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There’s no mistaking who runs this plastic surgery clinic in Beijing, there’s her 1)lifelike 2)mannequin in the 3)foyer, her oversized photo on the wall, oh, and there she is, Shi Sanba, 56 years old, divorced and a walking billboard for almost every cosmetic procedure.
“I’m [an] example for all Chinese women who pursue beauty,” she told me. “Most of them are my fans.”
Sanba has had her wrinkles smoothed, chin shaped, nose raised, breasts firmed, stomach flattened and more. So many operations, she says she has lost count. All of this has turned her into a mini celebrity here and that keeps the customers coming in.
This year, she says, about 3000 people had some kind of cosmetic procedure performed, by one of the dozens of surgeons who work for her. And while China’s economy has dramatically slowed, she does not expect any major impact on her business.
“The desire for beauty is getting stronger and stronger,” she says. “The old want to be young; the ugly want to be pretty.”
Twenty-three-year-old Fen Xue wants her cheekbones, jaw, chin, lips and nose reshaped. “I work in international finance,” she says. “I have to meet many different people, and I think a good appearance will help me make a better connection.”
Each year, the Chinese spend more than US$2 billion on some kind of cosmetic procedure. Many undergoing the knife are students, often paid for by their parents, who believe a better look will lead to a better job.
Sanba says business 4)picks up during June and July when school finishes. It’s all about trying to 5)stand out in the crowd. Not easy, when you are in a crowd of more than a billion people.
It seems fewer and fewer of us are happy with our looks, and the situation is no different in the UK. Plastic surgery operations were up a third last year. The most common kind of operation in the UK is breast enlargement surgery. Plastic surgeon, Patrick Mallucci expresses his ideas at the annual conference run by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, or BAAPS: “A perfect breast is a breast that suits an individual, and suits a body, it’s harmonious, it’s in proportion.”
Nowadays, operations are sped up by the 6)Quickie—a man who can give you a breast enlargement in your lunch hour, encouraging you to go out to show your new bra size the very same evening. Plastic surgeon, Dr John Tebbts says “patients are usually home within an hour to an hour and a half after the surgery, they take a 2-hour nap, they get up, they take a shower, they do arm stretch exercises and they go to the mall.”
But the conference isn’t only about breasts; there are a huge number of new products on show there, technologically advanced, but somewhat frightening. One exhibitor explains what a 7)contour thread is for. “The device is then placed down through that 8)incision with the 9)tines on it. And facing down into the muscle, those hook in. And this is then just pulled backwards and 10)sutured to the 11)mastoid 12)fascia.”
Behind the silicon stands, the matter of unregulated cosmetic products is a worry, with fears that UK patients are being used as 13)guinea pigs for treatments banned in the US. “Our concern is that products which are not examined properly were released on the market in the UK; they haven’t been tested; they may, at best, be inefficient and ineffective, at worst, they may actually be dangerous,” a member of BAAPS, Adam Searle says.
The potential physical damage to women is not the only concern. Philippa Roberts who works for a marketing consultancy that targets women, believes the cosmetic industry makes money by playing on women’s insecurities. “I think that definitely what would be true to say is that there is, within the beauty industry, a 14)strand of activity that preys on female under-confidence. You know, all the physical signs of aging, 15)cellulite, 16)orange skin thighs, all that kind of language is designed to make women feel that they are not great. And that they are not at their best without x, y or z product.” But while it’s becoming easier and more acceptable to go under the 17)scalpel, there does seem to be a 18)backlash from cosmetic companies who praise our natural assets. The future is not all plastic.
