| In the Maoist era, the quest for beauty was regarded as decadent Western bourgeois culture. However, more and more Chinese women have been shopping for a youthful and beautiful appearance by undergoing cosmetic surgery in recent decades. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Beijing, China, in 2006--2007, this study examines the phenomenon of the rapidly growing popularity of cosmetic surgery among Chinese women and considers the relationships between the remaking of female body image through cosmetic surgery, the reconstruction of self identity, and the reconfiguration of state power and market forces with the expansion of global consumerism in post-Mao China. The thesis suggests that the alteration of female body features through cosmetic surgery reflects in microcosm the transition of China from a Maoist socialist regime to a post-Maoist consumer society within a few decades, following its own "Chinese characteristics." Therefore, Chinese women's involvement in cosmetic surgery must be understood within the broader historical and socio-political context of China, and also must be seen both as the empowerment of Chinese women and also their ongoing subjugation to men, markets, and the state. |
