Vocabulary

 

hope	stand out	operation (2)
look (2)	most of all	wide/wider/widest
land (3)	degree (3)	according to
recruit	dream (3)	pay attention
allow	attention	pay/paid/paid
last (2)	reflect (2)	appearance (2)
flourish	anesthesia	cost/cost/cost
look for	procedure	on average
decide	pleasant	competition
stressful	appear (2)	get/got/got, gotten
clear (2)	broadcast	go under the knife
succeed	minor (2)	good/better/best
job fair	candidate	find/found/found
undergo	believe (2)	stand/stood/stood (2)
fair (2)	fierce (2)	hold/held/held
advisor	identical	choose/chose/chosen
CV	colleague	patient (2)
factor	pretty (2)	pay attention
profile	attention	pay/paid/paid
hire	emphasis	hold/held/held (2)
right (5)	standard	in order to
human	point (2)	discriminate
ad	commerce	god/goddess
height	front desk	present (4)
attach	discover	manner (2)
post (3)	giant (2)	knife/knives
analyze	major (2)	pressure (2)
brand	follow (2)	promotion (2)
whole	convince	do the trick
trick	attractive	conduct (3)
pervade

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

She’s been waiting for months.

Nurse: “This way; I’ll show you your room.”

In a few minutes, 21-year-old Zheng Tiantian will undergo and operation to get her a new face.

Zheng Tiantian, Communications Student: “The surgery will make my eyes wider and I will also get a new nose. I hope it will be successful, and most of all, that it will look natural.”

In a few months, she will graduate with a degree in advertising, and according to her, changing her face will help her land the job of her dreams.

Zheng Tiantian, Communications Student: “Now recruiters pay a lot of attention to one’s appearance. So this operation is what will allow me to get a job more easily.”

The operation, conducted under general anesthesia, will last four hours, and costs four-thousand euros.

Making eyes appear larger is the specialty of Dr. Qian. It’s a procedure he conducts three times a day, on average. His patients are mostly women. And they’re getting younger and younger.

Qian Baoming, Surgeon: We have young graduates who are looking for a first job. It’s very stressful for them. And then we have high school graduates who decide to undergo a surgical operation to have a better appearance when entering university.”

The operation is finished.

Now Zheng Tiantian must wait for one month before discovering her new face.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Like her, thousands of young Chinese women are going under the knife every year. In major cities around the country, cosmetic surgery offices are flourishing.

Today, you have to be beautiful to succeed. The competition to find a job is so fierce, many believe being operated on helps you stand out.

In this building in Shanghai, a job fair is being held. Recruiters say appearance is just as important as skills.

This woman recruits health advisors. When choosing between two identical CVs, the deciding factor is clear.

Shen Caifen, Recruiter: If I have two identical profiles, appearance is decisive in my choice of hiring. A person who pays attention to their image, especially when it’s a woman, means that she holds herself to high standards.”

Chinese recruiters emphasize appearance to the point of sometimes discriminating against women.

Rights organization Human Rights Watch, recently analyzed thousands of job postings on the internet. Many of the ads specify that they were looking for young and pretty candidates:

Front desk person, 20 to 27 years old. Height above five foot four (163 cm). Well-presented, pleasant manner. Please attach a photo.

Three years ago, Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, even broadcasted an ad, presenting the so-called “pretty girls” of the company.

“Here are the goddesses who work with us. They want you as colleagues. What about you?

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
The pressure to appear young and pretty can follow some women their whole career.

Twenty-four year old Xia Xiao works as a secretary for a major Chinese cosmetics brand. After two years of working at the company, Xia Xiao is after a promotion.

And she’s convinced, a new nose will do the trick.

Xia Xiao, Secretary: “It will definitely help me in my career. I think the more beautiful I become, the better my professional development will be.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
The pressure to be physically attractive in order to be hirable reflects an emphasis on beauty which pervades the whole of Chinese society.

Today the country has moved far from the principle of gender equality, touted by communist propaganda to encourage men and women to serve China together.

Xi Zheng, Doctoral Student, Women’s Rights Specialist: “In many aspects of society, China is still a macho country: There are a lot of companies that recruit mainly men. In this case, women have fewer opportunities to find a job, so there are additional requirements for them.”

China’s unrelenting demand for beauty is only gaining speed. Cosmetic surgery has become the fourth biggest expense of Chinese households.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

Questions

Head. Zheng Tiantian decided to have plastic surgery after seeing a movie or music video. True or false?

Hair, Beard, Mustache. Are she and many other East Asians very proud of their nation and race?

Eyes, Eyebrows, Eyelids. Most people who have plastic surgery in China are middle-aged and old celebrities. Is this right or wrong?

Nose. Is cosmetic surgery becoming more common, less common or staying the same in terms of popularity?

Mouth, Lips, Teeth. In China, is being hired based solely on a candidate’s education, experience and qualifications?

Ears. What did they say about career success?

Chin. Does physical appearance affect and influence men and women equally?

Cheeks. Is physical appearance very important or insignificant? Has it always been this way?
 
 
 
Shoulders. In your city, is plastic surgery very common, common, in the middle, not very common, rare or non-existent>? What are some typical procedures?

Back. Why do people undergo plastic surgery?

Chest. Do only rich, wealthy people or celebrities undergo plastic surgery?

Stomach, Waist. If people could change their appearance, would they do anything? What would happen?

Hips. Is plastic surgery good, bad, neither, both, in the middle, it depends?

Arm, Elbow, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. What might happen in the future?

Leg, Knee, Foot/feet, Toes. People should not be obsessed with their appearance and accept and appreciate their appearances and who they and other are. What do you think?