After reading Doctors worried by craze for plastic surgery among young people, I decided to write this post because... It can't be a recent phenomenon, and I can see bigger waves coming.

I'm going to post more about online shopping in China, but I have to mention one thing here. By searching for clothes online and seeing the models' photos featured on the item description, you can easily get an idea of what Chinese people think is beautiful.

I personally find it scary. Many people criticize plastic surgery because of people's low self confidence and the possible risks. However even Photoshop is sometimes as scary as the actual surgery. We know that people's perception of beauty is very different, and no one is in a place to criticize anyone else's. But I have to admit that I'm kind of horrified by Chinese (and other Asian) people's interest in disproportionate faces. In the West it's with the body, in Asia it's only the face for some reason. It seems more like a fascination with exaggerated facial features rather than a pleasant look or aesthetic appreciation.

There are proportions in the human body. If someone's arms were longer than they should be, you would notice. If someone's head was twice the size of a "normal" head, you would find it weird. Or if someone had huge anime eyes which covered 3/4 of their face, you would notice that and probably be freaked out. Of course some people have bigger eyes or bigger heads. But in nature almost everything comes in proportion.

It’s relatively rare that one is seen as attractive EVERYWHERE in the world. So I don't judge Asians because they like big noses or thick eyebrows or unhealthy looking white skin. But I repeat, proportion. In the past, when film making techniques weren't as developed as they are now, disproportionate bodies were used as a main trigger of fear. If you see the Dracula films made like 100 years ago, you won't see advanced film effects but a Dracula with a very distorted body and an ugly smile.