China's new face: Cosmetic surgery booms in pursuit of western ideals

Her father drove her six hours to Beijing earlier this month to the Qingmu Plastic Surgery Centre, where he paid 6,000 yuan (560) for surgery to give her double-fold eyelids - a common attribute of westerners now increasingly popular in China.

"I wanted to look and feel better about myself," said Michelle, who declined to give her surname. "When the swelling goes down in a few days, my eyes will be bigger and more lovely."

A generation of Chinese youth is growing up looking different from their parents, and it's not just good nutrition. Plastic surgery is booming. The number of procedures hit three million in 2010, the ministry of health said, as the newly rich trade up not only handbags and phones, but also their appearance to an apparently more valued western look.

They're starting early, too. Students made up as much as 80 per cent of plastic surgery patients in Beijing last summer, according to a study by the China Medical Treatment Orthopaedics and Beauty Association.

"Parents want their daughters to be beautiful so they'll have an easier time finding a job or a husband," Ding Xiaobang, a Beijing plastic surgeon said unashamedly. "They'll often bring the child to get surgery the summer before college or even high school."

China ranked second behind the United States in number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed according to a 2009 survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

But the tastes between the two vary widely. In China, the most popular procedures are eye and nose jobs, while the US sees breast augmentation and liposuction at the top, Ding said.

With rising wealth in China, beauty is increasingly a status symbol, experts say.

"This society is brutally practical," said Li Yinhe, an expert in women's sociology with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Everyone wants to climb to a higher rung of the social ladder, and that includes 'improving' your looks."

Li said the strict beauty standard in China puts enormous pressure on women, adding: "In a rational society, everyone should not have to look the same to be beautiful."

In a country where job listings routinely include height requirements and ask for photos, it's no surprise that there is widespread belief that western looks will help a woman get ahead."A diploma is important, but looks are equally important," the Qingmu centre's website says bluntly.

The sentiment was echoed by the centre's director of operations Qin Lili: "If there's an ugly girl and a pretty girl, which one do you think will be more accepted by society?"

Surgeons say many young women opt for plastic surgery just before they begin the job hunt.

Sandra Zheng, a director at China's state-run television station CCTV, said she had two injections of hyaluronic acid, or a "liquid facelift," to raise the bridge of her nose last summer after graduating.

"A lot of my friends had similar procedures done, so I think I was influenced by them," said Zheng, 23. "I got it to improve my self-confidence."

But along with beauty comes pain and danger.

Unregistered and sometimes unsafe practitioners are booming. Last November a contestant on the Chinese TV talent show Super Girl died during a jaw-slimming operation.

In tandem with the popularity of plastic surgery is a surge in the number of lawsuits from unhappy patients.

That number has risen to 20,000 a year, and China's ministry of health launched a campaign this year to weed out unregistered practitioners across the country.