Buying Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery in China

8. Between the Local and the Global

When commenting on the increasing popularity of cosmetic surgery in China, Jesús (2005) writes, “We’ve had the globalisation of manufacture, sales and economies. Now, especially in China, we are about to experience the globalisation of beauty: one face suits all.” There is no doubt that globalization, which integrates the whole world into one big marketplace, has indeed penetrated economic as well as socio-cultural boundaries of nation-states. When “Caucasian features” such as double eyelids, prominent facial profiles and light skin have been pursued by Chinese women through medical aesthetic treatment and cosmetic surgery, does one face really suit all? In other words, are Chinese women’s apparent preferences for these “Caucasian features” evidence of their conformity to a Western ideal of beauty? I doubt it. I think that we should further unpack the meanings of those “Caucasian features” in local settings to explore the hybrid nature of the perception and practice of beauty in a global era. In the preceding chapter, while examining the impact of the Western consumer culture and Korean pop culture on China, I addressed the multiple directions of globalization in terms of beauty ideals and practices. In this chapter, focusing on Chinese women’s preference for double eyelids and fair skin, I discuss how these “Caucasian features” take on varying meanings in China’s historical and social contexts. Furthermore, I explore how the process of globalization has heightened the sense of local culture and stimulated Chinese people’s sentiment towards the oriental aspects of Chinese beauty. The Myth of Double-Eyelid Surgery As noted earlier, when it comes to the shapes of the eyes and the eyelids, single-folded eyelids and small almond-shaped eyes were considered 8 Between the Local and the Global 188 Buying Beauty beautiful in ancient China. However, big round eyes with double eyelids have become a benchmark of beauty in China today. In contrast to a “single-fold eyelid” (dan yanpi), an eyelid without a crease, a “double-fold eyelid” (shuang yanpi) refers to a visible fold above the eye opening. While some Chinese women who are born with single-fold eyelids use eyelid glue or eyelid tapes to temporarily create the shape of double eyelids, others opt for cosmetic surgery to permanently attain a deep crease in their eyelids. (Plates 20 and 21) Double-eyelid blepharoplasty or Asian blepharoplasty, is commonly known as “double-eyelid surgery” (shuangyanpi shoushu), which creates a palpebral crease to divide the eyelid into two defined segments. Doublefold eyelids generally make the eyes appear slightly larger and rounder. Among the techniques designed to create a crease on the upper eyelid, the suture technique and the incisional method are the two main types. While the suture method binds the dermis and the levator aponeurosis or tarsal plate together by using a suture needle and a thread to bury the knots of the suture inside the skin of the eyelid, the incisional method removes a portion of the prelevator fat through a small incision (Zhao 2006: 53; Zhou 2004: 75–76). Double-eyelid surgery has become one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries in China. Since about half of the Asian population is born without a crease in the upper eyelids, double-eyelid surgery has been popular among Chinese as well as other Asians including Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Singaporean, and Asian-Americans in the United States (Gilman 1999: 98–110). Song Ruyao, the former president of the Chinese Plastic Surgery Society, has stated that “altering eyelids is the most popular cosmetic surgery practiced at [my] Institute of Plastic Surgery in Peking” (Gilman 1999: 106). As one of the most commonly requested cosmetic surgeries among East Asian women, double-eyelid surgery is often seen as a sign of the Westernization of beauty standards in Asian countries (Gilman 1999: 102–9; Kuperberg 2003). Gilman notes that in as early as 1896, a non-incision procedure to create double eyelids was introduced by K. Mikamo to Japan, “mimicking . . . Western eyes” (1999: 100). He also states that, like other groups of Asian immigrants in the United States, KoreanAmerican offer eyelid surgery to their teenage children “to make their eyes look ‘more American’” (Gilman 1999: 109). Between the Local and the Global 189 The idea that double-eyelid surgery is chosen by Asian women to make them look more Western is popular in Western media. From the Internet, we often find Western correspondents commenting that Chinese women as...