经营北京这家整容诊所的是谁呢？你一定不会弄错答案。在大厅，放着逼真得如她本人的模型，墙上挂着她的大型照片，哦，这就是她了，史三八，56岁、离异，堪称是几乎所有整形手术的活招牌。
“对所有追求美的中国女性来说，我是她们的典范，”她告诉我说，“她们当中多数人都是我的‘粉丝’。”
三八曾经做过除皱、削下巴、隆鼻、丰胸、腹部抽脂等手术。所做手术之多，她说自己都不太数得清了。这些让她摇身成为当地一个小有名气的人物，正是这股名气使得顾客纷至沓来。
她说，今年大概有3000人在这做过各种整形手术，由她所聘请的数十名整形医师分别操刀。虽然中国经济增长已急速减缓，但她预计自己的生意不会受到很大的冲击。
“爱美的欲望是越来越强烈了，”她说，“老的想要变年轻，丑的想要变漂亮。”
23岁的分雪（音译）想要把颧骨、颌骨、下巴、嘴唇和鼻子都重新塑形。“我做国际金融这一行，”她说，“需要和不同的人接触，我觉得良好的外形能帮我建立更好的人际关系。”
每年，中国人在各种各样的整形手术的花费超过20亿美元。挨刀子的其中很多是学生，费用通常是由他们的父母支付。他们相信，外形越是好看，找到的工作就越好。
三八说学期结束，即六七月的时候，生意就会红火起来。为的就是要出类拔萃。这并不容易，毕竟是要在超过10亿人当中突围而出。
似乎对自己外形满意的人是越来越少了，英国的情况亦如出一辙。去年，英国的整形手术总数较之前增长了三分之一。在英国，最常施行的是丰胸手术。整形外科医生帕特里克·马路奇在英国整形外科医生协会（BAAPS）的年会上发表评论说：“完美的胸部是与个人相适配的，也是与身体相适的，是和谐的，符合比例的。”
现在，整形手术的时间大大缩短，全靠一群“闪电刀手”——医生能在午餐休息的那个把小时内给你做丰胸手术，还鼓励你当晚就外出秀秀你升级后的胸围。整形外科医生约翰·特茨说：“病人往往在手术后一个小时到一个半小时就可以回家了，小睡两个小时，起来就可以淋浴，可以做手臂伸展运动，或者外出购物了。”
但这年会并不是只谈丰胸，大会还展示了很多新产品，都是些高科技产品，但让人有点毛骨悚然。一个参展商阐释了倒钩线的用途。“到时这个带尖头的倒钩会从切口置入，然后朝下插入肌肉，那些（尖头）会钩住（组织），然后把这里往后提拉，缝合到乳突筋膜上。”
在硅胶展示台背后，整形产品缺乏规管的问题令人忧虑，大家害怕美国禁用的疗法给挪到英国来，把这里的病人当成白老鼠。“我们担心的是，产品还没有完全通过测试就流入英国市场，如果还没经过测试，产品可能效果差，或者没效果，这已经算是好的了，最惨的是可能对人体有危害，”BAAPS的一位成员亚当·塞尔说。
对女性身体可能造成的伤害不是唯一让人忧虑的事。菲尔帕·罗伯茨在一家以女性群体为目标市场的顾问公司工作，她相信美容产业就是利用女性的不安心理来营利的。“绝对可以这么说，在美容业，有这么一串行径就是看准那些缺乏自信的女性下手的。你知道，外表的所有衰老痕迹、脂肪团、橘皮，所有这些描述言词的出现都是为了让女性觉得自己不够好。让她们觉得没有了这些甲乙丙丁的产品，她们就达不到最佳状态。”然而，在手术变得越来越容易，越来越能为人接受的时候，似乎确实有那么一些美容公司反其道而行，颂扬我们的天然美。未来并不都是“塑造”而来的。
“I’m [an] example for all Chinese women who pursue beauty,” she told me. “Most of them are my fans.”
Sanba has had her wrinkles smoothed, chin shaped, nose raised, breasts firmed, stomach flattened and more. So many operations, she says she has lost count. All of this has turned her into a mini celebrity here and that keeps the customers coming in.
This year, she says, about 3000 people had some kind of cosmetic procedure performed, by one of the dozens of surgeons who work for her. And while China’s economy has dramatically slowed, she does not expect any major impact on her business.
“The desire for beauty is getting stronger and stronger,” she says. “The old want to be young; the ugly want to be pretty.”
Twenty-three-year-old Fen Xue wants her cheekbones, jaw, chin, lips and nose reshaped. “I work in international finance,” she says. “I have to meet many different people, and I think a good appearance will help me make a better connection.”
Each year, the Chinese spend more than US$2 billion on some kind of cosmetic procedure. Many undergoing the knife are students, often paid for by their parents, who believe a better look will lead to a better job.
Sanba says business 4)picks up during June and July when school finishes. It’s all about trying to 5)stand out in the crowd. Not easy, when you are in a crowd of more than a billion people.
It seems fewer and fewer of us are happy with our looks, and the situation is no different in the UK. Plastic surgery operations were up a third last year. The most common kind of operation in the UK is breast enlargement surgery. Plastic surgeon, Patrick Mallucci expresses his ideas at the annual conference run by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, or BAAPS: “A perfect breast is a breast that suits an individual, and suits a body, it’s harmonious, it’s in proportion.”
Nowadays, operations are sped up by the 6)Quickie—a man who can give you a breast enlargement in your lunch hour, encouraging you to go out to show your new bra size the very same evening. Plastic surgeon, Dr John Tebbts says “patients are usually home within an hour to an hour and a half after the surgery, they take a 2-hour nap, they get up, they take a shower, they do arm stretch exercises and they go to the mall.”
But the conference isn’t only about breasts; there are a huge number of new products on show there, technologically advanced, but somewhat frightening. One exhibitor explains what a 7)contour thread is for. “The device is then placed down through that 8)incision with the 9)tines on it. And facing down into the muscle, those hook in. And this is then just pulled backwards and 10)sutured to the 11)mastoid 12)fascia.”
