Betel nut beauties or simply "betel nut girls" (檳榔西施, pinyin: bīnláng xīshī) are scantily-clad young women selling betel nut on roadside kiosks in Taiwan. A uniquely Taiwanese phenomenon, they are named after the legendary beauty Xi Shi from the Spring and Autumn Period of ancient China.
Taiwanese betel nut kiosks, heavily decorated with bright neon lights, are most common on highways and suburban roads in the western part of the island, such as around Taichung. The main clientele is composed of truck drivers who chew the nuts to stay awake on long trips; most are addicted to the stimulant to some degree. The high profitability of betel nut production and commerce has led to a multiplication of such kiosks, and as competition for customers' attention increased, the girls staffing them have been wearing less and less.
The betel nut beauty phenomenon, as well as betel nut consumption in general, is regularly denounced by local politicians and newspapers as a moral nuisance. Excessive nudity in betel nut kiosks has been banned first in Taipei City, then in neighbouring Taoyuan County. However, the lobbying power of the nut producers, who have come to rely on the beauties as their main sales channel, makes island-wide bans very unlikely in the near future.
Betelnut Beauty is also the English title of the 2000 film Ai ni ai wo (愛你愛我, literally "Love you, love me") by Taiwanese director Lin Cheng-Sheng. This film, whose story revolves around a betel nut beauty, won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2001.External links
