My confidence in the long held belief that the 'Chinese revere their elders' began to fade when a Beijing publisher was first in line to purchase the foreign rights to my book, "Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change" (Hay House 2011). Delighted, but surprised, I heard her say that Chinese women are struggling with their aging appearance and were eager to read a book like mine to help them. During interviews that ensued with Asian journalists, I became further disillusioned. A number of them told me that Chinese culture had been moving away from its traditional attitude about Asian elders for years now. Knowledge and experience, they said, were not nearly as valued as youth and beauty. One male reporter chuckled saying, "Wise grandmas were out. Fashion and glamour were in."
So I wasn't entirely taken aback when I read about the rapid rise of cosmetic surgery in China in a recent New York Times piece entitled "For Many Chinese, New Wealth and a Fresh Face." The vice health minister there, Ma Xiaowei, was described as saying, "In just a decade, cosmetic and plastic surgery has become the fourth most popular way to spend discretionary income in China," with only houses, cars and travel ranking higher.
I knew from my own research and from watching trends published by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) that Asia's obsession with beauty has been creeping up close behind that of the United States. The ISAPS publishes statistics about cosmetic procedures, annually updating the trends among age groups, gender and countries around the world. According to their latest report, China, Japan and South Korea were found among the top seven countries where cosmetic surgery is performed, along with America, India, Brazil and Mexico. Mr. Ma's own estimates led him to report that, "the number of operations is doubling every year," in China, so that plastic surgery is now considered "a common service aimed at the masses."
What most surprised me in the Times article was what the general manager of a chain of Chinese cosmetic surgery hospitals said about their clients' demographics. "Two-fifths of patients are in their 20s," reported Li Bin. "Face-lifts and wrinkle-removal treatments are in vogue, just as in the West," but many of the procedures performed in mall-like clinics are more about looking beautiful than looking younger. Zhao Zhenmin, Secretary General of the government-run Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics said, "Nationally, the most requested surgeries have nothing to do with age: The No. 1 operation is designed to make eyes appear larger by adding a crease in the eyelid, forming what is called a double eyelid." In other words, replacing the narrow Asian eye with a more Western looking one.
In another recent article, this one by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Seoul, South Korea was described as "ground zero" for Asian faces looking to get lifted. With incomes rising in China, "people are more focused on beauty and coming to Korea to get it," where the surgical techniques are considered more sophisticated. This influx is providing a boost to South Korea's beauty industry, says Sung Min-yun, head of a consulting firm that specializes in the cosmetic surgery industry. Half the women seeking plastic surgery in their clinics are Chinese and under the age of 30, the numbers having increased five fold over the past year.
Many Asian women come for surgery brandishing photographs of two very popular Chinese actresses -- Angelababy and Fan Bing Bing -- whose chins or eyes they want copied. These celebrities who have doll-like features (one who achieved her own look with plastic surgery) are currently setting the bar for beauty. They have big eyes, high-bridged noses and small faces. Apparently this leaning toward a Westernized appearance starts early; Dark haired Asian girls now favor blond-haired Barbie dolls over ones that look more like them.
Dr. Park Sanghooh, who founded a popular surgical clinic in South Korea says most Asian women are very open about it all. He says "life competition is so stiff in Korea and China, people who want to survive that competition come here." Beautification through plastic surgery is about survival, he says, and women go to great pains -- and through a great deal of money -- to achieve it. But according to others, the choice to alter ethnic features is more complicated. Margaret Chin, a professor of sociology at Hunter College who specializes in Asian immigrant studies said, for many here in the US, "You want to be part of the acceptable culture and the acceptable ethnicity, so you want to look more Westernized. I feel sad that they feel like they have to do this."
The Chinese have their own sad stories to tell about the dangerous risks women take for the sake of beauty. Like American Cindy Jackson, who at age 55 recently told the Today Show that her 52 different surgical procedures were to gain the look she wanted, Asians have a 22-year-old television reporter who shares similar goals. Going by the name "Devil," described as already having achieved "large luminous eyes, a delicate nose and softly sculpted cheekbones," she still sought surgery to reshape her jaw. According to her own report, she wanted to look "more sophisticated and exquisite." Why not, she said, her boyfriend was picking up the tab! And she is not alone. At Evercare, a plastic surgery clinic in Beijing, owners report a 30 to 40 percent return rate, with patients starting by renovating one part of their face, only to find the lure of more work irresistible. The slippery slope clearly is an international one.
Officials in China worry, as they do here, that these procedures don't always meet national safety standards. They claim that many of their practitioners offering Botox and eyelid surgery do not have the proper professional credentials. Some go so far as to call the 2.3 billion industry a potential "disaster zone," citing the recent death of a 24-year-old Chinese reality show contestant during an operation to reshape her jaw. Secretary General, Zhao Zhenmin, who also runs Beijing's Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery Hospital said, "Personally speaking, I think this is pretty despicable," talking about this young woman whose windpipe filled with blood during the procedure. "We need to get to the bottom of such cases in order to protect people in the future."
So what are we seeing here? I find it hard enough to watch the once interesting, gorgeous faces in Hollywood looking more and more alike these days as they surgically alter them to retrieve youth and achieve so called, 'beauty.' But does anyone else feel even more disturbed hearing that this trend has reached across the globe? Sure, celebrities all over the world express fears about looking older as their careers wane with age. And sure, more are succumbing to the pressures they feel and ultimately undergo one form or another of cosmetic surgery to 'anti-age.' No doubt public figures -- both male and female -- experience a great deal of scrutiny at any age given our media driven culture, making cosmetic improvements difficult to resist. But this homogenization of beauty across culture and ethnicity is a trend that begins to sound like a bad science fiction story.