Behind the silicon stands, the matter of unregulated cosmetic products is a worry, with fears that UK patients are being used as 13)guinea pigs for treatments banned in the US. “Our concern is that products which are not examined properly were released on the market in the UK; they haven’t been tested; they may, at best, be inefficient and ineffective, at worst, they may actually be dangerous,” a member of BAAPS, Adam Searle says.
The potential physical damage to women is not the only concern. Philippa Roberts who works for a marketing consultancy that targets women, believes the cosmetic industry makes money by playing on women’s insecurities. “I think that definitely what would be true to say is that there is, within the beauty industry, a 14)strand of activity that preys on female under-confidence. You know, all the physical signs of aging, 15)cellulite, 16)orange skin thighs, all that kind of language is designed to make women feel that they are not great. And that they are not at their best without x, y or z product.” But while it’s becoming easier and more acceptable to go under the 17)scalpel, there does seem to be a 18)backlash from cosmetic companies who praise our natural assets. The future is not all plastic.
经营北京这家整容诊所的是谁呢？你一定不会弄错答案。在大厅，放着逼真得如她本人的模型，墙上挂着她的大型照片，哦，这就是她了，史三八，56岁、离异，堪称是几乎所有整形手术的活招牌。
“对所有追求美的中国女性来说，我是她们的典范，”她告诉我说，“她们当中多数人都是我的‘粉丝’。”
三八曾经做过除皱、削下巴、隆鼻、丰胸、腹部抽脂等手术。所做手术之多，她说自己都不太数得清了。这些让她摇身成为当地一个小有名气的人物，正是这股名气使得顾客纷至沓来。
她说，今年大概有3000人在这做过各种整形手术，由她所聘请的数十名整形医师分别操刀。虽然中国经济增长已急速减缓，但她预计自己的生意不会受到很大的冲击。
“爱美的欲望是越来越强烈了，”她说，“老的想要变年轻，丑的想要变漂亮。”
23岁的分雪（音译）想要把颧骨、颌骨、下巴、嘴唇和鼻子都重新塑形。“我做国际金融这一行，”她说，“需要和不同的人接触，我觉得良好的外形能帮我建立更好的人际关系。”
每年，中国人在各种各样的整形手术的花费超过20亿美元。挨刀子的其中很多是学生，费用通常是由他们的父母支付。他们相信，外形越是好看，找到的工作就越好。
三八说学期结束，即六七月的时候，生意就会红火起来。为的就是要出类拔萃。这并不容易，毕竟是要在超过10亿人当中突围而出。
似乎对自己外形满意的人是越来越少了，英国的情况亦如出一辙。去年，英国的整形手术总数较之前增长了三分之一。在英国，最常施行的是丰胸手术。整形外科医生帕特里克·马路奇在英国整形外科医生协会（BAAPS）的年会上发表评论说：“完美的胸部是与个人相适配的，也是与身体相适的，是和谐的，符合比例的。”
现在，整形手术的时间大大缩短，全靠一群“闪电刀手”——医生能在午餐休息的那个把小时内给你做丰胸手术，还鼓励你当晚就外出秀秀你升级后的胸围。整形外科医生约翰·特茨说：“病人往往在手术后一个小时到一个半小时就可以回家了，小睡两个小时，起来就可以淋浴，可以做手臂伸展运动，或者外出购物了。”
但这年会并不是只谈丰胸，大会还展示了很多新产品，都是些高科技产品，但让人有点毛骨悚然。一个参展商阐释了倒钩线的用途。“到时这个带尖头的倒钩会从切口置入，然后朝下插入肌肉，那些（尖头）会钩住（组织），然后把这里往后提拉，缝合到乳突筋膜上。”
在硅胶展示台背后，整形产品缺乏规管的问题令人忧虑，大家害怕美国禁用的疗法给挪到英国来，把这里的病人当成白老鼠。“我们担心的是，产品还没有完全通过测试就流入英国市场，如果还没经过测试，产品可能效果差，或者没效果，这已经算是好的了，最惨的是可能对人体有危害，”BAAPS的一位成员亚当·塞尔说。
对女性身体可能造成的伤害不是唯一让人忧虑的事。菲尔帕·罗伯茨在一家以女性群体为目标市场的顾问公司工作，她相信美容产业就是利用女性的不安心理来营利的。“绝对可以这么说，在美容业，有这么一串行径就是看准那些缺乏自信的女性下手的。你知道，外表的所有衰老痕迹、脂肪团、橘皮，所有这些描述言词的出现都是为了让女性觉得自己不够好。让她们觉得没有了这些甲乙丙丁的产品，她们就达不到最佳状态。”然而，在手术变得越来越容易，越来越能为人接受的时候，似乎确实有那么一些美容公司反其道而行，颂扬我们的天然美。未来并不都是“塑造”而来的。