The aim of Idol Producer, which wrapped up last Friday, is to find the final line-up for a new nine-member boy band.
电视真人秀《偶像练习生》6日落下帷幕，这档节目最终要挑选9名成员组成一个全新的男子组合。

It quickly became a hot topic of discussion following its Jan 19 debut on iQiyi, with tens of millions of fans feverishly voting for their favorite idols, despite accusations that the show is a just copy of South Korean TV program Produce 101.
1月19日在爱奇艺首播后，《偶像练习生》迅速成为公众热议话题。数千万粉丝为自己喜爱的偶像疯狂投票。尽管该节目被指是韩国电视节目《Produce 101》的翻版。

Take a look at Idol Producer's top nine contestants and see if you can spot some common traits.
来看看《偶像练习生》前9名选手，你是否发现一些共同特征。

They are all young, sporting flawless skin and big, bright eyes, with makeup carefully applied to enhance the beauty of their doll-like faces.
他们年纪轻轻，都拥有牛奶皮肤、闪亮的大眼睛，精致妆容让他们的娃娃脸更漂亮。

But it's not just their appearance that's helped the boys win the hearts of fans, it's their personalities as well.
不过，这群男孩不仅是靠外表收割粉丝的心，他们的性格也很吸粉。

Take 16-year-old Justin, the show's youngest contestant, for example. Thought of as hopelessly cute and mild-mannered, the baby-faced performer's puppy dog eyes and smooth cheeks have won him a host of self-proclaimed "mom" and "sister" fans.
以《偶像练习生》中最年轻的参赛者，16岁的Justin为例，他举止温和有礼，可爱到无可救药，顶着一张娃娃脸，一双小狗眼和光滑的脸蛋，吸引了大批自称“妈妈粉”、“姐姐粉”的支持者。

Check out the motherly love:
来看看粉丝们泛滥的母爱：

@Wang xt: Your mom will always love you. I'm worried about you and don't want you to be confined by the entertainment industry. Just hope you're happy every day.

@Estelle: Little child Justin, it's not good to post a Weibo this late, since your older sisters have already gone to sleep. But it's lucky that I'm a night owl.

There's another kind of love, too — a girlfriend's affection for her puppy dog boyfriend, or xiao nai gou in Chinese.
粉丝的爱还有另外一种类型——女友粉对“小奶狗”男友的爱。

A xiao nai gou is loyal and considerate, making an ideal companion for his girlfriend, who is usually several years older.
“小奶狗”因忠诚、体贴而被视为姐姐们（大几岁）的理想男友。

Take Cai Xukun, the most popular of the contestants, for example. He has been praised for his good manners, both toward the judges' panel and to his fans through his frequently shows of gratitude.
比如《偶像练习生》中人气最高的选手蔡徐坤。他经常对评委和粉丝表达感谢，因而被赞彬彬有礼。

Though still young, these boys have mastered various tricks to flirt with the fans who love them.
尽管这些男孩还很年轻，但他们已经掌握了各种各样的撩粉技能。

Shows like Idol Producer seem to reflect an aesthetic shift in China's popular culture toward effeminate men, or "flower boys".
《偶像练习生》这类节目似乎折射出，中国流行文化的审美转向了“花美男”。

This aesthetic, first celebrated in the leading men of South Korean pop music, does not prize traditionally masculine attributes.
这种审美不再标榜传统男性特征，最早体现在对韩国流行音乐的男性领军人物的追捧上。

Instead, these men must get in touch with their feminine sides to win women's hearts, as noted by a guest speaker on the talk show Roundtable Party (Yuan Zhuo Pai).
脱口秀节目《圆桌派》中的一位嘉宾指出，这些男性必须展现自己女性化的一面，以赢得女粉丝的爱。

"I noticed recently that older women in Japan adore a skater called Yuzuru Hanyu, whose body looks much like that of a female," linguistic scholar Xu Zidong said while talking about the pop idol industry.
语言学者许子东在谈论偶像产业时表示：“我发现，最近日本的中年妇女很推崇一个叫羽生结弦的花滑选手，他的身体就像是个女人一样。”

This observation incurred criticism from fans and led to a wide-ranging online discussion about aesthetic preferences.
这一观点遭到粉丝抨击，在网上引发了关于审美偏好的广泛讨论。

Our aim today isn't to judge who's right or wrong in the discussion, but instead to consider why the "flower boy" trend has emerged.
我们今天不是要评断这场论战中谁对谁错，而是思考为什么会出现“花美男”审美趋势。

Economic empowerment
经济权力

Compared to decades ago, more women now have access to education and employment, which has lead to their economic empowerment.
与几十年前相比，如今越来越多女性有机会读书和工作，这让她们获得经济权力。

With more money to spend and fewer constraints on the decisions they make, they can choose to invest in the male stars they're crazy about and in turn, become their idols' economic bedrock.
女性在做决定时，可支配的资金更多，受到的限制更少，她们可以给自己喜爱的男星投资，从而成为这些偶像的经济支柱。

At the same time, the rising status of women is changing the social roles of both genders. Men and women used to be portrayed as fundamentally different, with the masculine point of view more often than not gaining the upper hand.
与此同时，女性地位的提高正在改变两性的社会角色。曾经，男性和女性被视为完全不同，男性的观点往往是占上风的。

Changing beauty appreciation
审美的改变

This could be the result of centuries of male-dominated image making. But now, more young girls are free to publicly express their love for beautiful men and judge a man's charisma from his appearance.
出现这种审美改变可能是因为，几世纪以来都是以男性为中心塑造审美的。但现在，更多年轻女孩可以随意公开表达她们对漂亮男性的喜爱，并评判一个男性的外在魅力。

This deconstruction of traditional definitions of masculinity enables women to enjoy male beauty based on their own preferences.
颠覆了男性气概的传统定义，女性就能根据自己的喜好欣赏男性美。

Good-looking men certainly attract attention, and lots of women surely like them.
好看的男生当然引人注目，也肯定有很多女生喜欢。

A kind reminder
一个善意的提醒

This new female-centric aesthetic sends out an important signal for all the single young men out there: girls are getting pickier about men's appearance, so pay more attention to your image.
这种以女性为中心的审美给所有单身男青年发出了一个重要信号：女生对男生的外表更挑剔了，所以男生要更注意自己的形象。

In everyday life, one needs not dress up like an idol, but he might take care to keep neat and tidy.
日常生活中，男生没必要打扮得像个明星，但要注意保持干净整洁。