Buying Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery in China

7. From Barbie Doll to the Korean Wave

In this chapter, I examine the increasing Western as well as Korean influence on China in the standards of beauty through the perspective of globalization . Globalization refers to “an intensely interconnected world—one where the rapid flows of capital, people, goods, images, and ideologies draw more and more of the globe into webs of interconnection” (Inda and Rosaldo 2002: 4). I first discuss how ideals of beauty have shifted in China and which cosmetic surgery operations are the most desirable among Chinese women. Using the increasing sales of Barbie doll in China as an example, I then explore the increasing Western influence on China in the standards of beauty. Finally, based on the case of a Chinese cosmetic surgery reality TV show sponsored by a Korean joint-venture hospital in Beijing, I explore how the development of the Chinese cosmetic surgery market has been intertwined with transnational flows of people, media, capital and techniques. A Brief Look at Changing Ideals of Beauty During my fieldwork, when I asked women why they chose to undergo double-eyelid surgery, they generally responded with a typical answer like “double eyelids make my eyes bigger and more beautiful.” When I then asked why big eyes are considered beautiful, some of them stared at me in puzzlement. As Chen Jing, a 23-year-old student who has undergone a double-eyelid surgery, said, “It’s universal! Big eyes are always considered beautiful. It’s kind of a benchmark of whether a woman is pretty or not. Aren’t big eyes beautiful?” People generally think that there is a universal standard of beauty; but in fact there is no universal standard of beauty over time and across 7 From Barbie Doll to the Korean Wave 168 Buying Beauty continents. Preferences for some physical features may perhaps be “hardwired ” genetically among people around the world, as argued by Etcoff (2000), as related to youth and evidence of reproductive ability. But when we consider beauty more closely, what is regarded as beautiful in one society may be considered undesirable in others, and what is regarded as attractive in one period may also change over time. Let us take a quick look at the changing ideals of Chinese beauty by considering a few Chinese beauties in different eras. People generally assume today that slenderness is a universal standard of feminine beauty. However, during the Tang dynasty (618–907), it was plump women with wide foreheads and round faces who were deemed most beautiful. For example, in “Court Ladies Adorning their Hair with Flowers” painted by Zhou Fang, one of the most influential painters of the Tang Dynasty, the court ladies are depicted with round pale faces, flat noses, tiny mouths, small eyes and fleshy body figures. When I read the book, Chinese Beauty Aesthetics (Zhang and Liu 2002), I was struck by how standards of Chinese beauty have shifted. Among various “paintings of beauties,” there are images of Chinese women with a wide variety of physical features from voluptuous female portraits from the Tang dynasty (618–907), to the graceful portraits from the Song dynasty (960–1279), and to the effeminate and frail types portrayed in the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties.1 The dramatic differences in the paintings—which may be interpreted as portraying ideals of beauty of the eras in which they were painted—reveals changing attitudes towards female beauty over time. The shift of ideal Chinese beauty is well exemplified by a famous Chinese idiom: “buxom Huan and slinky Yan” (Huan fei Yan shou).2 While Yang Yuhuan (719–756) was probably the most famous “plump” beauty in Chinese history, Zhao Feiyan (32 BC–1 BC) was often compared and contrasted with Yang for her slender and lithe figure as another ideal of beauty in Chinese history. These two ideals of beauty are exact opposites in terms of physical attributes, yet both women were considered unparalleled beauties of their time. 1. Unfortunately, copyright restrictions prevent me from showing these images in this book. 2. Huan refers to Yang Yuhuan, a favored concubine of Tang emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty (618–907). Yan refers to Zhao Feiyan, wife of Han emperor Chengdi in the Western Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 8). From Barbie Doll to the Korean Wave 169 There is no need to go as far back as ancient imperial China to examine different standards of beauty. The shift in...