Buying Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery in China

Buying Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery in China, by Wen Hua. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2013. xiv + 253 pp. HK$195.00/US$26.00 (paperback). Buying Beauty is a timely study of a fascinating and rapidly-growing phenomenon-Chinese women of various ages and socioeconomic background understimulus going cosmetic surgery to achieve a more beautiful and youthful look. The book is based primarily on ethnographic research conducted by Wen Hua in Beijing from August 2006 to July 2007, during which she interviewed 58 women who had undergone cosmetic surgery. Situating the phenomenon in the social context of post-Mao reform, the book seeks to understand womens agency, the roles of the state and the capitalist market, and the impact of globalization on this surgical trend. As Hua puts it, "the question this book aims to answer is: When Chinese women shop for a youthful, beautiful and sometimes 'Caucasian-like appearance by undergoing cosmetic surgery, to what extent does this bodily practice indicate a triumph of individualism over totalitarianism, the market over the state, and the West over China; and to what extent does it reveal something different from these common assumptions? " (p. 9). The book consists of ten chapters, and the eight substantive ones are organized into four "thematic sections" of two chapters each. The first section, "Cultural Background of Cosmetic Surgery", outlines the historical and cultural background of cosmetic surgery in China, but Chapter 2 mainly tells the story of Hao Lulu, Chinas first "artificial beauty", and the controversies which she engendered. Given that Hao's cosmetic surgeries were relatively recent (2003), it is a bit difficult to think of her case as "background". Hua may have intended to use the debates surrounding cosmetic surgery, such as inner vs. outer or natural vs. artificial beauty, to inform later chapters, but she does not say so explicitly. Another major debate noted in the Introduction, active agent vs. passive victim, is not discussed in this chapter. Hao Lulu is largely presented as a hyper-agent who empowered her own life through well-publicized cosmetic surgeries, without discussing the "structural constraints" surrounding her choices.Structural constraints are the main theme of the second section. This section examines the impact of economic and social transformation on women's bodily practices and the women's motivations for undergoing cosmetic surgery, with Chapter 3 focusing on high school and college students and Chapter 4 telling the stories of three older women of different socioeconomic standing. Hua argues that Chinese women resort to cosmetic surgery as a response to shifting employment patterns, from a lifelong employment system in the Maoist period to a competitive market system which openly discriminates against women, especially older women and those who have a less-than-ideal appearance. Moreover, Hua argues that anxiety over marriage or marriage prospects also influences these women's decisions to undergo cosmetic surgery.Section 3, "The Beauty Economy and 'Beauty Diplomacy'", further examines the external influences on Chinese women's bodily practice. …