Getting Ahead...

I can understand that in China/Japan jobs are scarce, and women will do anything they can to get ahead. I remember reading an article quite like the following explaining that things such as height are seen as an asset, or blue eyes, blonde hair... features found more prominently in caucasian women. Due to modern day science, women can actually alter themselves, despite what mother nature has dealt them. And I'm NOT talking about your average every day boob job... peep this...

http://www.marieclaire.com/world/articles/ethnicity-extreme-makeover




"What Some Women Will Do for Beauty
From eyelid surgery to leg-lengthening and calf-narrowing, it seems there is little some women won't do to achieve that iconic look.

Double eyelid surgery
MAGNUS LAUPA/WPN
EXTREME MAKEOVER, PART 1: Double-eyelid surgery (a.k.a. Asian blepharoplasty)

WHY IT'S DONE: About 50 percent of Pacific Asians do not have an upper-eyelid crease. For those who do, the crease falls about 7 mm above the lashline, whereas for Caucasians, the crease falls about 11 mm above it.

HOW IT WORKS: During the most popular version of this outpatient procedure, a crescent-shaped incision is made along the new crease line, and a small amount of skin, tissue, and fat on the upper eyelid is cut away. When the two sides are sutured back together, the incision is hidden under the newly created crease.

PROCEDURE LENGTH: Approximately one hour

RECOVERY TIME: Sutures are removed after about a week. Bruising and swelling usually subside after a month.

COST: $2500 to $5000

ORIGIN: 19th-century Japan. The popularity of the procedure jumps whenever there was a significant Western presence in Asia — for example, during the Korean War.

HOW COMMON: Almost 300,000 Asians in the U.S. had the surgery in 2006.





What Some Women Will Do for Beauty

Would you saw your legs in half for a few inches?
DAVID BUTOW/REDUX
EXTREME MAKEOVER, PART 2: Leg lengthening

WHY IT'S DONE: The Chinese are so height-conscious, jobs and even schools often post height requirements. To apply for the foreign ministry, women must be 5'3" (the national average), whereas flight attendants must be at least 5'5". As a result, being tall — or short — can have a direct impact on one's livelihood.

HOW IT WORKS: Calf and shin bones are broken and pierced with steel pins, which are fixed to an external frame with screws. Then stretching — by means of turning those screws and lengthening the bone at the point where it was broken — is carried out over the next several months. The steel pins are left in for another year as support for the newly regenerated bone.

RANGE OF GROWTH: 1 to 5 inches.

COST: $15,000 to $25,000

RISKS: Horror stories include misshapen legs, feet that splay outward, and bones that never heal properly and break easily. In November 2006, China restricted the procedure to select hospitals that offer post-surgical care and rehabilitation."



*Now, I myself am half Japanese, but definitely cannot identify with the need to alter my physical features in such extreme ways... Then again, I'd say I look more caucasian than asian in my facial features... So, maybe I'm not a good reference point. *shrug
<3M