Agence France-Presse met with Xia in Beijing, when he was about to undergo surgery to plump his facial features. Earlier this year, he had already spent RMB 40,000 (US$6192) on facial augmentation surgery.
“I grew up in the countryside, my face is very dark, my skin is very poor, and I don’t think my appearance is good in general,” he said, adding that he had planned to have a full face a long time ago.
“I always have a sense of inferiority,” he added.
The popularity of social media in China-flooded with plastic surgery trends, beauty “tutorials” and advice on how to become “beautiful” has put pressure on many people.
More and more Chinese educated men choose cosmetic and surgical procedures to give them advantages.
According to data from iResearch, about 17% of white-collar males in China have undergone cosmetic surgery, and the vast majority of men have received their first surgery before the age of 30.
