese dynasties, the People's Republic of China would soon follow under one of China's earlier leaders Mao ZeDong who would place a long hiatus on the country's ability to access cosmetic goods. During Mao's rule, the country's chairman declared that the use of cosmetics, especially for women, was immoral and that it is unnecessary for women to succumb to the ways of Western capitalism. Sequentially, the country's government would begin enforcing the ban of cosmetics and any related product to establish a new social norm of expecting everyone to be equal to one another and that no individual should stand out as it was deemed a form of disrespect and arrogance. Despite the ban of cosmetic usage in China, the country's economy would remain consistent with its growing rate of carbon emissions that would affect both the wellbeing of the domestic ecosystem and the populations' wellbeing. One example could be drawn from the increase of mineral processing as a result of a growing Chinese jewelry industry. China's growing jewelry industry demonstrated that, despite the banning of cosmetic production which already had its own concerns surrounding hazardous ingredients, the country's resource expenditure remained at large for the survival of its country's economic power, global relevance, and for the expansion of China's workforce. This period in Mao's rule becomes a reference point to how China's production methods change overtime in order to abide to international regulations, as well as building consumer amongst the country's own citizens.

21st Century Chinese Cosmetics

Drawing back to the representative brands for this topic's discussion, Florasis and L' Oreal are just a fraction of the various brands that are attempting to rebrand themselves to be companies consumers are able to trust as more customers are looking for specifications on cosmetic products that indicate their commitment towards creating safer and healthier goods that are not as reliant on the exploitation of natural resources. Chinese regulations have committed towards banning animal-testing for all future productions and have updated its regulations when new brands are registering themselves to be recognized under the Chinese government -- both domestic and international. Doing so, the country is attempting to better supervise the quality of products that are circulating through its markets such as requiring cosmetic brands to provide additional documentations for any medical claims associated with said-brand's products. This would mean that cosmetic companies within the Chinese market would have to do better with their transparency in what their consumers are purchasing and consider prioritizing the usage of natural ingredients thus reducing the carbon cost needed for processing artificial chemicals. Additionally, as of 2021, China's State Administration of Market Regulation publicly introduced a new regulation that would require all food and cosmetic production facilities, in the country, to reduce excess packaging to what is necessary whether it be for in-person commerce or for shipments. This regulation would aim to combat overly-large boxes that have commonly been used as loopholes for companies to create additional profits and will provide a structured criteria of the amount of packaging allowed for the various types of industries that would require packaging, of any sort, in its operations. Although this new standard yields great potential in shrinking China's carbon footprint, this rule would be in full effect in 2023 to allow companies an allotted time to make adjustments. Until then, evaluating the effectiveness of these new regulations remains difficult as the Chinese market would not have had enough time to collect accurate data on the long-term changes, if any, that cosmetic companies have taken to both meet new industry standards and positively contribute towards the battle against climate change.