With private wealth accumulating, increasing numbers of Chinese
want the ideal face promised by plastic surgeons. Today the Chinese
who get face-lifts are younger than ever before; many are high
school or college students.
During this year's summer holiday, Hangzhou Plastic Surgery
Hospital swarmed with patients. Unbelievably busy, these plastic
surgeons had daily schedules crammed with back-to-back operations
lasting from 9 AM to 4 PM. Significantly, 70 percent of their
patients were college-bound high school graduates and college
seniors. Undoubtedly, they were the major force of the large
pro-plastic-surgery army this summer.
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According to Tan Xiaoyan, the hospital's deputy director and
professor of treatment, most of these young people do not have any
defects in their faces or bodies. They simply wanted to enhance
their appearance through surgery. She revealed that minor plastic
surgeries such as eyelid reconstruction and nose jobs were still
popular with young patients. Major operations: liposuction and
breast augmentation, were rapidly gaining popularity as well. Tan
said that now even middle school students under the age of 18
wanted their faces remade. Considering they are not fully grown,
doctors usually politely turn down their requests. Tan reported
that her hospital had already refused a flock of middle school
students.
Parents, who were previously against the idea of plastic
surgery, have apparently now changed their attitudes. They
frequently accompany their children to hospitals for operations.
Some of them even embrace the surgeries more enthusiastically than
their children. They believe that they have to make their children
"prettier" in order to insure future success.
A mother accompanying her daughter to the Hangzhou Plastic
Surgery Hospital was very excited with her daughter's future post-
operation looks. Holding a computer-generated picture of her girl's
would-be face, she happily showed it to everyone present, while
rhetorically asking if her daughter appeared prettier.
Another mother, whose child has been admitted to college, argued
that since children would soon enter a highly competitive society,
parents should take initiatives to prepare them. She felt that by
offering children a chance to enhance their looks they would gain a
more competitive edge in both school and society.
Like everything in the world, plastic surgery has two sides. It
can be beneficial and it can be dangerous. Failed surgeries will
destroy facial textures, resulting in devastating damages, both
physical and psychological. Even if operations succeed, patients
have to endure a long period of unsightly swelling, miscellaneous
pain and possible infection. Besides, plastic surgery is quite
expensive. A minor operation, such as adding a crease to the upper
eyelid, costs over one thousand yuan. A major one, liposuction for
example, is much more expensive, at least ten thousand yuan. This
is quite a burden for an ordinary family.
What drives young Chinese to sign up for such painful and
expensive treatments? A survey, conducted collaboratively by
Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital and New Image Plastic Surgery
Hospital, shows that 70.3 percent of polled college students see
plastic surgery as a way of sharpening their competitive edge. Due
to the severely competitive job market, they realize that employers
are very likely to recruit better-looking people from a pool of
equally talented applicants.
Moreover, many Chinese youth have below average self-esteem.
Often they feel lost amid China's modern and fiercely competitive
society. Some abuse themselves; others fall prey to mental
disorders. Many young people attribute all their dissatisfactions
and failures to a lack of physical charm. Without considering the
consequences they choose to better their looks artificially because
plastic surgery is viewed as an easy way to boost
self-confidence.
Psychologically speaking, appearance alteration is indeed a good
approach to rebuild confidence. Plastic surgery can indeed boost
self-confidence. But good looks should never be the absolute basis
for self-confidence. Rather, self-confidence is ultimately based on
knowledge and skills. Experts advise young people to emphasize
enhancing their psychological and intellectual capacities instead
of what just meets the eyes.
Prof. Zhu Fazhen with Zhejiang University's School of
Humanities, commented that it is pretty shallow for young people to
think appearances could enhance self-confidence. He said that
intellectual ability and work skills are keys to success. He
suggested that parents and society should correctly guide young
people because they have not yet attained maturity.
(China.org.cn by Pang Li August 8, 2007)