BEIJING — Love your liposuction. Tout that tummy tuck. Flaunt the fake nose.
Organizers of a new beauty pageant here believe artificial breasts and surgically sculpted butts not only shouldn't be hidden away, they're something to brag about. Welcome to the brave new China, which is making history with what it claims is the world's first Miss Plastic Surgery contest.
"Naturals," with their God-given, pain-free looks, have no place here. This stage belongs to those who have suffered for their beauty and now live beyond the cutting edge. All nationalities are welcome, but contestants must show a doctor's certificate at the door.
At a news conference this month announcing the contest, to be held in early November, a host of beauty and cosmetic industry luminaries were trotted out, in a nation where plastic surgery is a runaway hit.
"To us doctors, altering beauty is a very natural thing," Zhao Xiaozhong, a medical professor and industry expert, told journalists. "When you do sports, you alter your muscles. We do the same thing through surgery."
Then came the moment everyone was waiting for: a peek at a genuine artificial beauty. "Down in front!" yelled one cameraman as Lu Xiaoyu, 23, took the stage to the oohs and ahhs, applause and neck-craning of several dozen reporters.
"I hope this contest helps people learn about plastic surgery," the former farm girl from Hebei province said. "I hope to see a day when it's so commonly done we'll no longer use the term 'artificial beauty.' "
"Do you have scars, and will you show them at the pageant?" one inquiring mind wanted to know.
"I'd be willing to," Lu responded as several cameras flashed.
Lu, who has large eyes and curly brown hair -- thanks to dye and a permanent -- said she had wanted plastic surgery since childhood. Everyone else in her family was good-looking, and she felt like the ugly duckling.
A few years ago, she left her hometown -- with its backbreaking farm work and peasants -- for Tianjin, a city just outside Beijing. There she landed a job in a beauty salon, where she decided to revamp her nose, add dimples and creased eyelids, and otherwise reshape her face, all with the help of her employer.
"I feel like I'm living in a dream," she said. "Now my parents say, 'We finally look like we're from the same family.' "
