LETTER FROM BEIJING/Mark Godfrey: Peng Yu's Civilisation Pillar is a four-metre-high column made of human fat which the shock artist collected from hospitals and clinics performing liposuction in Beijing. Peng says her installation is a commentary on the increasing affluence of Chinese society.
"Material surplus is a fundamental condition for the development of society and art. There are few fat people in a poor country and many fat people in a wealthy country . . . Fat people are a civilised people and those who undergo liposuction are trying to be even more civilised."
This time of year - around China's national day holidays in early October - is a boom time for beauty clinics and plastic surgeons.
Chinese women have taken to celebrating holidays such as the spring festival, May Day holiday and national day break with a new look, returning to work with several nips and tucks.
The merits or otherwise of plastic surgery have become a hot topic of conversation in Beijing.
In a garish stunt reminiscent of a Western reality TV show, a Beijing cosmetic surgery hospital launched the "Beauty Dreamworks Project" in August.
Amid banks of flashing cameras, 24-year-old fashion writer Hao Lulu presented herself at the Ever Care Clinic for six months of plastic surgery to change her entire appearance. Regular press conferences at the hospital in Beijing's northerly Chaoyang district update the media on Lulu's progress, and photos of the already-a-rose aspiring actress were distributed to media agencies and splashed across local tabloids.
The ploy may have backfired: most locals and commentators told Beijing TV news that Hao was already good looking enough and that the whole exercise was a cheap publicity stunt on the part of the hospital.
Doctors and health officials also joined the chorus of dissent, protesting that the Beauty Dreamworks Project was dangerous because it encouraged normal-looking young women to have unnecessary plastic surgery.
A mystery sponsor is paying for Lulu's surgical procedures, which will transform her eyes, nose, chin, breasts, abdomen, bottom, legs and skin. The new look will however only last for between three and five years, said Dr Zhou Gang, leader of Ever Care's operating team. For her part, Hao wants to become a famous actress after the plastic surgery turns her into an "outstanding beauty".
Ever Care's competitor, Beijing United Family Hospital, offers cutting-edge plastic surgery techniques and will add more in response to demand, according to hospital official Martin Shen.
"We'd like to adapt to the latest developments in laser technology," says Shen. "Lasers can remove wrinkles, body hair and birthmarks and the job can be completed in an hour."
Affluent parents have taken to paying for plastic surgery packages for their college graduate children. A factory worker's annual earnings, 20,000 Yuan (about €2,100), buys the whitened teeth, folded eyelids and perked nose associated with beauty and high breeding. The surgery, say parents, helps their children get a good job.
Tian is perhaps a good example of Chinese affluence seeking to express itself in physical beauty. A nursing student, this only child of middle-class parents had facial hair above her upper lip removed at one of Beijing's private clinics in April of this year. The 20-year-old is now preparing to undergo breast enlargement surgery.
"I do it because I want to look good, I want to get a good job and my parents can afford to pay for me," said Tian, adding that several of her student friends had undertaken or were considering plastic surgery. Noses, eyelids and breasts were atop the wish list. "Chinese girls look at Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears. They're so sexy and Asian bodies are really flat compared to Jennifer Lopez's. So Chinese girls want bigger eyes and larger lips and bigger breasts," explained the third-year student.
Her businessman father and office administrator mother want her to study hard and to work for a private clinic or hospital on graduation next year. In return she's awarded her plastic surgery, a credit card and a weekly clothes allowance.
Female patients undergoing plastic surgery in China vary in age between 17 and 30. There have been reports of newer clinics operating on children as young as 13. Costs vary between 1,000 Yuan (€104) for double eyelids to 20,000 Yuan (€2,100) for breast enlargement.
One of the most popular forms of plastic surgery in China is double eyelid reconstruction. The double eyelid, Sheng Yan Pi, is very popular across Asia, involving a procedure of surgically making a fold in the upper eyelid, making the eyes look bigger and rounder. Whereas most American patients of plastic surgery have nose-reshaping operations, the double eyelid in China is seen as a sign of prettiness and a means of making Asian features look more Western.
Korean and Japanese television and pop music imports have also had a big effect on China's affluent youth, who are prepared to spend several thousands dollars fixing cheekbones and noses or cutting away excess fat.
South Korean surgeons fly in monthly to perform complex surgical operations at Shanghai's private Ren'ai Hospital. Local surgeons handle more mundane surgery but Chinese doctors are becoming increasingly proficient, thanks to training from Korean, Japanese and American surgeons.
The US plastic surgery expert Dr Seán Freeman was hired by Beijing clinics to train surgeons in the use of lasers for cosmetic reasons. In a very lucrative business public hospitals have in many cases been quick to incorporate plastic surgery facilities, keen for a cut of a growing pie. At the No 9 People's Hospital in Shanghai more than 20,000 plastic surgery operations have been performed so far in 2003. Waiting lists for the rest of the year are full, according to a hospital spokesman.
The road to beauty has been marred by malpractice for some, however. According to the Quality Daily, China's consumer watchdog newspaper, 200,000 lawsuits have been filed in the last decade against clinics guilty of bad surgical practice. Government legislation was introduced in May 2002 to regulate and license plastic surgery clinics and surgeons. Disfigurement as a result of inexperienced or quack doctors and underground clinics is unfortunately common, according to a recent report in the mass circulation People's Daily newspaper.
Artist Peng Yu meanwhile has no problem with surgical enhancement. On the contrary: her Civilisation Pillar celebrates the nip and tuck: "I think liposuction is fine, or else I wouldn't have done this piece. First of all, it's a personal decision; it's also the most efficient way to lose weight."