Buying Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery in China         by Wen Hua 2013
Publisher:        Hong Kong University Press       
Year:        2013        Edition:       
Language:        English       
Pages:        272
ISBN:        9888139827, 9789888139828
Size:        3 MB

Cosmetic surgery in China has grown rapidly in recent years of dramatic social transition. Facing fierce competition in all spheres of daily life, more and more women consider cosmetic surgery as an investment to gain "beauty capital" to increase opportunities for social and career success.

Building on rich ethnographic data, this book presents the perspectives of women who have undergone cosmetic surgery, illuminating the aspirations behind their choices. Wen Hua explores how turbulent economic, sociocultural, and political changes in China since the 1980s have produced immense anxiety that is experienced both mentally and corporeally. This book will appeal to readers who are interested in gender studies, China studies, anthropology and sociology of the body, and cultural studies.