"I look great!" - the words of a confident Chinese man or woman, checking themselves out in the mirror. "I'm... ok" - the rest of Asia.
A recent survey conducted by German market research company GFK reveals that Mainlanders are, overall, pretty satisfied with their appearance - and the same can't be said for their neighbors.
According to the survey, 10 percent of Mainlanders responded that they were "completely satisfied" with how they look, and 44 percent said "fairly satisfied" - that's more than half the population feeling pretty, more or less.
Taiwan came in with 7 percent completely satisfied and 40 percent fairly happy, while Hong Kong identified as just 3 percent completely satisfied, and 35 percent "fairly." But if anyone needs a confidence booster, it's Japan. Out of all countries included on the GFK survey, Japan came in dead last - a mere 2 percent completely satisfied, with 24 percent doing alright. That means nearly 3/4 Japanese people who responded to the survey ranked themselves as "meh" or lower.
Japan also boasted (probably not the right word) the highest number of respondents who were "not at all satisfied" with their appearance - while China and Hong Kong only have 1 percent in this sorry group, Japan has a full 13 percent of people who are very unhappy with how they look.
The survey asked a total of 270,000 people aged 15 and older to rate their own looks. Of the 22 countries surveyed, Chinese mainland ranked 11th overall - Mexico, with its staggering 29 percent of people who think they look great won the day.
We're certainly glad that the Mainland is liking what they see in the mirror, but it does make us wonder what all of those plastic surgeries are for.
The number of plastic surgery hospitals in the Mainland increased 13.6 percent from 2009 to 2014 according to IBISWorld, and they churn through USD130 million in revenue each year. And that's just the domestic industry - the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics report shows that in 2014, 56,000 Chinese people went to South Korea to undergo plastic surgery. “Among 207 patients interviewed, 191 thought that a good appearance could help […] bring them greater opportunities,” says WomenofChina.
But hey, what’s wrong with a little plastic surgery to freshen up your look? The most popular procedures requested by Chinese patients are double eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty and face lifts, which are fairly simple (in the realm of surgery) procedures. Nevertheless, according to the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics, the number of "botched" plastic surgery procedures has been growing by 10 percent per year over the past 10 years.
Read More: Woman falls into a coma during botched plastic surgery
And "botched" doesn't include the 15-year-old girl who underwent an insane full-body plastic surgery procedure - she was perfectly happy with the results. Mark one down for "completely satisfied."
These survey results show an interesting dynamic - even as surgery rates climb and climb, people in the Mainland tend to feel pretty good about the way they look. Now if only they'd tell Japan how nice it looks in that dress, maybe the whole region could start to feel better.
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