Why so many young Chinese seek plastic surgery

HANNAH TANG, a company manager in Beijing, first went under the knife when she was 18. The surgeon made an incision across each of her eyelids, then stitched folds of skin back to transform her monolids into “double eyelids”. The result was eyes that look bigger, rounder, and in Ms Tang’s opinion, more beautiful. Now 35, Ms Tang (not her real name) has since had two more eyelid surgeries, as well as botox injections in her neck and monthly non-invasive “skin booster” treatments. “Pretty much everyone I know around me has had fillers or surgery,” she says.

China’s cosmetic-surgery market is booming. Some analysts think it is now the world’s biggest. In 2019 the Chinese “medical-aesthetics” industry (which includes surgery, injections and skin treatments) had revenue of $27bn, around one-fifth of the global total, estimates Deloitte, a consultancy. It reckons the average annual rate of growth in China’s market between 2015 and 2019 was 29%, compared with a global average of around 9%. By 2023, Deloitte estimates revenue will reach $48bn.