I recall a while back half joking that if my book Face It sold to even one out of every million women in China, it would be a great success! Suddenly, I don't feel like laughing anymore.
What do you think about the craze for baby doll faces across the globe?
For more information, please visit my websites at www.FaceItTheBook.com and www.VivianDiller.com. Friend me on Facebook (at http://www.facebook.com/Readfaceit) or continue the conversation on Twitter.
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Vivian Diller, Ph.D.: The Culture Of Anti-Aging
Vivian Diller, Ph.D.: What Does It Mean to Be 'Beautiful?'
Robert Tornambe, M.D.: Dangerous? Keeping An Eye On Trendy Cosmetic Surgeries
Robert Tornambe, M.D.: Are Five Facelifts Enough?
Many Eastern societies have undergone such dramatic social change during the last 30 years, and it happens to be peaking during the explosion of the internet. Major transitions always have some pretty extreme side effects. Those of us on the other end of the transition who don't want, or can't afford to surgically alter our appearance, probably will just have to get used to it.
What I find interesting is, that simultaneously, as cultural intermarriage becomes more common, traditional ethnic appearances are slowly being altered anyway, through natural processes.
Perhaps over many centuries, we may find fewer and fewer differences both by natural and unnatural means. Somehow, it doesn't seem like an appealing prospect. Thanks for your interesting comment.
SAD! VERY VERY SAD!
I hope the day comes when we consider beauty to be 'exquisite evidence of an evolving life'.
For rest of society trying to conform to the standards of this industry is madness. Why conform or want to look like someone when they themselves are not happy. Looking more beautiful through plastic surgery will not make you any happier if you do not feel beautiful on the inside and people will eventually will figure it out - that the outside merely hides the ugliness that lies within.
True beauty is feeling good about yourself and this energy radiates from you and draws others to you. I've known women who were not attractive in a conventional sense, but they attracted attention wherever they went. One day i asked one of the women about this and her reply, "know who you are."
More food, less leg breaking.
I think the parallel for men lies in their yearning for power. Take a look at athletes. They are willing to use growth hormones and steroids to be as strong as possible --to be like the others. Regarding male plastic surgery? You can go to the site i mention above for ISAPS to find out which ones are most common among men and that may tell you the trends toward homogeneity in men. I do know that men in China are willing to go through very painful leg lengthening surgery to increase their height, which in China is strongly equated with power.
Does that answer your question?
In Asia women spend money and time making their skin white.
The world is goofy
"Caucasian women spend money and time trying to make their skin tan.
Asian women spend money and time making their skin white. "
**given that American =/= white, and Asian girls in the US can be just as bleach crazy
I haven't given up trying to help younger girls of any ethnicity become more aware of these strange 'adult' notions of beauty, hoping the next generation fall less victim to them.
that proverbial greener grass, eh?
Women desire men with money, and men desire youth and beauty. A mistress is not a big deal with the prevalence of women willing to play for cash. The mistresses are quite demanding, going from wanting jewelry and clothes, to cars and houses and men give it to them. The boys can play too with the rich women. Both are common to the point of always having to question what's real.
Women in their own right do very well financially. Many of my female friends were successful business women. Compared to American women they are very easy going as is customary in Asia. Some still have their gritty something out of nothing character from not being born in the spoiled new generation.
Plastic surgery... the least of their problems
Helps to hear from someone who has actually seen first hand what I wrote about here. If I accepted this trend, I probably wouldn't be writing about it. I hope articles like these heighten awareness of the narrowing of our definition of beauty, so that we may all work to broaden it over time.
Many women have gotten wealthy from the patronage of wealthy men in a place where wealth rises fast and frequent. It's still a very popular way to get ahead even with a good career. I don't see women abandoning the trade because they want to appear spiritually mature unless being that will get them a new house or car. They live by superficial means for pragmatic reasons. The means always justify the ends. Which is why my Chinese friends are constantly complaining about the latest scandal in which some food commodity was chemically altered for quick profits. The cheating, lying, scheming, and morally bankrupt decisions made by business people and individuals is of constant concern to the average person in china who is forced to go through life trying not to be out witted by con artist, thieves, and corrupt officials. Everybody has their stories.
In the end their pragmatism will guide them to find some balance. If they see it as bad for health, the pragmatic choice is to avoid it. If that is not the case then what are the practical material reasons for not getting surgery?
Is beauty a subjective or objective thing...in your opinion? How do you feel about someone who is born beautiful and will look beautiful throughout their lifetime?
Why do you think beauty happens?
I have written a couple of articles that answer your question, "is beauty a subjective or objective thing?" One is about the difference between beauty and attractiveness (http://wwwÂ.huffingtoÂnpost.com/Âvivian-dilÂler-phd/beÂauty-attraÂctiveness_Âb_841300.hÂtml) and another, "Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vivian-diller-phd/is-beauty-in-the-eye-or-i_b_798042.html). Tell me what you think?
Only the point in these modifications is apparently to look as different from anyone else as possible.
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/bad-body-modifications-zygzags#!/photos/41129/1
(I use AVG on my laptop and it detected no problems with this site)
I could never want let alone need a man in my life THAT much!
Q: in cases like that, is subjecting oneself to all these procedures almost like a form of self-punishment because of the misery in why a gal (as in this case) seeks out procedure after procedure? i see the term self-mutilation has been used. we know it's an attention-getting device and certainly not one of beautification.
This recent NY Times article explores the growing demand for cosmetic surgery in China, a trend incentivized by high reimbursement, little medical regulation and supported by a young, vain and wealthy clientele.
http://www.esteemstudio.com.au/