ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the popularity of cosmetic surgery in China as an integral part of beauty consumer culture. The Chinese government's neoliberal state policy of the beauty economy has also influenced the popularity of beauty pageants and cosmetic surgery. The chapter analyzes the impact of economic liberalization and structural reforms on the globalization of beauty in China in the late 1980s. China's economic boom has impacted Chinese women's lives by opening up new forms of modern femininities constructed by the beauty industry. The integration of neoliberal economic policy has meant widespread acceptance of consumer culture, focusing on beauty and body modifications as a significant source of individual economic prosperity. In 1966, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, a program established to remove counter-revolutionary elements from Chinese society, is initiated in China. The socialist neoliberal feminism of today ignores the gender exploitation of large groups of marginalized women, and instead focuses on individual consumer feminist empowerment.
